Bobby Womack

1944—

Vocalist, songwriter

With a career stretching back to the early 1960s and forward into the 2000s, vocalist Bobby Womack has been a mainstay of the classic soul sound, a performer whose distinctively gritty style and instinct for strong material have never deserted him through numerous ups and downs in his personal life and professional career. The composer and creator of several classic rock hits, Womack has received critical recognition of his talents but never the superstar status those talents would merit. "His is one of the great voices," noted Phil Johnson of London's Independent newspaper. "It influenced the young Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones—whose first Number One record Womack wrote—and also Rod Stewart, who made a rather better attempt at copying it."

Five Blind Boys Visited Home

Bobby Dwayne Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 4, 1944, the one son of steelworker and part-time gospel singer Friendly Womack. The elder Womack organized Bobby and his brothers, Cecil, Curtis, Harris, and Friendly Jr., into a quintet called the Womack Brothers. Despite the extreme youth of some of its members, the group quickly gained a reputation beyond Cleveland, touring as an opening act with such performers as the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, who often dropped by the Womack household for some home cooking from Womack's mother, Naomi, when they were in Cleveland. In 1953 the group opened for the leading gospel group of the day, the Soul Stirrers, and a few years later Roscoe Robinson of the Blind Boys suggested to the lead singer of that group, Sam Cooke, that he sign the brothers to his new label, SAR.

At the time the Womack Brothers believed that performers who sang secular music were going to hell, and they told Cooke so. Cooke, who was planning his successful move in a secular direction, suggested a compromise, as Womack recalled to Charlie Melvin of England's Birmingham Post: "I'll tell you what, if you cut a gospel record and it don't hit, would y'all cut me a pop song?" A few Womack Brothers gospel releases met with little success, and the brothers kept up their end of the bargain and renamed themselves the Valentinos. Friendly Womack Sr. exiled them from the house after this decision, and Bobby Womack remained estranged from his father until just before Friendly Womack's death in 1981.

In 1960 Cooke wired the group $3,000 to buy a new car and drive to Los Angeles, but, Womack recalled to John Soeder of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "I noticed that all of the pimps and gangsters and hustlers drove Cadillacs. So instead of getting a new car like Sam told us, I bought a used Cadillac." The decision was a bad one. "It took us three weeks to get to California. The tires blew out, the engine went out, the gas tank had a hole in it, and the windshield wipers, the first time we put them on, they went clean across, looky yonder. We never saw 'em again." The brothers drove while leaning out the window to avoid the exhaust fumes that accumulated in the passenger compartment.

Rolling Stones Recorded Song

When Womack arrived in Los Angeles, however, he was hired by Cooke as a guitarist, and the Valentinos began drawing good nightclub crowds. They recorded several moderately successful singles, two of which, "It's All Over Now" and "Lookin' for a Love," later became major rock hits for the Rolling Stones and the J. Geils Band, respectively. At first, Womack recalled to Melvin, he resisted the idea of giving "It's All Over Now" to the Rolling Stones, telling Cooke, "Man, I could care less. Let them get their own song, this is our record." He changed his mind when the Rolling Stones' version went to Number One in the United Kingdom and Cooke began bringing him royalty checks. Whatever problems he faced later in his career, financial instability was rarely among them (although he did hit a low point in the early 1990s). "It's All Over Now" made Womack a rich man.

That was fortunate, because Womack's expanding career soon took a nosedive. He married Barbara Cooke, Sam Cooke's widow, after Cooke's death in a 1964 shooting incident, and audiences assumed he was trying to take advantage of Cooke's death. Womack maintained that he was trying to support a troubled woman who had been close to his mentor (the marriage ended in divorce in 1970), but buyers ignored some fine recordings he and the Valentinos made for Chicago's Chess label and its Checker subsidiary. Womack headed south and found work as a studio guitarist in Memphis, Tennessee, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with soul producer Chips Moman. He backed such artists as Aretha Franklin and Joe Tex as a guitarist, and he also flourished as a songwriter; 17 of his compositions, including "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)," were recorded by Memphis soul vocalist Wilson Pickett.

These successes rehabilitated Womack's image, and he decided to relaunch his solo career. In 1968 he had a minor hit on the Minit label with the Moman-produced "What Is This," but most of his strongest original material had been given to Pickett. As a result, Womack turned to a procedure that became one of his trademarks—thoroughly reimagined cover versions of rock and pop songs. His recording of the Mamas and the Papas hit "California Dreamin'" cracked Billboard magazine's black singles top 20 (and was revived for a Saab auto commercial in Britain in 2004), and several more successful singles followed as Womack formed a songwriting partnership with Moman's studio assistant Darryl Carter.

As Minit and then its parent Liberty were absorbed into the large United Artists label, Womack's career achieved a higher profile. The albums he recorded for United Artists in the early and middle 1970s are considered classics of soul music. Communication (1971) spawned the hit "That's the Way I Feel About 'Cha," and the black music chart-topping "Woman's Gotta Have It" came from Understanding (1972). "Harry Hippie" (1972) was a tribute to Womack's brother Harris, who had been murdered by a jealous girlfriend. In 1974 Womack enjoyed his biggest hit with a remake of "Lookin' for a Love," originally modeled on the country gospel song "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray." The song topped black music charts and reached the pop top ten.

