Ain’t no sunshine now he’s gone...
Soul legend Bill Withers – who made toilet seats before he hit the big time – dies at 81
HE recorded his first hit Ain’t No Sunshine while working in a factory making toilet seats for airliners.
Half a century later, another Bill Withers classic, Lean On Me, has been turned into an anthem of community spirit amid the coronavirus crisis.
So there was an outpouring of grief as the soul singer’s death at the age of 81 from heart complications was announced yesterday.
His family expressed their wish that his music ‘offers comfort and entertainment as fans hold tight to loved ones’ in ‘this difficult time’.
Withers’ hits spanned the 1970s and also included Lovely Day, but his musical breakthrough came comparatively late in life when he left the US Navy aged 29. He moved to Los Angeles and found work in an aircraft parts factory, buying a guitar at a pawn shop and learning to play it in between shifts.
He then began making demos at home in the hope of landing a record contract. Thanks to timeless songs such as Ain’t No Sunshine and Grandma’s Hands, his debut album – entitled Just As I Am – was an instant hit in 1970.
Underlining his blue collar roots, the cover featured a photograph of him dressed in jeans and T-shirt and holding the lunchbox which accompanied him on every shift.
Hits kept coming, including Lean On Me in 1972, inspired by how neighbours looked out for one another during his childhood in a West Virginia mining town. In recent days the gospel-tinged song has been performed by choirs and community groups as an inspiration for life under lockdown. Withers won a second Grammy for Just The Two Of Us in 1981, but retired from the music industry after his final album four years later.
His songs, however, took on a life of their own, featuring in countless weddings as well as Hollywood movies such as American Beauty and Jerry Maguire. In 2015 Withers said: ‘I’m not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with.’
But it’s his vocal acrobatics which made him stand out. In Lovely Day, he holds a note while singing the word ‘day’ for 18 seconds. He died in Los Angeles on Monday and leaves his second wife, Marcia Johnson – whom he married in 1976 – and their two children, Todd and Kori.