LAST UPDATE | 3 Apr 2020
SOUL SINGER BILL Withers, best known for hits such as Lean on Me and Lovely Day, has passed away aged 81.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Withers’ family said he had died from heart complications.
The three-time Grammy Award winner, who withdrew from making music in the mid-1980s, died on Monday in Los Angeles, the statement said.
“We are devastated by the loss of our beloved, devoted husband and father. A solitary man with a heart driven to connect to the world at large, with his poetry and music, he spoke honestly to people and connected them to each other,” the family statement read.
“As private a life as he lived close to intimate family and friends, his music forever belongs to the world. In this difficult time, we pray his music offers comfort and entertainment as fans hold tight to loved ones.”
Withers, who overcame a childhood stutter, was born the last of six children in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. After his parents divorced when he was 3, Withers was raised by his mother’s family in nearby Beckley.
He joined the Navy at 17 and spent nine years in the service as an aircraft mechanic installing toilets. After his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles, worked at an aircraft parts factory, bought a guitar at a pawn shop and recorded demos of his tunes in hopes of landing a recording contract.
In 1971, signed to Sussex Records, he put out his first album, Just As I Am. It had the hits Grandma’s Hands and Ain’t No Sunshine, which was inspired by the Jack Lemmon film Days of Wine and Roses. He was photographed on the cover, smiling and holding his lunch pail. He later signed with Columbia records after Sussex went bankrupt.
He was awarded Grammys as a songwriter for Ain’t No Sunshine in 1971 and for Just The Two Of Us in 1981. In 1987, Bill received his ninth Grammy nomination and third Grammy as a songwriter for the re-recording of the 1972 hit Lean On Me by Club Nouveau.
“He’s the last African-American Everyman,” musician and band leader Questlove told Rolling Stone in 2015. “Bill Withers is the closest thing black people have to a Bruce Springsteen.”
“I’m not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don’t think I’ve done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia,” Withers told Rolling Stone in 2015.
He is survived by his wife, Marcia, and children, Todd and Kori.
- With reporting from Associated Press
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