BILL WITHERS (1938 - 2020)

Bill Withers, the smooth-voice behind the hit songs, "Lean On Me" and "Lovely Day", has sadly passed away at the age of eighty-one. The gifted folk-soul singer/songwriter died from heart complications on March 30th. Withers had kept a low profile over the years (with recent appearances in a 2009 documentary, "Still Bill" and during his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 which he disappointingly did not perform) and hadn't recorded any new music in the last thirty-five years.

William Harrison Withers Jr. was the youngest of six children born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, WV. He had a stutter as a child which made it difficult for him to fit in. At seventeen, Withers joined the Navy where he would begin to become interested in singing and songwriting. After serving for nine years, he moved to Los Angeles to try a career in music in 1967. Withers made demos and performed in clubs around town for a number of years before he got a chance to audition for Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records.

Withers was signed to the label with musician, Booker T. Jones assigned to produce his debut album. "Just as I Am" was released in 1971 and was an immediate success thanks to the singles, "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands" which Withers had written. This would lead to him becoming a popular performer and sought-after writer and producer. Not long after his acclaimed live album recorded at Carnegie Hall was released, Sussex Records folded and Withers would sign with Columbia Records in 1975.

However, this was not a smooth pairing as the label would continuously not approve songs he would write for his albums, causing friction between the artist and Columbia. Withers released three albums (with only "Lovely Day" from "Menagerie" in 1977 was a significant hit) and would release one last album in 1985, "Watching You Watching Me" after an eight year hiatus between records. With some of the rejected songs he had written back in 1982 approved for what would ultimately be his final album (and were actually released as singles), Withers was done butting heads with label executives and refused to re-sign with Columbia Records and would leave the music business.

Withers was married to actress, Denise Nicholas in 1973, while she co-starred on the sitcom, "Room 222". After her claims of domestic violence, the couple divorced the following year. He is survived by his second wife, Marcia Johnson, who he married in 1976, and they had two children, Todd and Kori.