Womack, Bobby

Womack, Bobby, underground soul icon; b. Cleveland, Ohio, March 4, 1944. An extremely talented guitarist, when the fortunes of his solo career hit slow points, he reverted to studio and side work. However, as a solo artist, Womack shone. He probably would have been far more successful if his first marriage had been a bit quieter.

He began working professionally with his brothers in a family gospel group, The Womacks. On the gospel circuit, they became friendly with Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers. When Cooke went secular, he brought in Womack as his guitarist. He also signed The Womack Brothers to his SAR label. Working gospel, they kept the family name. They took the pop music guise The Valentinos and created a fine body of work highlighted by “It’s All Over Now” and “Looking for a Love,” which went Top Ten R&B in 1962. The Rolling Stones took the former song to #26, their second American hit in 1964. The latter was The J. Geils Band’s first hit, rising to #39 in 1972.

Cooke died and The Valentinos broke up around the same time in 1964. Womack became a first-call soul session man, recording with Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, and Ray Charles. However, two months after Cooke died, Womack married his widow. The upshot in the soul community had a chilling effect on his career, keeping him from recording solo for a number of years. He did write and perform on many sessions. His “I’m a Midnight Mover” rose to #24 pop and “I’m in Love” was a substantial R&B hit for Wilson Pickett. He also wrote and played on “Trust Me” for Janis Joplin.

He started to record solo in the late 1960s with minor R&B success. He finally broke through as a solo artist in 1971 with “That’s the Way I Feel about Cha.” The song hit #27 pop and #2 R&B. A year later, “Woman’s Got to Have It” topped the R&B charts and “Harry Hippie” rose to #31 pop, #8 R&B and went gold. “Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out” hit #29 pop and #2 R&B in 1973. In 1974, in the wake of the J. Geils Band cover, he remade “Looking for a Love” and topped the R&B charts, taking it to #10 pop and going gold. Over the next couple of years, he had such Top Ten R&B hits as “You’re Welcome, Stop on By,” “Check It Out,” and “Daylight.”

The late 1970s saw him falling by the musical wayside, with albums on Columbia and Arista that didn’t sell. This was partly because his output lacked the spark of others who followed in his musical footsteps, such as Sly and the Family Stone, and partly because of Womack’s drug abuse. He did contribute key parts in the studio, like the wha-wha guitar and popping bass on Sly’s “Family Affair.” He also wrote the score to the film Across 110th St. and George Benson’s hit “Breezin’.”

In 1981 a small, well-funded label called Beverly Glen (cf. Anita Baker) signed a newly clean and sober Womack. The new album, The Poet, topped the R&B charts led by the #3 R&B hit, “If You Think You’re Lonely Now.” The follow-up, The Poet II, included three duets with Patti LaBelle. Two of them, “Love Has Finally Come at Last” and “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much,” became top 5 R&B hits.

During the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s, Womack made several high profile cameo appearances, singing with Todd Rundgren, The Rolling Stones, and Artists United Against Apartheid, as well as doing some work with the reunited Womack Brothers. Shortly after that reunion, one of his brothers was killed and his son committed suicide. His second marriage ended in divorce (as his first one did in 1970).

He finally returned as a solo artist with Resurrection on Rolling Stone Ron Wood’s custom label Slide. Although it featured heavy friends like Wood, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, and Stevie Wonder, the album was poorly distributed and promoted and quickly fell of the radar. His output for the rest of the 1990s was been sporadic, with more reissue material than any new music. His 1999 album Traditions found him making his first stab at a holiday album with middling success.

Discography

The Womack Live (1967); Fly Me to the Moon (1969); My Prescription (1970); Communication (1971); Understanding (1972); Across 110th Street (1972); The Facts of Life (1973); Lookin’ for a Love Again (1974); B W Goes C&W (1974); I Don’t Know What the World Is Coming To (1975); Safety Zone (1975); / Can Understand It (1975); Home Is Where the Heart Is (1976); Pieces (1977); Save the Children (1979); Roads of Life (1979); The Poet (1981); The Poet II (1984); Bobby Womack & the Valentinos (1984); So Many Rivers (1985); Someday Well All Be Free (1985); Womagic (1986); Last Soul Man (1987); / Still Love You (1993); / Wanna Make Love to You (1993); Soul Seduction Supreme (1994); Soul Sensation Live (1998); Back to My Roots (1999); Traditions (1999).

—Brock Helander