Lean On Me singer Bill Withers dies at 81

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 an E4 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.
 

"With his poetry and music, he spoke honestly to people and connected them to each other.

"As private a life as he lived, close to intimate family and friends, his music forever belongs to the world. In this difficult time, we pray his music offers comfort and entertainment as fans hold tight to loved ones."

US musician Chance the Rapper led tributes, describing the singer as "the greatest" and recalling some of his own personal memories.
 

Aw man, Bill Withers was really the greatest. Grandma’s Hands, Ain’t No Sunshine, Lean on Me, Use Me Up, Just The Two Of Us and obviously Lovely Day are some of the best songs of all time. My heart really hurts for him, it reminds me of playing records with at my grandma’s house

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) April 3, 2020

Rest in power Bill Withers. Your voice, songs, and total expression gave us love, hope, and strength. My soul always has & always will be full of your music. Your humility displayed & depth of your power as you carried us all to a better place. You're still & always will be Bill. pic.twitter.com/mkpcSBfuZv

— Lenny Kravitz (@LennyKravitz) April 3, 2020

Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson said he was "very sad to hear about Bill Withers passing," calling him "a songwriter's songwriter".

And BBC Radio 2's Trevor Nelson wrote the star's music was "a remedy for these nonsensical times".

"He was a genius singer/songwriter. Can't listen to Bill without feeling emotional."
 

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. 

He scored another million-selling hit with Lean On Me in 1972. 

Gospel-tinged and inspirational, the song was based his experiences growing up in a West Virginia coal mining town: When times were hard, neighbours would lend each other help and assistance, and the memory stuck with the singer.

It was later performed at the inaugurations of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

But Withers quit at the top, walking away from his career after scoring a pop hit with Just The Two Of Us, although he occasionally toured with Grover Washington Jr in the 1990s.

As a younger man, he suffered with a debilitating stutter, and in 2015, he and fellow stutterer Ed Sheeran put on a benefit concert for the Stuttering Association For The Young.

The same year, Withers was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, and when asked how it felt by US TV show CBS Good Morning, he joked, "It's like a pre-obituary!"

Despite his influence on generations of musicians, he did not keep track of music after his career ended. 

"These days," he said in 2015, "I wouldn't know a pop chart from a Pop-Tart."

But he was aware that his compositions had become part of the fabric of music.

"What few songs I wrote during my brief career, there ain't a genre that somebody didn't record them in," he told Rolling Stone in 2014. "I'm not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with."

"The hardest thing in songwriting is to be simple and yet profound," agreed Sting in Still Bill, a documentary about Wither's career, "and Bill seemed to understand, intrinsically and instinctively, how to do that," 

He is survived by his wife, Marcia, and children, Todd and Kori.
 

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