Bill Withers, the sweet-voiced baritone behind such classic songs as 'Ain't No Sunshine,' 'Lean on Me' and 'Use Me' has died. He was 81.
He was the first man in his family not to go into the mines, and he couldn't wait to get away from the place where he grew up, as he told NPR'sWithers' father died when he was just 13. Soon, another tragedy struck the family."My social idol was my older brother," Withers told NPR."He got hurt in the coal mines — he got crushed by a coal cart — so, he wasn't able to work in there anymore.
Withers joined the Navy after graduating from high school in 1956. After a nine-year stint, he moved first to San Jose, Calif. and, a couple of years later, to Los Angeles. For a while, he was a milkman, and then worked in a factory making airplane parts. In the evenings, he would sit in as a singer at small clubs around the city. Between shifts, he learned how to play the guitar and began writing his own songs, which he began shopping around to labels.
Withers was first signed by Clarence Avant at Sussex Records; Avant brought in Booker T. Jones to produce 1971's
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