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49-519: William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He is known for having several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including " Ain't No Sunshine " (1971), " Grandma's Hands " (1971), " Use Me " (1972), " Lean on Me " (1972), " Lovely Day " (1977) and " Just the Two of Us " (1980) (recorded in collaboration with Grover Washington Jr. ). Withers won three Grammy Awards out of nine total nominations. His life

98-461: A Los Angeles hospital on March 30, 2020, at age 81; his family announced his death four days later. The family statement read: 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. As private a life as he lived close to intimate family and friends, his music forever belongs to

147-433: A gift for writing understated classics", adding, "the ultimate homespun hitmaker, he had an innate sense of what might make a song memorable, and little interest in excess attitude or accoutrements. Ultimately Withers reminded us that it's the everyday that is the most meaningful: work, family, love, loss." A Billboard article considered that Withers "stands as one of R&B/soul music's most revered singer-songwriters." In

196-481: A happy man. Still Bill is about a man who topped the charts, walked away from it all in 1985 and is pleased that he did." Withers is known for his "smooth" baritone vocals and "sumptuous" soul arrangements. He wrote some of the most covered songs of the 1970s, including "Lean on Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine." The former entered the Hot 100 chart through multiple versions, including Club Nouveau 's 1987 cover , which made

245-546: A legal dispute with the Sussex company, Withers was unable to record for some time thereafter. After Sussex Records folded, Withers signed with Columbia Records in 1975. His first album release with the label, Making Music , included the single "She's Lonely," which was featured in the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar along with "She Wants to (Get on Down)". During the next three years he released an album each year with Naked & Warm (1976), Menagerie (1977; containing

294-432: A part in his decision to not record or re-sign to a record label after 1985. This effectively ended his performing career, though remixes of his previously recorded music were released well after his "retirement." Finding musical success later in life than most, at 32, he said he was socialized as a "regular guy" who had a life before the music, so he did not feel an inherent need to keep recording once he fell out of love with

343-481: A review in anticipation of the album's CD reissue by Columbia Records in 2003, calling it "essential listening for any fan of early '70s funk and R&B". Hermann also highlighted the contributions of session musicians from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band , crediting them for having helped Withers develop "a unique style of bluesy funk that was the perfect soundtrack to the emotional drama [that] leaked out from around

392-572: A single, the version peaked at number 42 in the UK. A heavy metal band Black Label Society covered the song entitled "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone" for their 2013 album Unblackened . As a single, the version peaked at number 42 on the Canadian Rock Chart. Still Bill Still Bill is the second studio album by American soul singer-songwriter and producer Bill Withers , released in 1972 by Sussex Records . The album

441-552: A single. Withers performed "Ain't No Sunshine" on The Old Grey Whistle Test . It won the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1972 and is ranked 285th on Rolling Stone 's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. Streaming-only figures based on certification alone. In 1971, singer Michael Jackson recorded a rendition of Bill Withers' song for his debut album Got to Be There (released in early 1972). In

490-483: A sound that finds "form between the lines … bound by the heated muscle of its rhythms and the satin berth of its softer moments". In 2007, Still Bill was included in The Guardian ' s list of "1,000 albums to hear before you die", with an accompanying essay that said the album "contains two of [Withers'] most epochal and best-loved compositions 'Lean on Me' and 'Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?' but [that]

539-677: A version as the lead single of their second studio album, Form 1 Planet (1992). The version peaked at number five and was certified Gold in Australia. It also peaked at number eight in New Zealand. The Nylons version was released in 1998 and reached number 53 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart. A South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo recorded its own version featuring vocalist Des'ree for their studio album In Harmony (1999). As

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588-574: Is He (And What Is He to You)", "Kissing My Love", and "Lonely Town, Lonely Street". Reviewing in Creem , Robert Christgau gave the record a B-plus and said, "Withers has created the most credible persona of any of the new middle-class male soul singers, avoiding Marvin Gaye 's occasional vapidity, Donny Hathaway 's overkill, and Curtis Mayfield 's blackness-mongering. He sounds straight, strong, compassionate. This album moves out rhythmically, too". However,

637-464: The 30th Annual Grammy Awards in 1988, Withers won the Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues Song as songwriter for the re-recording of "Lean on Me" by Club Nouveau . This was Withers' ninth Grammy nomination and third win. Withers contributed two songs to Jimmy Buffett 's 2004 release License to Chill . Following the reissues of Still Bill on January 28, 2003, and Just As I Am on March 8, 2005, there

