Bill Withers

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Slab Fork WV, United States (July 4, 1938 – present)

Bill Withers (born July 4, 1938 in Slab Fork, West Virginia) is an American who performed and recorded from the late 1960s until the mid 1980s.

Bill’s father died when he was thirteen. He joined the US Navy at seventeen, and stayed there for nine years, before he moved to Los Angeles in 1967. While in Los Angeles, he worked full-time in a Lockheed assembly plant in the day, making toilets for Boeing 747 airliners, then recorded demo tapes and performed in juke joints during the night. When he debuted on the music scene with “Ain’t No Sunshine,” he refused to give up his job at Lockheed because of his belief that the music business was a fickle industry and that he was still a novice compared to other working acts like The Temptations or Sammy Davis, Jr.

His first success was with the company Sussex Records in 1971 with his debut hit single Ain’t No Sunshine on the album Just as I Am. He assembled a touring band made up of: drummer James Gadson, guitarist Bernoce Blackmon, keyboardist Ray jackson, and bassist Melvin Dunlap.

His second album Still Bill also did well on the charts. It was recorded during a break in the “Just As I Am” tour and included the well-known single “Lean On Me,” which went to #1 on the charts on July 8, 1972. His live album, “Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall,” released in 1973, was one of the best live albums to be released during the 1970s. Other popular songs he sings are “Use Me” and “Lovely Day,” as well as “Just The Two Of Us,” which he performed with saxophonist Grover Washington Jr.
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  • deenichelle08

    I wish he would tour one more time.

    17 days ago

  • Akayz7

    imagine if he made another album.

    last month

  • Undergrunge

    Zapraszam polskich fanów soulu do przeczytania artykułu o Marvinie Gaye'u: http://kronikikulturalne.blogspot.com/2012/04/marvin-gaye-whats-going-on-1971.html

    last month

  • Alex_psychopaul

    dobrze, dobrze

    March 2012

  • bigmac27

    A wondeful example of a man with integrity and grit enough to withstand the cancer that is the music industy's desire to control artists to produce what they think we want,instead of letting us choose

    March 2012

  • roxy641

    There was a documentary on BBC Four a few nights ago, called "Still Bill". Sad that the music industry "experts" still think they can tell muscians how to write/record a song.

    March 2012

  • GentlemanGaGa

    "Use Me" is hitting all the right spots right now! Classic Bill!

    February 2012

  • JesseMeeusen

    "8000th track: (07 Oct 2011) Bill Withers - Use Me"

    January 2012
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A Review of STILL BILL by KEXP

18 May 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/billwitherslegacy

This week I saw the new film documentary on soul legend Bill Withers called Still Bill.  Part of my job at KEXP is to make short radio documentaries. Out of the 150 we’ve …

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