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Lean on me singer, Bill Withers dies at age 81

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Bill Withers 
Bill Withers, the acclaimed 1970s soul singer behind hits Ain't No Sunshine and Lean On Me has died from heart complications aged 81, his family said.


The singer died on Monday in Los Angeles, the family told the Associated Press.

They described him in a statement as a "solitary man with a heart driven to connect to the world".

"He spoke honestly to people and connected them to each other," the statement said.


Known for his smooth baritone vocals and sumptuous soul arrangements, he wrote some of the 70s best-remembered songs, including Just The Two Of Us, Lovely Day and Use Me.

On Lovely Day, he set the record for the longest sustained note on a US chart hit, holding a high E for 18 seconds.

Although he stopped recording in 1985, his songs remained a major influence on R&B and hip-hop.

His track Grandma's Hands was sampled on Blackstreet's No Diggity, and Eminem reinterpreted Just The Two Of Us on his hit 1997 Bonnie And Clyde.

Lean On Me has recently become associated with the Coronavirus pandemic, with many people posting their own versions to support health workers.

"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved, devoted husband and father," said Withers' family in a statement.
Born in 1938, Withers was the youngest of six children. His father died when he was a child and he was raised by his mother and grandmother.

His entry to the music world came late - at the age of 29 - after a nine-year stint in the Navy

He taught himself to play guitar between shifts at his job making toilet seats for the Boeing aircraft company, and used his wages to pay for studio sessions in LA.

"I figured out that you didn't need to be a virtuoso to accompany yourself," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2015.

He recorded his first album, Just As I Am, with Booker T Jones in 1970. It included the mournful ballad Ain't No Sunshine, which earned him his first Grammy award the subsequent year.



Credits to BBC





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