Withers, Bill, 1938-2020

<p>William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He recorded several major hits, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977), and "Just the Two of Us" (1980). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film <i>Still Bill</i>. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Withers worked as a professional musician for just 15 years, from 1970 to 1985, after which he moved on to other occupations.</p>

<p>Withers, the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia on July 4, 1938. He was the son of Mattie (Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner. He was born with a stutter and later said he had a hard time fitting in. Raised in nearby Beckley, he was 13 years old when his father died. Withers enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17, and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs.</p>

<p>He left the Navy in 1965, and relocated to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career. Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he debuted with the song "Ain't No Sunshine" in 1971, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry.</p>

<p>Songwriter/singer/guitarist Bill Withers is best remembered for the classic "Lean on Me" and his other million-selling singles "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Use Me," but he has a sizable cache of great songs to his credit. Al Jarreau recorded an entire CD of Withers' songs on <i>Tribute to Bill Withers</i> (Culture Press, 1998). His popular radio-aired LP track from <i>Still Bill</i>, "Who Is He? (And What Is He to You?)," was a 1974 R&B hit for Creative Source.</p>

<p>Born July 4, 1938, in Slab Fork, West Virginia, Withers was the youngest of six children. His father died when he was a child, and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. After a nine-year stint in the Navy, Withers moved to Los Angeles to pursue a music career in 1967. He recorded demos at night while working at the Boeing aircraft company, where he made toilet seats. His recording career began after being introduced to Clarence Avant, president of Sussex Records.</p>

<p>Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones produced Withers' debut album, <i>Just As I Am</i>, with some co-production by Al Jackson, Jr. The LP included his first charting single, "Ain't No Sunshine," which went gold and made it to number six R&B and number three pop in summer 1971 and won a Grammy as Best R&B Song. Its follow-up, "Grandma's Hands," peaked at number 18 R&B in fall 1971. The song was later covered by the Staple Singers and received airplay as a track from their 1973 Stax LP <i>Be What You Are</i>. <i>Just As I Am</i> featured lead guitar by Stephen Stills and hit number five R&B in summer 1971.</p>

<p>Withers wrote "Lean on Me" based on his experiences growing up in a West Virginia coal mining town. Times were hard and when a neighbor needed something beyond their means, the rest of the community would chip in and help. He came up with the chord progression while noodling around on his new Wurlitzer electric piano. The sound of the chords reminded Withers of the hymns that he heard at church while he was growing up. On the session for "Lean on Me," members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band ("Express Yourself," "Loveland") were used: drummer James Gadson, keyboardist Ray Jackson, guitarist Benorce Blackmon (who co-wrote "The Best You Can" from <i>Making Music</i> with Withers), and bassist Melvin Dunlap. His second gold single, "Lean on Me" landed at number one R&B and number one pop for three weeks on Billboard's charts in summer 1972. It was included on his Still Bill album, which went gold, holding the number one R&B spot for six weeks and hitting number four pop in spring 1972. "Lean on Me" has become a standard, with hit covers by the U.K. rock band Mud and Club Nouveau. The song was also the title theme of a 1989 movie starring Morgan Freeman. In addition, <i>Still Bill</i> included "Use Me" (gold, number two R&B for two weeks and number two pop for two weeks in fall 1972).</p>

<p>Withers' Sussex catalog also included <i>Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall</i>, <i>+'Justments</i>, and <i>The Best of Bill Withers</i>. He contributed "Better Days" to the soundtrack of the Bill Cosby 1971 Western <i>Man and Boy</i>, released on Sussex. There was a duet single with Bobby Womack on United Artists, "It's All Over Now," from summer 1975.</p>

<p>After a legal battle with Sussex, Withers signed with Columbia Records. Columbia later bought his Sussex masters when the label went out of business. Withers was briefly married to actress Denise Nicholas (ABC-TV's Room 222 and the 1972 horror film Blacula) in the early '70s. His releases on Columbia were <i>Making Music</i> ("Make Love to Your Mind," number ten R&B), which hit number seven R&B in late 1975; <i>Naked & Warm</i>, released in 1976; <i>Menagerie</i> ("Lovely Day," a number six R&B hit), which went gold in 1977; and <i>'Bout Love</i> from spring 1979.</p>

<p>Teaming with Elektra Records artist Grover Washington, Jr., Withers sang the crystalline ballad "Just the Two of Us," written by Withers, Ralph MacDonald, and William Salter. It went to number three R&B and held the number two pop spot for three weeks in early 1981. "Just the Two of Us" was redone to hilarious effect in the Mike Myers movie <i>Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me</i>, released in summer 1999. Withers teamed with MacDonald for MacDonald's Polydor single "In the Name of Love" in summer 1984.</p>

<p>Withers' last charting LP was <i>Watching You Watching Me</i> in spring 1985. He occasionally did dates with Grover Washington, Jr. during the '90s. His songs and recordings have been used as both the source of numerous covers (Aaron Neville's "Use Me") and sampled by a multitude of hip-hop/rap groups. Withers resurfaced in the 21st century, playing concerts and having his albums reissued in various countries. He was also the subject of the 2010 bio-documentary <i>Still Bill</i>, by filmmakers Damani Baker and Alex Vlack. Bill Withers died in Los Angeles on March 30, 2020, due to complications from heart disease; he was 81 years of age.</p>

<p>Singer/songwriter Bill Withers has described his approach to his craft in this way: "I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you," according to his official Web site. His approach has obviously served Withers well; his songs have been recorded by literally hundreds of top performers over the years, including the likes of Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis, and Mick Jagger, just to name a few. Withers, a three-time Grammy Award winner, is best known for his such memorable classics as "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," and "Just the Two of Us." Millions of people around the world instantly recognize his smooth, expressive voice—a voice perfectly suited for the songs of sincere, honest emotion that he has written throughout his career.</p>

