Bill Withers Dead: ‘Lean on Me’ Singer Dies at Age 81

Bill Withers, the influential soul singer who performed “Lean on Me,” passed away on Monday due to heart complications. He was 81 years old.

According to a statement from his family obtained by The Guardian, Withers lived a private life close to his friends and family, and they “pray his music offers comfort and entertainment as fans hold tight to loved ones.”

Withers wrote and recorded major hits throughout his lifetime including “Use Me,” “Just the Two of Us” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” In the mid-1980s, he retired and chose to stay out of the public eye.

“Lean on Me” has been performed in countless movies, TV shows and important events. It was performed at the inaugurations of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Both “Lean on Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” are on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Read on to learn more about Bill Withers.

Withers Was a Three-Time Grammy Award Winner

Bill Withers – Ain’t No Sunshine2018-01-26T15:20:25.000Z

In 1987, Withers won the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues song for “Lean on Me.” The award was given out at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards soon before Withers retired.

Prior to that, he won awards in the R&B categories for other songs. 1981 was a big year for Withers: he took home the win for Best Rhythm & Blues Song for “Just the Two of Us,” but he was also nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

During the 14th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971, Withers won Best Rhythm & Blues Song for “Ain’t No Sunshine.” That year, he was nominated for Best New Artist of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

Withers Was Married to Marcia Johnson

Musician Bill Withers (L) and Marcia Johnson attend the 30th Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Hall on April 18, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio.

At the time of his death, Withers was married to Marcia Johnson. The two wed in 1976, and she was the person who oversaw much of his career management.

Marcia works as the head of the Mattie Music Group in Los Angeles and was instrumental in the use of Withers’ song in many films, television and other media. She is a graduate of the UCLA Graduate School of Management and supported many charities.

Together, they were honored by the Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY), where Marcia served as a Board member.

“What an honor to be recognized by an organization whose mission is to help kids who stutter find their unique voice, build their confidence and see the possibilities for their future,” she said at the time. “It has been a pleasure for Bill and I to be part of the SAY Family for 10 years.”

His Career Lasted Eight Years

Bill Withers – LiveBill Withers – Live (1972) Lonely Town, Lonely Street Ain’t No Sunshine Use Me Let Me In Your Life Kissin’ My Love Lean On Me Harlem2013-10-10T02:06:16.000Z

Withers told Rolling Stone in 2015 that he believed his career lasted for eight years. During that time, he wrote and recorded some of the most-loved and influential songs of all-time. He was out of the public eye for enough time following his retirement that sometimes people wouldn’t recognize him when he went out in public.

“One Sunday morning I was at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. These church ladies were sitting in the booth next to mine. They were talking about this Bill Withers song they sang in church that morning,” he said. “I got up on my elbow, leaned into their booth and said, ‘Ladies, it’s odd you should mention that because I’m Bill Withers.’ This lady said, ‘You ain’t no Bill Withers. You’re too light-skinned to be Bill Withers!’”

Withers released his first album, “Just As I Am,” in 1971. Booker T. Jones produced it, and they scored hits with “Grandma’s Hands” and “Ain’t No Sunshine. The latter was reportedly inspired by Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick’s film Days of Wine and Roses. 

In the mid-1980s, Withers retired.

Withers Overcame a Childhood Stutter

Withers was born the last of six children to his father, who worked in the coal mines in the poor rural area where Withers grew up. Due to his stutter, Withers had a hard time fitting in.

“When you stutter, people have a tendency to disregard you,” he told Rolling Stone. He also said that he knew at a young age about the unvarnished Jim Crow racism that was happening at the time, talking about the fact that people would kill over something as simple as making a mistake and going into a white woman’s bathroom.

In 2015, Withers appeared on an episode of CBS This Morning and talked about how he overcame the stutter.

“I figured out that my stutter was a fear of the perception of the listener,” Withers said. “So I started having fun, trying to lower my opinion of other people and raise my opinion of myself. I would do tricks, like picture everybody naked and stuff, you know dumb stuff, but evidently it worked.”

He Enlisted in the Navy After Graduating High School

After he graduated high school, Withers was desperate to get out of Slab Fork, where he grew up. In 1956, he enlisted in the Navy with the goal of being anything other than a cook or a steward. Because of that goal, he attended the aircraft-mechanic school.

He told Rolling Stone that, though the forces had been desegregated, it didn’t always feel that way.

“I still had to prove to people that thought I was genetically inferior that I wasn’t too stupid to drain the oil out of an airplane,” he said.

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