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| Bill Withers |
Last Monday March 30, was a sad day for music world. We lost one of the latest soul genius, Bill Withers well-known for being the composers of songs like Ain't No Sunshine, Grandma's Hands or Lead on me. These songs have become hymns and symbols of a time and a generation that never will return but their lyrics are current and eternal.
Rennette Watson and The Grandma want to homage Bill Withers talking about his life and his music. Although Withers will be always remembered by hymns like Ain't No Sunshine or Lead on me, The Grandma will remember his song Grandma's Hands, a beautiful composition dedicated to his Grandma who was a victim of slavery in the US.
William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938-March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. He recorded several major hits, including Ain't No Sunshine (1971), Grandma's Hands (1971), Use Me (1972), Lead on me (1972), Lovely Day (1977), and Just the Two of Us (1980).
Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
More information: Bill Withers
Withers, the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia on July 4, 1938. He was born with a stutter and later said he had a hard time fitting in. Raised in nearby Beckley, he was 13 years old when his father died. Withers enlisted in the United States Navy at 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, and relocated to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career. Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he debuted with the song Ain't No Sunshine, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry.
During early 1970, Withers's demonstration 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' first album.
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| Bill Withers |
Four three-hour recording sessions were planned for 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.
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 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, Lead on me went to number one the week of July 8, 1972. It was Withers’s 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.
More information: NPR
In 1974, Withers recorded the album +'Justments. Due to a legal dispute with the Sussex company, Withers was unable to record for some time thereafter. During this time, he wrote and produced two songs on the Gladys Knight & the Pips record 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 Foreman and Ali. Footage of his performance was included in 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.
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 the successful Lovely Day), and 'Bout Love (1978).
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| Bill Withers |
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, an upbeat disco song about New York City entitled Apple Pie.
In 1985 came Watching You Watching Me, which featured the Top 40-rated R&B single Oh Yeah, and ended Withers’s 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 which were rejected in 1982, hence contributing significantly to the eight-year hiatus between albums.
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 #7 in the UK in early 1978, and the re-release climbed higher to #4.
More information: The Guardian
At 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' third Grammy and ninth nomination. 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 was speculation of previously unreleased material being issued as a new album.
In 2006, Sony gave back to Withers his previously unreleased tapes.
At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, Bill Withers: The Complete Sussex & Columbia Albums Collection, a nine-disc set featuring Withers's
eight studio albums, as well as his live album Live at Carnegie Hall,
received the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album (sharing the award
with the Rolling Stones' Charlie Is My Darling-Ireland 1965).
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| Bill Withers |
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 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's 1973 concert album, Live at Carnegie Hall, along with other of his material. Withers was in attendance and spoke briefly onstage.
In February 2017, he made an appearance on MSNBC on Joy Reid's show to talk about the refugee crisis as well as the political climate in America.
Withers died in Los Angeles on March 30, 2020, from heart complications. His family announced his death on April 3, 2020, saying they were devastated by the loss of our beloved, devoted husband and father.
More information: VOA
Grandma's Hands is a song written by Bill Withers about his grandmother. It was included on his first album Just as I Am (1971), and was released as a single, reaching number 18 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart and 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In Canada it reached No. 37 in the RPM Magazine charts. The song was produced by Booker T. Jones and also featured drummer Al Jackson Jr. and bassist Duck Dunn from Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
Withers' maternal grandfather, Gracchus Monroe Galloway (1855-1937), had been born into slavery. In his youth, Withers attended church with his maternal grandmother, Lula (1868-1953), where she would sing and clap along with the hymns. He later said: It was spontaneous singing, there was nothing programmed. People got up and sang and everybody would join in. It was my favorite kind of singing.
Grandma's hands used to hand me piece of candy.
Grandma's hands picked me up each time I fell.
Grandma's hands, boy they really came in handy
She'd say, "Mattie don't you whip that boy.
What you want to spank him for?
He didn't drop no apple core,"
But I don't have Grandma anymore,
If I get to heaven I'll look for
Grandma's hands.
Um, mm, mm.
Grandma's hands picked me up each time I fell.
Grandma's hands, boy they really came in handy
She'd say, "Mattie don't you whip that boy.
What you want to spank him for?
He didn't drop no apple core,"
But I don't have Grandma anymore,
If I get to heaven I'll look for
Grandma's hands.
Um, mm, mm.
More information: The New York Times
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.
Bill Withers
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