Troubled by Substance Abuse

Womack grieved for his lost brother, yet his grief was compounded by the loss of two of his sons: his four-month-old son Truth died in his crib in 1978 and later another son committed suicide. Womack fought against his own depression. He struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, and after the failure of his country album BW Goes C&W in 1976, his productivity and his commercial fortunes declined. Womack continued to work, however. He recorded several albums for the Columbia and Arista labels in the late 1970s, with limited success. In 1980 he contributed vocals to "Inherit the Wind," a release by Wilton Felder of the jazz group the Crusaders.

At a Glance …

Born on March 4, 1944, in Cleveland, OH; son of Friendly Womack (a steelworker and gospel singer) and Naomi Womack; married Barbara Cooke, 1964 (divorced 1970); married and divorced a second time; children: Truth, Vincent. Education: Attended East Tech High School, Cleveland, OH.

Career:

Womack Brothers, gospel group member (with siblings), early 1950s; Valentinos (new name for Womack Brothers when group turned to secular music), late 1950s-60s; Memphis, TN, and Muscle Shoals, AL, songwriter and session guitarist, mid-1960s; solo artist, 1968-; United Artists, label artist, 1971-75; Columbia, label artist, 1976-78; Arista, label artist, 1979-80; Beverly Glen, label artist, 1981-84; MCA, label artist, 1985-?.

Addresses:

Agent—Universal Attractions, 145 West 57th Street 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019.

Despite a reputation as a party animal who could be difficult to work with, Womack was recognized for his talents by industry insiders even during the low points in his career. In 1981 he signed with the independent Beverly Glen label in Los Angeles and released one of his most critically acclaimed albums, The Poet. He followed it up with The Poet II despite wrangling with Beverly Glen over payments, and the two albums became major successes in the United Kingdom and made Womack a star there. Womack signed with MCA in 1985 and released several successful singles, including "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much" and "Let Me Kiss It Where It Hurts." He joined the Rolling Stones in 1986 to sing a duet with Mick Jagger on "Harlem Shuffle."

Although African-American music had been affected by synthesizer-pop trends in the 1980s, Womack unapologetically stuck with classic soul styles through a series of albums on the MCA label. His voice, noted Phil Johnson, had distinctive "pitted, sandpaper textures," and his singing, interspersed with spoken interjections, drew heavily on his gospel roots. Womack's periodic tours remained strong draws in both America and the United Kingdom, and he continued to release new recordings occasionally; 1994's Resurrection, recorded for the Slide label headed by Rolling Stones member Ron Wood, referred to some of the singer's personal tragedies. He returned with the gospel collection Back to My Roots in 1999 and Left Handed, Upside Down in 2001. Although hip-hop starts frequently sampled the soul music of Womack's era, Womack resisted many of their attempts to use his own music. "Me being from the old school, I would not say ‘bitch’ on a record," he pointed out to Johnson. "I couldn't face my mother if I did." Still performing in the mid-2000s, Womack had seen much of his earlier work reissued in CD compilations.

Selected discography

Albums

Fly Me to the Moon, Minit, 1968.

How I Miss You, Baby, Minit, 1969.

More Than I Can Stand, Minit, 1970.

That's The Way I Feel about You, United Artists, 1971.

Communication, United Artists, 1971.

Understanding, United Artists, 1972.

A Woman's Got To Have It, United Artists, 1972.

Sweet Caroline, United Artists, 1972.

Harry Hippie, United Artists, 1972.

Facts of Life, United Artists, 1973.

Across 110th Street (film soundtrack), United Artists, 1973.

Nobody Wants You When You're Down and Out, United Artists, 1973.

Lookin' for a Love, United Artists, 1974.

Bobby Womack's Greatest Hits, United Artists, 1974.

You're Welcome, Stop on By, United Artists, 1974.

Check It Out, United Artists, 1975.

BW Goes C & W, United Artists, 1976.

Safety Zone, United Artists, 1976.

Home Is Where the Heart Is, CBS, 1976.

Pieces, CBS, 1977.

Roads of Life, Arista, 1979.

The Poet, Beverly Glen, 1981.

The Poet II, MCA, 1984.

Bobby Womack and the Valentinos, Beverly Glen, 1984.

So Many Rivers, MCA, 1985.

Womagic, MCA, 1986.

Soul Survivor, EMI America, 1987.

The Last Soul Man, MCA, 1988.

Greatest Hits of Bobby Womack, Liberty, 1989.

Save the Children, Epic, 1990.

Resurrection, Slide, 1994.

Only Survivor: The MCA Years, MCA, 1996.

Back to My Roots, 1999.

The Best of "The Poet" Trilogy, Empire Music, 2001.

Left Handed, Upside Down, 2001.

Ultimate Collection, Charly, 2001.

Best of Bobby Womack, Collectables, 2003.

Lookin' for a Love: The Best of Bobby Womack 1968-1976, EMI, 2003.

The Preacher, 2004.

The Definitive Collection, Mastercuts, 2006.

Sources

Books

Contemporary Musicians, volume 5, Gale, 1991.

Stambler, Irwin, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul, St. Martin's, 1989.

Periodicals

Birmingham Post (Birmingham, England), May 27, 2004, p. 14.

Boston Herald, September 20, 2001, p. 64.

Independent on Sunday (London, England), June 6, 2004, p. 10.

Jet, September 12, 1994, p. 17; November 28, 1994, p. 23.

Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), August 23, 1999, p. E1.

On-line

"Bobby Womack," All Music Guide,www.allmusic.com (March 17, 2007).

                                                                —James M. Manheim