686-685: The Grammy Award for Best Historical Album (sharing the award with the Rolling Stones' Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965 ). The award was presented to Leo Sacks, who produced the collection, and the mastering engineers Mark Wilder, Joseph M. Palmaccio, and Tom Ruff. In 2005, Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . In April 2015, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Stevie Wonder . He described

735-834: The Top 40 -rated R&B single Oh Yeah! and ended Withers' business association with Columbia Records. Withers stated in interviews that a lot of the songs approved for the album—in particular, two of the first three singles released—were the same songs that had been rejected in 1982, contributing significantly to the eight-year hiatus between albums. Withers also stated it was frustrating seeing his record label release an album for Mr. T , an actor, when they were preventing him, an actual songwriter, from releasing his own. He toured with Jennifer Holliday in 1985 to promote what would be his final studio album. Withers' disdain for Columbia's A&R executives —or "blaxperts" as he termed them—trying to exert control over his sound to sell more albums played

784-724: The U.S. R&B Chart and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 23 song for 1971 . The song reached the Top 40 again in 2009, when it was sung by Kris Allen in the eighth season of American Idol . In 2024, the single was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant". Withers

833-411: The 1996 documentary film When We Were Kings , and he is heard on the accompanying soundtrack. Other footage of his performance is included in the 2008 documentary film Soul Power . Withers has said of Sussex Records “They weren’t paying me." He claims to have erased an entire album that he had recorded for the label in a fit of pique. “I could probably have handled that differently,” he said. Due to

882-553: The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. The Library of Congress ' National Recording Registry inducted "Ain't No Sunshine" in the 2024 list of 25 sound recordings . Withers married actress Denise Nicholas in 1973 during her stint on the sitcom Room 222 . They divorced in 1974. In 1976, Withers married Marcia Johnson. They had two children, Todd and Kori. Marcia eventually assumed the direct management of his publishing companies, in which his children also became involved as they became adults. Withers died from heart complications in

931-628: The 2009 release The Remix Suite . The song's drum break was sampled in "Gonna Love Me" by Teyana Taylor from her second studio album K.T.S.E. . The Polish rock band Budka Suflera recorded a cover version of the song in 1974 under the title "Sen o dolinie", with Krzysztof Cugowski providing the lead vocal. The single also appeared on their 1983 compilation album "1974-1984" released by Polskie Nagrania Muza . The Polish lyrics were written by Adam Sikorski. It peaked at number 14 on Poland's LP3 chart in 1983 In November 1991, Australian pop band Rockmelons (featuring vocalist Deni Hines ) released

980-582: The Crusaders , and "In the Name of Love" with Ralph MacDonald , the latter being nominated for a Grammy for vocal performance. In 1982, Withers was a featured vocalist on the album Dreams in Stone by French singer Michel Berger . This record included one composition co-written and sung by Withers, "Apple Pie" an upbeat disco song about New York City. In 1985 came Watching You, Watching Me , which featured

1029-473: The Seventies (1981), Christgau expressed more enthusiasm about Still Bill , saying that Withers is "also plenty raunchy and he can rock dead out". He went on to write that the "self-production here is adamantly spare, with Ray Jackson furnishing the hook of the year on 'Use Me,' one of the few knowledgeable songs about sex our supposedly sexy music has ever produced". PopMatters critic Andy Hermann wrote

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1078-644: The UK the song was released as the third (and final) single from the album (after the two singles " Got to Be There " and " Rockin' Robin ", a cover of Bobby Day 's 1958 song). The song " I Wanna Be Where You Are ", which was released as the third single in the US, was on the B-side. It was a hit, peaking in the UK Singles Chart at number 8 for 3 weeks in September 1972. The song was remixed by Benny Blanco for

1127-687: The age of 17 and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs. He left the Navy in 1965, relocating to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career. His debut release was "Three Nights and a Morning" in 1967. Arranged by Mort Garson , the song went unnoticed at the time but was later reworked by Withers as the track "Harlem." Withers worked as a mechanical assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation , IBM and Ford , while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around, and performing in clubs at night. When he hit with

1176-675: The album +'Justments . During this time, he wrote and produced two songs on the Gladys Knight & the Pips album I Feel a Song , and in October 1974 performed in concert together with James Brown , Etta James , and B.B. King in Zaire four weeks prior to the historic Rumble in the Jungle fight between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali . Footage of his performance was included in

