The youngest of eleven children, Bell was born in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in the Orchard Park Projects.

BBD, as the group is commonly known, was the first to integrate elements of Rap and R&B consistently, calling their style "Hip-hop smoothed out on an R&B tip with a pop feel appeal to it."

[6] Though Bell had primarily performed as a backup vocalist with New Edition, he emerged as one of the most utilized voices on singles released by the group in the 1990s.

With the exception of the ensemble songs "Hot2Nite" and "Hit Me Off", and the Brown-led "You Don't Have to Worry," Bell performed lead or co-lead on the remainder of the group's charting singles.

[13] In The New Edition Story miniseries released in 2017, it was revealed that Bell had struggled with substance abuse in the mid-1990s, using marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, alcohol, and oxycontin to the point of losing his house and selling his personal property to satisfy his addictions.