I just discovered this fantastic artist and his well-crafted soulful music and strong lyrics. Many of his songs have been sampled by other artists, but none of the new versions beat the originals. Truly great stuff!

I admit that I'm mostly basing my opinion on his first two albums Just As I am and Still Bill though, and I was wondering if anybody knows if the rest of his output is worth getting?

Any other info - anecdotes or personal memories of his music for example - is also welcome.

Thanks!

How do you turn a duck into a soul singer?

yes, it is worth getting, very, very soulful, and great song writer....


check these songs out :I wish you well, I want to spend the night, hello like before, but anyway the first two albums are the most powerful, but thats only opinion, but with songs such as : grandmas hands, i don't know, lean on me, ain't no sunshine, harlem, i'm her daddy, and etc.....

but dude is a great artist, and has been sampled by many artists....

Eurweb made this VERY weird YET insightful interview with him last year. Check it out:

BILL WITHERS EXPLAINS ABSENCE FROM INDUSTRY: In two-part interview with EUR’s Lee Bailey, R&B legend talks about ASCAP honor and shady industry.

*It was 1971 when Bill Withers blessed the world with “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a song about the profound emptiness surrounding the absence of a loved one.


The then 33-year-old singer was working during the days at a Ford assembly plant in Los Angeles and made the decision to stay on the 9-5 job, even as the single became a hit on the charts. Withers believed the music industry was too unstable to turn his back on a steady paycheck.


Thirty-five years and an armful of hit records later – including “Lean On Me,” “Lovely Day,” “Use Me” and “Just the Two of Us” – Withers says he’s living proof that the music industry is not only rickety but down right shady. As he prepares to accept a special Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award tonight - Monday, June 26 - from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Slab Fork, West Virginia native, who turns 68 on July 4th, says his sudden departure from the music business was the result of record company politics and a concerted effort by his label CBS Records to throw him under the bus.

All the dirt that had been pent up for nearly 20 years came spilling out of the music legend during an interview last week with EUR’s Lee Bailey, who traveled to Withers’ office in Beverly Hills to talk about his impact on the industry, and the honor of his ASCAP award, given to members who have had a major impact on the legacy of soul music.

HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THIS HERITAGE AWARD?


Awards belong to the giver. I stole that from a guy that played basketball at UCLA very well, Gail Goodrich, and played for the Lakers. So if somebody picks you for an award, you should be gracious and accept the damn thing.


YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU DESERVE IT?


I don’t know. Who decides what you deserve or not. Like I say, it’s the giver. It’s nice to be remembered. I run into young people like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence and people like that, and they talk about growing up with what I did. So I guess I’ve been in people’s houses for a long time; more in a family context because of the kind of songs – you know, “Grandma’s Hands,” “Lean On Me” – which are not really about boy/girl stuff, but just about living. Through osmosis, word of mouth or whatever, you become aware of that and you become comfortable with it..


ARE YOU AT LEAST COGNIZANT OF YOUR IMPORTANCE TO THE INDUSTRY?


I wouldn’t call it importance. I would say there’s a certain impact that I’m aware of that I’ve had and that’s because people tell you. That’s something you get by bits and pieces from guys like you, other artists, they’ll let you know where you stand. I’m not out and about and into things all the time. I hardly ever come up here. My wife and my kids, they come up here and run this place. And I’m mostly just off in my little corner of the world.


DOING WHAT, IF I MAY ASK?


Right now, whatever crosses my mind, if that’s going to Home Depot, or watching “Judge Judy” or whatever. At this point, I don’t really have a structured plan. But yeah, you become aware of some of your effect. I get letters from people occasionally; people talk about “Lean On Me.” I got a lot about that over the years.


ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THE ADORATION? THE FAME?


I’m not really famous. I can go out right now and you and me could walk around all over town and probably more people will know who you are than me. I get a lot of calls to find out if I died or not. I got a call earlier this month from Jesse Jackson, he wanted to know whether I died or not.


WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?


He said his wife was walking around the house upset because she heard that I had died. We get a lot of those [calls], from foreign countries and everything. I’m used to it by now. I was at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, this is a true story, this was maybe within two years ago. There were some sisters sitting at the next table and they were talking about some “Bill Withers song,” you know. So I thought I’d have some fun, I leaned over and said, “You won’t believe this but I’m Bill Withers.” And this lady said, “No you’re not. Bill Withers is dark-skinned, darker than I am.” And she was a dark-skinned sister. So even if I’m standing there, people argue. So I just let it go.