1225-497: The album, but funding caused the album to be recorded in three sessions with a six-month break between the second and final sessions. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks, "Ain't No Sunshine" and " Grandma's Hands " as singles. The album features Stephen Stills playing lead guitar. On the cover of the album, Withers is pictured at his job at Weber Aircraft in Burbank, California , holding his lunch box . The album

1274-452: The blend of patient, understated, insistently funky acoustic playing is just as vital". Tom Moon included it in a similar publication, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008), citing the album as "one of the most eloquent records" in rhythm and blues. "These are shades-of-gray stories, full of a mature understanding of human nature", Moon observed, before concluding that, "even when reflecting on weighty matters, Withers cultivates

1323-501: The composition one of nine songs to have led the chart via different acts. With "Lovely Day", he set the record for the longest sustained note on an American chart hit, holding a high E for 18 seconds. Editors from The Guardian considered that Withers' songs are "some of the most beloved in the American songbook", citing, "'Ain't No Sunshine' is regarded as one of the all-time great breakup tracks, while 'Lean on Me' [is] an ode to

1372-676: The corners of Withers' laid-back West Virginia drawl". Writing in 2005, David Wild of Rolling Stone found the album "finer and funkier" than Just as I Am and "still a stone-soul masterpiece", while Stylus Magazine ' s Derek Miller called it "a stone-cold, gold-plated soul classic ... far and away Withers' best", and more than comparable to enduring LPs from the same period, such as Isaac Hayes ' Hot Buttered Soul (1969), Mayfield's Roots (1971), Stevie Wonder 's Talking Book (1972), and Al Green 's Call Me (1973). Miller added that Still Bill exemplified Withers' musical daring, having fused soul, blues , and "muscular funk" into

1421-774: The critic concluded with reservations about its "missing some essential excitement". Commercially, Still Bill produced two hit singles : " Lean on Me " (number one on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts in mid 1972) and " Use Me " (number two on the same charts later that year). On September 7, 1972, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having recorded at least 500,000 copies sold. Retrospective appraisals have also been positive. Reviewing years later in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of

1470-595: The honor as "an award of attrition" and said: "What few songs I wrote during my brief career, there ain't a genre that somebody didn't record them in. 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." Later that year, a tribute concert in his honor was held at Carnegie Hall featuring Aloe Blacc , Ed Sheeran , Dr. John , Michael McDonald , and Anthony Hamilton . The concert recreated Withers' 1973 concert album, Live at Carnegie Hall , along with some of his other material. Withers

1519-419: The industry. After he left the music industry, he said that he did not miss touring and performing live and did not regret leaving music behind. In 1988, a new version of "Lovely Day" from the 1977 Menagerie album, entitled "Lovely Day (Sunshine Mix)" and remixed by Ben Liebrand was released. The original release had reached number 7 in the UK in early 1978, and the re-release climbed higher to number 4. At

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1568-403: The less exceptional songs here. "On the whole", Aletti claimed, "it's a tougher, more relaxed, more assured album ... Nothing is thrown away, everything works with an unexpected clarity and strength." Billboard hailed Still Bill as justification for the critical hype surrounding his debut and live performances, while observing "plenty of sunshine" in the music, highlighting "Lean on Me", "Who

1617-404: The same magazine, writer Gail Mitchell acknowledged "Withers' legacy has flourished in the decades since, thanks to a cross-section of artists who have covered/sampled his songs or cited him as a major influence." Musician and music journalist Questlove referred to Withers' post-breakup 1974 album +'Justments as "a diary [...] [it] was a pre- reality-show look at his life. Keep in mind this

1666-498: The song " Ain't No Sunshine " in 1971, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. Withers continued to work on his musicianship, learning guitar. In early 1970, Withers' demo tape was auditioned favorably by Clarence Avant , owner of Sussex Records . Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce Withers's first album. Four three-hour recording sessions were planned for

1715-399: The song's third verse, Withers had intended to write more lyrics instead of repeating the phrase "I know" 26 times, but then followed the advice of the other musicians to leave it that way: "I was this factory worker puttering around," Withers said. "So when they said to leave it like that, I left it." Withers, then 31, was working at a factory making bathrooms for 747s at the time he wrote

1764-508: The song. When the song went gold, the record company presented Withers with a golden toilet seat, marking the start of his new career. "Ain't No Sunshine" was the first of Withers' three gold records in the U.S. Originally released as the B-side to another song called "Harlem", "Ain't No Sunshine" was preferred by disc jockeys, and it became a huge hit, Withers' first. "Harlem" was subsequently covered by The 5th Dimension , who featured it on their Soul and Inspiration album and released it as

