On Monday, March 30 2020 the world lost one of its most understated but remarkable soul music singer-songwriter, African-American Bill Withers. He was at his biggest career-wise in the early-to-mid 70’s, when he came up with a series of some of the most legendary standards in music history, such as the soul classics Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean On Me. Both songs have achieved legendary status in the subsequent decades and both were made into notable covers in the late 80’s and early 90’s that gave them a new lease on life. Club Nouveau made a legendary cover of Lean On Me in 1988 that was hugely successful around the globe.

It was one of those songs that gradually developed a groundswell of appreciation as the years went by until it became one of those worldwide standards, beloved by literally hundreds of millions, being such a song of inspiration, compassion and acceptance. Ain’t No Sunshine has been covered by no less than popular 70’s soul group The Fifth Dimension, Grover Washington, Michael Jackson, The Temptations and Isaac Hayes. In 1992 it was turned into an Australian top 3 smash hit by our own home grown band the Rockmelons with Deni Hines supplying lead vocals, daughter of American ex-pat soul legend and adopted favourite daughter and sometime-disco queen of Australia, Marcia Hines.

Deni Hines’ vocal is sensational and penetrating and as a consequence, as well as Rockmelons’ expert production, 28 years later it still sounds fantastic. Though it has fallen out of the public consciousness now, for many years it was a beloved standard.

Withers’ death was of heart disease, pretty natural for an 81 year old, and thankfully not coronavirus, occurring in the thick of the crisis as Withers’ death did. Bill Withers frequently clashed with the record industry, feeling as he did, that they were like vultures in their treatment of the artists, a sentiment which has some support through the record industry and led to Michael Jackson’s referring to then-Sony CEO and ex-husband of Mariah Carey, Tommy Mottola as the devil.

But Withers was one of the staunchest and most active opponents of the music business, famously destroying the master tapes for one of his albums with his first record company, Sussex Records. He finally left the music industry in 1985, having had enough. Both Prince and George Michael notably lashed out at Sony Music for its notoriously vicious recording contracts in the 90’s also. Bill Withers is also responsible for the soul classic Lovely Day, which was reinvented into a beautiful version with a dance beat for the soundtrack of the 1990 movie ‘The Bodyguard’. He also penned the Grammy Award-winning Just The Two Of Us for Grover Washington. Grandma’s Hands and Use Me were also two of Withers’ biggest hits. Bill Withers, gone, not forgotten and much beloved, we salute you.