<p>Bill Withers was born on July 4, 1938, in Slab Fork, a small coal-mining town in a poor, rural area of West Virginia. His father, a coal miner, died when Withers was 13 years old, leaving his mother and grandmother to raise him and his five older siblings in nearby Beckley, West Virginia. As a teenager, Withers helped support the family by working odd jobs, before joining the Navy at age 17. He served in the Navy for nine years, during which he traveled throughout the Far East.</p>

<p>Withers was discharged from the Navy in 1965. He had always been a talented singer, and around this time he began to consider trying to find a way to make a living at it. Unable to find original songs that adequately conveyed his feelings, he started writing his own around that time. In 1967, Withers moved to Los Angeles, the capital of the music business, to try his luck at becoming a professional performer.</p>

<p>In Los Angeles, Withers began recording demo versions of his original songs in hopes of obtaining a recording contract with a major label. Meanwhile, he supported himself working full-time making toilets for the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. Withers was initially frustrated in his attempts to break into the music industry. He spent countless hours and substantial sums of money sending out his material to record companies, but in spite of his time-consuming and expensive efforts, his music failed to impress any of the personnel whose desks it landed on. His luck finally changed in 1970 when a demo of Withers' songs arrived in the office of Clarence Avant, president of Sussex Records. Avant signed Withers to a contract and quickly introduced him to Booker T. Jones, leader and keyboardist of the successful R&B group Booker T. and the MGs.</p>

<p>Withers' debut album, <i>Just as I Am</i>, was released in 1971. The album, produced by Booker T., was a hit with both critics and consumers. Three of the songs on the album became hit singles. One of them, "Ain't No Sunshine," went gold and received a Grammy Award for best R&B song. The follow-up single, "Grandma's Hands," reached number 18 on the R&B charts. A third song, "Just as I Am," which featured guitar work by folk-rock giant Stephen Stills, hit number 5 on the R&B charts later that summer. A backup band was quickly assembled, and Withers toured extensively over the next several months in support of the album.</p>

<p>Withers' next album, <i>Still Bill</i>, was recorded during a short break in the touring schedule. Released in 1972, it contained more songs destined for legendary status. "Lean on Me" was inspired by Withers' childhood in rural West Virginia, where families and neighbors relied on each other for survival during the frequent hard times that enveloped the community. Withers came up with the unmistakable chord progression that starts the song while playing around on a new Wurlitzer electric piano. He stumbled upon a series of chords that reminded him of the hymns he had sung as a child in Slab Fork. "Lean on Me" reached the top of the pop and R&B charts in the summer of 1972 and stayed there for three weeks. Another of the album's songs, "Use Me," also went gold and lasted for two weeks at number two on both charts that fall. A third single from the album, "Who Is He (And What Does He Mean to You?)" was also a big seller.</i>

<p>For a short time in the early 1970s, Withers was married to Denise Nicholas, best known for her roles in television's <i>Room 222</i> and the 1972 blaxploitation-horror film <i>Blacula</i>. In 1973 Withers performed a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, which resulted in the concert album <i>Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall</i>. After the release in 1974 of his next studio album, <i>+'Justments</i>, Withers got into a legal tussle with Sussex, and was unable to record on the label again. He managed to keep busy during his label limbo, writing and producing a couple of songs for Gladys Knight and the Pips and performing in concert along with James Brown, Etta James, and blues legend B.B. King at the historic Mohammed Ali/George Foreman boxing batch in Zaire in the summer of 1974. The following year, Withers parted ways with Sussex for good and signed with Columbia Records. With Columbia, he continued to record prolifically through the second half of the decade, releasing the albums <i>Making Music, Making Friends</i> (1975), <i>Naked and Warm</i> (1976), <i>Menagerie</i> (1977), and <i>'Bout Love</i> (1979).

<p>After cranking out albums at a rate of almost one per year during the late 1970s, Withers did not make another record until 1985. He was not idle during the early 1980s, however. In 1981 he collaborated with saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. on the monster hit song "Just the Two of Us," which Withers co-wrote with Ralph MacDonald and William Salter. The song earned Withers four Grammy nominations, and he and his writing partners took home the award for songwriting.</p>

<p>Withers released his last album, <i>Watching You, Watching Me</i>, in 1985. By then, he had grown disenchanted with the music industry, and able to make a more-than-comfortable living from the royalties on his 1970s hits, he gave up recording. While he stopped making new recordings himself, Withers' songs continued to receive new life in the form of cover versions by other artists. In 1987 he received his third songwriting Grammy, and ninth Grammy nomination overall, for Club Nouveau's remake of his 1972 hit "Lean on Me." The song was recorded again in 1992 by Michael Bolton for President Bill Clinton's inauguration celebration. A Will Smith version of "Just the Two of Us" was used to great comic effect in the 1999 movie <i>Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me</i>. In 1998, singer Al Jarreau released <i>Tribute to Bill Withers</i>, an album of his own covers of memorable Withers songs.</p>

<p>Withers continued to perform live intermittently in the 1990s, often with Grover Washington, Jr., but by the end of the decade he had mostly stopped performing in public. In 2004 he recorded a duet with singer Jimmy Buffett, "Playing the Loser Again," which appeared on Buffett's album <i>License to Chill</i>. By the time Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, his songs had been recorded by literally hundreds of the world's greatest performers, in styles ranging from jazz to classical to country to hip-hop. Even if he were to choose to never sing another note in public again, Withers stature as one of the great American songwriters of the last half-century is beyond dispute.</p>