1813-422: The successful " Lovely Day "), and 'Bout Love (1978). Due to problems with Columbia and being unable to get songs approved for his album, he decided to focus on joint projects from 1977 to 1985, including " Just the Two of Us ," with jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. , which was released during February 1981. The song won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song . Withers next released "Soul Shadows" with

1862-462: The supportive power of friendship ..." For the same newspaper, Alex Petridis noticed "[he] laid pain and paranoia under his deceptively gentle songs, and retired early having conquered gospel, funk, blues, disco and more." In Rolling Stone , Andy Greene noted that several of his songs "are embedded in the culture and have been covered countless times." Writing for The New York Times , Giovanni Russonello considered Withers "[a] soulful singer with

1911-405: The time of its release, Still Bill has since been regarded by music journalists as a highlight of the singer's recording career and a classic of 1970s R&B . Still Bill was met with positive reviews. Writing for Rolling Stone in 1972, Vince Aletti regarded it as an improvement over Withers' debut album Just as I Am , particularly because of the singer's production, which sustains even

1960-502: The week of July 8, 1972. It was Withers' second gold single with confirmed sales in excess of three million. His follow-up, " Use Me ", released in August 1972, became his third million-seller, with the R.I.A.A. gold disc award taking place on October 12, 1972. His performance at Carnegie Hall on October 6, 1972, was recorded and released as the live album Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall on November 30, 1972. In 1974, Withers recorded

2009-504: The world. In this difficult time, we pray his music offers comfort and entertainment as fans hold tight to loved ones. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park . The Grammy Awards are bestowed by The Recording Academy . Withers has won three Grammys from nine nominations. Ain%27t No Sunshine The song was released as a single in 1971, becoming a breakthrough hit for Withers, reaching number six on

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2058-530: Was a success, and Withers began touring with a band assembled from members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band . Withers won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for " Ain't No Sunshine " at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards in 1972. The track had already sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in September 1971. During a hiatus from touring, Withers recorded his second album, Still Bill . The single, " Lean on Me " went to number one

2107-463: Was in attendance and spoke briefly onstage. In February 2017, he made an appearance on Joy Reid 's MSNBC show to talk about the refugee crisis as well as the political climate in America. The 2009 documentary, "Still Bill", explored his reasons for quitting the music industry and painted the picture of a fulfilled musician and human being. Roger Ebert said: "[Withers] still lives and survives as

2156-507: Was inspired to write the song after watching the 1962 movie Days of Wine and Roses . He explained, in reference to the characters played by Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon , "They were both alcoholics who were alternately weak and strong. It's like going back for seconds on rat poison. Sometimes you miss things that weren't particularly good for you. It's just something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something else that happened in my life that I'm not aware of." For

2205-439: Was recorded and produced by Withers with musicians from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band . The rhythmic music produced for the record features soul , funk , and blues sounds, backing lyrics that explore themes of human nature, emotion, and sex from a middle-class male perspective. It also features some of Withers' most popular songs, including the hit singles " Lean on Me " and " Use Me ". A commercial and critical success at

2254-514: Was speculation of previously unreleased material being issued as a new album. In 2006, Sony Music gave Withers’ previously unreleased tapes back to him. In 2007, "Lean on Me" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, Bill Withers: The Complete Sussex & Columbia Albums Collection , a nine-disc set featuring Withers' eight studio albums as well as his live album Live at Carnegie Hall , received

2303-489: Was the son of Mattie (née Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner. Withers was of African-American and English descent. He developed a stutter as a child and later said he had a hard time fitting in. His parents divorced when he was three, and he was raised by his mother's family in nearby Beckley , West Virginia. He was 13 years old when his father died. Withers enlisted in the United States Navy at

2352-423: Was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill . Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Two of his songs, "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Lean on Me", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . William Harrison Withers Jr., the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia , on July 4, 1938. He

2401-577: Was years before Marvin Gaye did it with Here, My Dear ." The Beach Boys ' Brian Wilson deemed him "a songwriter's songwriter". Musicians Sade , D'Angelo , Justin Timberlake , John Legend and Ed Sheeran have credited Withers as a music inspiration. Withers has been widely sampled by hip hop and pop music artists, including Basehead , Blackstreet , Kendrick Lamar , DMX , Tupac Shakur , Jennifer Lopez and Aaliyah . In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Withers at number 106 on its list of

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