Bill Withers

Biography

Bill Withers (born July 4, 1938) is a U.S. singer-songwriter who performed and recorded from the late 1960s until the mid 1980s.

Withers was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. His father died when Bill was thirteen. He joined the US Navy at seventeen, and stayed there for nine years, before he moved to Los Angeles in 1967.

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. His second album Still Bill also did well on the charts. It included the well-known single "Lean on Me". He has released albums from 1971 to 1985. Other popular songs he sings are "Use Me", "Lovely Day", and "Just the Two of Us".

His songs have been covered by many. Club Nouveau's 1986 cover of "Lean on Me", which is now often used in many churches, earned Withers his third Grammy as a songwriter. Grace Jones covered his song "Use Me," Me'Shell NdegeOcello sang "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?" on her 1996 album Peace Beyond Passion, and Will Smith samples his song "Just the Two of Us" in his 1997 song of the same name. Kanye West sampled his song "Rosie" in the song "Roses". Twista sampled "Lovely Day" in the hit single "Sunshine" featuring Anthony Hamilton

To this day his most popular songs including "Lovely Day","Lean On Me" & "Ain't No Sunshine" have been used in countless television advertisements, therefore rapidly increasing his popularity as a well respected Singer/Songwriter of the 1960s-1980s.He remains one of the most significant and respected Singer/Songwriter of the 20th century.