WELL MAYBE WHAT LEADS TO THAT IS THE FACT THAT YOU LEFT THE BUSINESS ALL OF A SUDDEN AND WASN’T HEARD FROM AGAIN. FROM AN AUDIENCE POINT OF VIEW, YOU JUST STOPPED. WHY?


I guess I said what I had to say for the time, and then life goes on. I wasn’t socialized as a music person. I was in my 30s when I started doing this. So I really learned how to live as an adult doing something else. So when I got a family and things, there’s plenty to do there.


I really stopped recording because I couldn’t get in the studio. For seven years, I was at CBS records and I couldn’t get a purchase order to go in the studio. There was a guy over there in A&R, Mickey Eichner, and he wouldn’t take my phone calls for three years. [A&R rep] George Butler, that used to work there, he told me when Eichner was in the building he would hide from me. Eichner came up with such brilliant suggestions like I should cover Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto.” I don’t cover Elvis Presley. For what? I got my own things. The songs that I’ve written did well for themselves, and brothers don’t cover Elvis, Elvis covers us. So that kinda turned me off to the whole process.


That’s why I did “Just the Two of Us” with Grover [Washington Jr.], because I couldn’t get into the studio [by myself]. Then, they said the only way I could get back in the studio is to work with this producer that they picked – and this is a true story. I can prove this if everybody [involved] ain’t dead. The studio was in this guy’s house. There was this little girl about 4-years-old, stark ravin’ naked, not a stitch of clothes on, running around in the studio. So she would go over to the board where I was, and I’d say, “We’re busy.” They’d say, “Go over there and talk to Bill.” Now here’s this little blonde-haired naked girl, and I’m black, from the South. And she’s coming over to me saying, “I’m ticklish, would you tickle me?” I’m thinking I gotta get the hell outta here, they can kiss my you know what. I could see myself standing up in front of some judge – you know, who was born in Oklahoma like half of California was – trying to explain myself. So I said man, this stuff is crazy. And it just soured me on the whole experience, so I left it alone. And I will never, ever again put myself in the position to where anybody has that kind of power over me.


At CBS Records, in 1981, Grover and I did “Just the Two of Us” which was a No. 1 record. It took me until 1985 to get into the studio, and I had been trying since 1977. Nobody will ever own that much of me again.

*In part two of Lee Bailey’s candid interview with Bill Withers, the recent ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Heritage Award recipient explains why he believes his record label CBS shut him out of the recording studio for eight years, and basically ended his career.



As previously reported, the creator of such standards as “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lovely Day” and “Just the Two of Us” decided to leave the industry for good after an uncomfortable experience during his last time in the studio. Withers said he was expected to work as a little 4-year-old girl was allowed to wander around the facility in the nude.


“Now here’s this little blonde-haired naked girl, and I’m black from the South,” Withers said. “And she’s coming over to me saying, “tickle me..." I could see myself standing up in front of some judge …trying to explain myself. So I said man, this stuff is crazy. And it just soured me on the whole experience, so I left it alone.”


But why did the record company want him out? The interview continues:


WHAT WAS THE LABEL’S REASONING BEHIND ALL OF THAT?


At these record companies man, it looked like to me that the people that were supposed to be running the black music departments could only greenlight [so much]. Mickey Eichner sure as hell wasn’t in black music, but he could shut me down. Shut me down, brother, from 1977 to 1985. And even after “Just the Two of Us,” I felt like okay, maybe I can get off of [CBS]. [The label told me], “If you could get somebody, any other record company, to give us $100,000, which is chump change in this business, [you can leave].” And nobody would touch me, then. This business back then, when one white guy spoke against you, that was your ass.


That’s something I’ve never talked about, but basically I got shut down. When I made records that turned out to be part of the landscape now, like “Lovely Day,” all I got was complaints [from the label]. That song hung around for 25 years and made its own way. So then after stuff I had done was still being listened to 30 years later, now I get offers all the time for record deals. They can kiss my ass (laughs) you know what I mean? I will never ever give anybody that kind of power over me again. …I felt like man, shoot, I’d rather get me a truck and write “Bill’s Handyman” on the side and go around fixing people’s toilets or something. I don’t need this sh*t. It turned me off.


So now, because of the longevity and stuff, I started to get approached [by labels]. If I chose to right now, I could sign a record deal probably by the end of the day.


AND WRITE YOUR OWN TICKET? IN OTHER WORDS, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO BOW DOWN TO ANYONE ELSE’S WISHES?


