Withers, Bill

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Withers, Bill

1938—

Singer, songwriter

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.

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.

Los Angeles Move Brought Eventual Success

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.

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.

Struck Gold with Debut Album

Withers' debut album, Just as I Am, 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.

Withers'; next album, Still Bill, 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.

For a short time in the early 1970s, Withers was married to Denise Nicholas, best known for her roles in television's Room 222 and the 1972 blaxploitation-horror film Blacula. In 1973 Withers performed a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, which resulted in the concert album Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall. After the release in 1974 of his next studio album, 'Justments 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 Making Music, Making Friends (1975), Naked and Warm (1976), Menagerie (1977), and 'Bout Love (1979).

Songs Live on via Covers

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.

At a Glance …

Born on July 4, 1938, in Slab Fork, WV; married Denise Nicholas (divorced); married Mattie. Military service: U.S. Navy, 1956-65.

Career:

Boeing, airline mechanic, 1960s; professional songwriter, 1967-; Sussex Records, recording artist, 1971-75; Columbia Records, recording artist, 1975-?.

Awards:

Grammy Award, Best Rhythm & Blues Song, "Ain't No Sunshine," 1971; NAACP Image Award, Male Singer of the Year, 1972; NAACP Image Award, Single Record of the Year, 1972; Grammy Award, Best Rhythm & Blues Song, "Just the Two of Us," 1981; Grammy Award, Best Rhythm & Blues Song, "Lean on Me," 1987; Clio Award (advertising), Production and Writing, "When I Cook I Cook," 1992; Middlebury College, honorary doctorate, 1999; Mountain State University, honorary doctorate, 2002; Songwriters Hall of Fame, inductee, 2005; ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Heritage Award, 2006.

Withers released his last album, Watching You, Watching Me, 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 Austin Powers: TheSpy Who Shagged Me. In 1998, singer Al Jarreau released Tribute to Bill Withers, an album of his own covers of memorable Withers songs.

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 License to Chill. 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.