Bill Withers – “A Soul Shadow”
November 26, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured Artists
Bill Withers is an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter and was active in the years from 1967-1985. He is the son of a coal miner and has come a long way to embark his career with success. He is a professional singer and musician and plays the guitar and keyboards. He has worked with labels like Sussex Records and Columbia Records and was the top choice of pop, blues and soul music lovers.
Bill was born on 4th of July 1938 and has some excellent recordings to his credit which includes Grandma’s Hands, Use Me, Lovely Day and Lean on Me.
His spent his childhood in West Virginia with his mother and attended East Park Elementary School. He served the U.S. Navy for nine years from 1956 to 1967. He was much interested in singing at this period which made him leave the Navy and he moved on to working in California and then Los Angeles after which he left the job in 1967 to follow his career in singing.
In 1970, Wither signed a contract with Sussex to record and publish. It was then that Stax Records produced Wither’s debut album. His Album “Just As I Am” was released in February 1971 and he also released singles which were “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Harlem” during this time.
“Ain’t No Sunshine” became the No 3 pop hit and was certified gold in September 1971. Withers won the Grammy Award for this song which was given “Best Rhythm and Blues Song”. After his success of the album and award, he started touring and recording with “The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band”. He also wrote songs during his tour for the album “Still Bill”. The album came out in May 1972 and the hit number “Lean on Me” became the top hit on 8th July 1972. This album was also certified Gold status and reached No 4 in the pop charts.
Bill recorded his live album on 6th October 1972 for “Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall”. Three months later he lost his mother and married Donna Denise Nicholas on 17th January 1973 in California. He got divorced in 1974 and then he release another album “+’Justments”.
After this for two years Withers could not sign any label as he was involved in a legal suit with Sussex and after the suit was settled, he started his own music publishing company which was named Golden Withers Music and Bleuing Music. During this period, Sussex ran into a legal suit with IRS auctioning the assets of Sussex and Withers label CBS bought Sussex for $50,000 in July 1975 at the auction.
In 1975, Withers signed with Columbia Records and released his first album with the label “Making Music, Making Friends”, which included the hit single “She’s Lonely” and was also featured in “Looking for Mr. Goodbar”. He continued to release each album for three years which were “Naked & Warm” in 1976, “Menagerie” in 1977 and “Bout Love” in 1978.
In 1980 he worked on “Just the Two of Us” with Grover Washington Jr, who was a jazz musician and the album won them a Grammy. Their other albums were also nominated which included “Soul Shadows” and “In The Name Of Love”.
Several hit albums rocked the charts after this period and Withers became the most popular star in the charts. He released “Watching You, Watching Me” in 1985 which was his final release and the album had “Oh Yeah”, the Top 40 R&B single. He retired from touring in 1989 and focused on the parenting of his children Todd and Kori Withers.
He stills appears on various shows and keeps on entertaining the music fraternity.
TJ Grooves
Rare Soul Grooves & Soul Music TV
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2007, Bill’s songs have been featured on the soundtracks to such movies as “Starsky & Hutch”, “American Beauty,” and “The Simpsons.”
Lovely Day and Ain’t No Sunshine - if these were his only contributions Bill Withers would still be a household name. But his songs have been covered by everybody and sampled too. From covers by stars like Michael Jackson and Diana Ross to Sting, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger, or samples by Tupac, Dr Dre, Akon, Eminem - to name but a few. A Soul Shadow maybe - out in the sunshine…
And how about that - he quit to look after his kids! Made himself a fortune and then - before drugs or fame got to him - did the sensible thing and quit to enjoy his well-earned rewards. Hey, all you wannabes out there - listen up to Mr Withers!
The 1980s was a fabulous time for Bill Withers, when he gave some of his best hits. American soul music is so popular because of this man. His famous song “Just the Two of Us” that he performed with Grover Washington Jr was immensely popular and I just love it.
This Grammy award winner surely is a man of huge talent. My personal choice will always be “Soul Shadows”, “In The Name of Love”, and of course “Just the Two of Us”. I know these are the songs, which all his fans worship. As a songwriter, he is really invincible.
I just love listening to the pop hit “Ain’t No Sunshine”. This song definitely deserved the Grammy Award. As a “Best Rhythm and Blues Song”, the award was well deserved. I think his album “Still Bill”, is one of his greatest albums. All the songs that he wrote are astounding.
His song “Ain’t No Sunshine”: sensitivity with a warm voice full of compassion. Amazing R&B musician.
Did anyone else try to make that note on Lovely Day? Haha you’ve gotta sing along to his hits. Bill Withers is my choice of shower music, with the showerhead as the mic. Love his stuff - its so warm and personal.
How do you choose who to feature on here? Its been a great education reading about soul stars young and old, famous and not so well known. Bill Withers is un chachi guy - fantastico, guay, cojonudo!
