Bill Withers, influential soul singer behind Ain't No Sunshine, dies aged 81

[BeyondGeography]

Source: The Guardian

Bill Withers, the influential US soul singer who wrote Lean on Me, Ain't No Sunshine and Lovely Day has died aged 81 of heart complications, according to a statement from his family.

Withers wrote and recorded several other major hits including Use Me and Just the Two of Us. He won three Grammy awards and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.

The statement reads:

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 the world. In this difficult time, we pray his music offers comfort and entertainment as fans hold tight to loved ones.

Born William Harrison Withers Jr in 1938, he faced a difficult childhood in Slab Fork, West Virginia. A stutter held him back from making friends, and, after his father died when Bill was 13, his grandmother helped to raise him. Withers would write a tribute to her with the song Grandma's Hands from his 1971 debut album Just As I Am: "Grandma's hands / Used to issue out a warning / She'd say, 'Billy don't you run so fast / Might fall on a piece of glass / Might be snakes there in that grass.'" The intro was memorably sampled by Blackstreet for their 1996 R&B classic, No Diggity.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/03/bill-withers-influential-soul-singer-dies-aged-81?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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A memorable visit to the USC football team culminating with Lean On Me:

[turbinetree]

1. Use Me...................

[hlthe2b]

2. Ohh, a favorite

RIP, Mr. Withers. I contnue to keep those songs on a favored music playlist.

[lagomorph777]

11. I loved his voice and his songs!

[Anon-C]

3. ...

[In_The_Wind]

4. He was one of my favorites.

Rest in Paradise, Bill.

[Bengus81]

5. Great soul singer........

[Clash City Rocker]

6. RIP. In addition to his hits, he did one of my favorite Beatles covers

[phandancer917]

7. Ain't no Sunshine no HE is gone!

Ain't no Sunshine is one of my 'magical' songs from my childhood.

RIP Mr. Withers --- your job is done and done well!

[Atticus]

8. Damn. "Ain't No Sunshine Since He's Gone" nt

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Just seeing the breaking

Now he's in -

[JudyM]

13. Grandma's Hands, what a tender soulful classic.

Thanks for posting it!

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Yes it is

I bought the CD of some of his songs a bunch of years ago and that one stood out to me, for where he was coming from with respect to his music.

[JudyM]

15. Yeah, and it's so sweet in the intro that he calls it his favorite that he's written.

💕

[flamingdem]

10. Rip Bill Withers

We'll always hear your voice

[iluvtennis]

12. Oh no. Rest in Peace Bill Withers. A Lovely Day was one of my favorites songs.

&list=RDbEeaS6fuUoA&start_radio=1

[bubbazero]

16. RIP, Good Sir

Grew up with your sound, you will always be remembered and ALWAYS be heard.

[Journeyman]

17. Thanks for the joy & love, Bill. Memories of a beautiful time, captured forever in a wonderful voice

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. Damn, one of my favorites.

Last saw him on TV when he was inducted inducted into the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame".

[Praek3]

19. God's Choir

Pretty sure God's choir is mostly awesome black people. Nothing more pure than black church choirs singing to God. Beautiful!

As a sickly-Caucasian-white woman Bill Wither's voice was heaven to my ears since I was a teenager.

[mac2766]

20. A sad day.

Was leaving work when a co-worker stopped me and told me. I used to play Ain't No Sunshine regularly in at least one set. Lean On Me was released when I was in 5th grade. I remember the song playing on the radio so vividly. In my city at that time, there was racial unrest. We were in the middle of it all. I remember when our schools were desegregated. The buses rolled up - keep in mind that there were no buses before desegregation - and the mobs threw rocks at them. I was a child going to school walking the block to get there, and having to see that hatred.

I watched a documentary several years ago titled "My Name Is Bill". If you haven't had a chance to watch it, find it. It's very much worth watching.

This is a great video. Stevie Wonder sings Ain't No Sunshine playing an instrument that I'm unfamiliar with. It's a video that I re-play often.

[Mosby]

21. Bill Withers was the populist we needed

Given the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, the task of remembering those who die during this period seems overwhelming. The ordinary roster of commemorations is being swamped by the deaths of people taken from us far too soon.

But the life of musician Bill Withers, who died Monday from heart complications at 81, gives us more to reflect on than just his litany of iconic hits, including “Lean on Me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lovely Day.” He represents a brand of populism that is sorely lacking in our society.

That’s not to say that we are short of populist tendencies. Indeed, we have revolutionaries on one end of the political spectrum and self-dubbed swamp-drainers on the other. They have tapped into the anxieties and frustration of disaffected communities, intensifying our ongoing polarization and alienating voters across our political system.

But populism isn’t only political. Cultural populism can capture the human experience and remind people what they have in common. For a model of how to do that, we can look to Bill Withers.

Withers was, as the musician and music journalist Questlove told Rolling Stone in 2015, the “last African-American Everyman … the closest thing black people have to a Bruce Springsteen.” Withers grew up in coal country, West Virginia. He was the first man in his family to not go into the mines, opting instead to join the military. Afterward, he worked with his hands in factories. He had no expectation of fame, and even when he achieved it, he eschewed it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/03/bill-withers-was-populist-we-needed/

[Dave Starsky]

22. Love love LOVE the man and his music.

God speed you, Mr. Withers.