I don’t know about that. Somebody would be trying to stick his fingers into my brain, probably. At this point in life, I mean, I’ll be 68-years-old July the 4th, so I have a totally different outlook on life. My values are in different places. But it wasn’t like I just quit. I couldn’t get arrested.


WHY DIDN’T YOU AT LEAST KEEP PERFORMING?


I never sold that many tickets. It was not profitable for me to keep performing. When I worked, I was the opening act. I opened for Phyllis Hyman, I opened for Jennifer Holiday, those were the only gigs that were there for me. I couldn’t sell enough tickets to go on the road. I opened for the Fifth Dimension and had to play in front of the curtain. How much room is on the stage in front of the curtain? By the time I got through buying tickets and paying the band, I was losing money. So I stayed out of the way and kept my mouth shut, because people don’t wanna hear that stuff, man. And nobody would believe you anyway.


I did not quit the record business, the record business quit me, and then rediscovered me when I got to be an old man. This is something I’ve never told anybody, and I don’t know, maybe you’ve got that truth thing on you man, but I’m tired of getting blamed [by people who say], “Oh you just quit. You just walked away.” I did not quit anything.


WELL YOUR LEGACY OBVIOUSLY LIVES ON, AS DO YOU.


You know what? it’s fun being me, because I don’t remind you of nobody. Fortunately, I don’t have to go begging, and I’m grateful for that, but that’s the way it is. I love these young rappers man, because of their sense of ownership. They’re doing better business than anybody from my time was able to do.


AND THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE GOOD TASTE. THEY CAN’T SEEM TO LEAVE YOUR MUSIC ALONE.


Bless their hearts. Kanye and Will Smith and Blackstreet and all of them, I love them. They’ve all been nice to me when I talked to them, they treat me nice. I’ve been very, very fortunate with what happened with the music that I did. But I didn’t stop making music. I was stopped, brother. Cold.

*****

I was when I read the part about the lil' white girl. Ssssssick, boy

I remember this interview.

And Bill is the man!

One of the best songwriters and most distinctive voices of my lifetime.

"Use Me" One of my favs

INSATIABLE said:

Well I don't own a microwave so I'm not sure how I'd do it.

studentofmusic said:

Cool, thanks! I'll check those songs out. And it's nice to know that I did well to go for his first two albums first.

Harlepolis said:

Thanks! I was wondering what he's doing these days. Apparently he's watching Judge Judy.



What was so sick about it, exactly? I didn't even really understand what that part was all about. The girl was running around naked and wanted him to tickle her, and he freaked out because he was afraid that people might think he's a child molestor if they saw her asking him? Is that what it was? Not sure why that would make him leave the studio and never come back. It's not like he did anything wrong, or was accused of anything.

i would give my left nut to have Bill Withers do an album that's produced by Rick Rubin.

"Lovely Day"

His song "Hello Like Before" is exceptionally gorgeous and heartbreaking.
Listen up.

I love that you discovered this man. His voice and his songwriting skills make him one of my fave soul singers.

Milty said:

Please tell us "Why"

retina said:

I might suggest...



...Live at Carnegie Hall

Luckily, I got to meet him a few years ago at a NAMM show.
Nobody even knew recognized him.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

I dig Bill!

Still Bill


my favorites on Still Bill are :

Lonely Street
Let Me In Your Life
Who Is He (And What Is He To You)
Use Me
Lean On Me
Kissin' My Love
I Don't Know
Another Day To Run

+ Justments


favoritess On + Justments are:

You
The Same Love That Made Me Laugh
Stories
Ruby Lee
Green Grass
Heartbreak Road
Can We Pretend
Liza
Make A Smile For Me


Menagerie


favorites on Menagerie:

Lovely Day
I Want To Spend The Night
Then You Smiled At Me
She Wants To Get Down
It Ain't Because Of Me Baby
Wintertime
Let Me Be The One You Need

Just As I Am


favorites on Just As I Am :

Harlem
Ain't No Sunshine
Grandma's Hands
Sweet Wanomi
Do It Good
Hope She'll Be Hapier
I'm Her Daddy
In My Heart
Moanin' And Groanin'

theAudience said:

That's a shame,

I dig that one too, I just can't get over the crowd and there off clapping ass on a couple of songs

PFunkjazz said:

cuz i like what he did Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. I think it'd be a good thing to have Bill Withers and just a guitar and his original songs.
But if Bill only produces himself, then that would be just as fine.
Either way I'd love to see a new Bill Withers album.

SoulAlive said:

I love that cut as well!

Use Me is my current fav.

GROSSLY underrated songwriter. Good on you for finding him, retina.

anthony hamilton is a recreation of Bill withers.