This man has given us so many hits throughout his singing career. I know that he is a loving family person. I really appreciate that. Many stars too have taken longs breaks to take care of their little ones. However, it would be great if he gave us some more songs like “Oh Yeah” and others.
Lean On Me was one of those songs that you heard and just knew that everybody connected with it. We’ve all felt down and needed a friend to count on. And these days more than ever his lyrics are poignant -
“Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won’t let show”
That’s how we’ll all get thru this global recession, by being a good neighbour, especially to those who find it hardest to ask for help.
About himself “I write and sing about whatever I’m able to understand and feel. 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”.
Kids in the ‘hood don’t aspire to play instruments anymore and view “creativity” as sampling something that no one else has sampled yet, and kids in suburbia have to go to college to “learn” and “study” how to play this music. And we wonder why today’s music is BAD?
Bill Withers was the complete package. The man was a singer, songwriter, and producer.
My friend told me to share this one with you all.
Joke: How do you make a duck sing?
Answer: Put it in the oven till it’s Bill Withers
I was reading about Bill Withers writing Lean On Me and saying he came from the sort of rural community where you could expect help from your neighbours and thats what caused him to write that song, because he started to realise that isn’t the experience everybody has. This is why soul music is so good for us. When it reminds us of a better time or a better way of behaving and fills us with the enthusiasm to behave that way.
I agree with Isabel . Here’s a great Bill Withers quote:
“To me, the biggest challenge in the world is to take anything that’s complicated and make it simple so it can be understood by the masses. Somebody said a long time ago that the world was designed by geniuses, but it’s run by idiots. When I say I’m a snob lyrically, I mean I’m a snob in the sense that I’m a stickler for saying something the simplest possible way with some elements of poetry.”
Having written and sung “Ain’t No Sunshine”, and “Lean On Me”, and “Lovely Day”, he ranks as the top 5 best songwriters of all time. And he remains humble. I heard that he continues to garden at his local neighborhood.
Bill Withers chooses the lyrics to his songs so well. It’s uncanny, it’s genius. The simplicity to his songs is probably what embeds his songs in my mind and my heart.
“City Of The Angels” is an apt description of my city. Ever since his songs came out, they never really went away. I can’t turn on the television without hearing any of them.
This man is arguably the king of ballads. I can’t think of anyone else who has made that much impact with his music. The Grammys he has won do not accurately peg him to be the great musician that he is. He’s much much more!
“Just the Two of Us” is a poignant song. I don’t know how he does it. He takes this melody, matches it with these thought-provoking, simple lyrics, that seemingly squeezes our hearts. It was sampled by Will Smith in the late 1990’s and he dedicated it to his son. It transcends time.
I’m astounded that he was already signed on to Sussex Records but that he still kept his day job fitting toilets into airplanes. I listen to his album titled “Bill Withers Live At Carnegie Hall” at least once a week. It makes all my worries fade away.
In a recent interview, Bill Withers was asked what prompted him to write his greatest hit yet (Lean on Me). He said, “I think circumstance dictates what people think.” He said that he wrote about his environment. There was no killing, no anxiety, no shooting. He wasn’t from a big city so he couldn’t have possibly written about that.
I like how he simplifies emotions and situations. He strips them of everything except the message. He understands that the hardest challenge in the world is to translate a complex occurrence to one understood by everyone. He speaks to my core, man, he’s unparalleled.
Bill Withers’ music has endured and I think it will be listened to and patronized in countless more future generations. He has a gift, that’s how I’ll explain it. A person can have all the ingredients to be a star yet not everyone makes it. There’s that unique quality, that x-factor, that makes Bill who he is.
The royalties from “Lean on Me” have probably kept Bill Withers rich all these time. It’s been sampled and revived by numerous artists, sometimes, I can’t identify whose version it is I’m listening to. Limp Bizkit, Michael Bolton, Will Smith, and Counting Crows, are among those who have interpreted the song.
Understated is not synonymous with superficial. In fact, Bill Withers’ music is intense, it’s full of warmth, and it uplifts your spirit. His legacy is his elegant, effortless, uncluttered approach.
Apparently at the Bill Withers tribute event this summer, Bill was persuaded up on stage to sing one song. Then he tried to bow out gracefully, saying “This is not the age for showing off. I’m just some old guy in the checkout line at the Home Depot. Which is fine with me.” Humble as well as successful.
I think Bill Withers must be a real gent in the best old fashioned sense of the word. He wanted to write songs that meant something - which would connect people and re-align them with their best sense of themselves. These days I think we all need reminding of how to be the best we can be.
“Then I look at you, and the worlds all right with me, just one look at you and I know its gonna be - A Lovely Day!” A little bit of positivity for us all in these dark times to lead us back into the light of a new year.