We here at dewconsulting.net seem to be alternating between humor and obits. Today’s obit is for the favorite son of Slab Fork, WV – Bill Withers. Full story from the AP is here. Tiny desk concert is below.
<Sorry Kate, if you want Taylor Swift, post it on your own blog!>
“I don’t think I’ve done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia.”
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Bill Withers was born the last of six children in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, WV. His parents divorced when he was 3, so he was raised by his mother’s family in nearby Beckley. He overcame a childhood stutter, then joined the Navy at 17 where he spent nine years in the service as an aircraft mechanic installing toilets. After his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked at an aircraft parts factory, bought a guitar at a pawn shop, and recorded demos of his tunes in hopes of landing a recording contract.
In 1971, he signed with Sussex Records. During the 70’s he produced hits such as “Lean On Me,” which was performed at the inaugurations of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Both are among Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
When Sussex Records went bankrupt he was scooped up by Columbia Records. No longer with complete control over his music, he chaffed when it was suggested he do an Elvis cover. His new executives found him “difficult.” Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, he got in a few jabs at the record industry, saying A&R stood for “antagonistic and redundant.”
Withers’s last hit was 1980’s “Just the Two of Us,” a jaunty duet with Grover Washington Jr. The backstory is another example of how Withers’s sweet soul sounds often came with a hidden thorn. Withers had bristled at the manipulations of his record company, Columbia, for years. So he went to work with Washington, who was on a rival label. “Just the Two of Us” was “a ‘kiss my ass’ song to Columbia,” he told Rolling Stone decades later.
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RIP, Bill Withers. And stay “difficult,” my friends.
Tiny Desk concert, here, and here.
