It is time once again for a new Turntable Talk topic from Dave at A Sound Day. Each month he offers up a musical topic for us to write about. This month we are Going out on a High Note. Dave’s instructions to us:
We all have seen artists (not to mention athletes, politicians…) who stick around long after they should have exited gracefully. For this round, pick a musical artist who you think ended their career on a high note, a great final album, or triumphant concert tour before they grew stale.
I had a difficult time with this one. As I began to think of artists, I kept coming up with artists who are still recording and touring. Willie Nelson, for example, is still making music and hitting the stage. Has he stayed around “too long?” Some say yes, while other say no. So my search continued. Then I remembered Bill Withers.
Bill served in the US Navy for almost 10 years. It was while he served our country that he began writing songs and became interested in singing. After he left the Navy, he decided to relocate to California in hopes of starting a career in music.
He found work as a mechanical assembler for several different companies including IBM, Ford, and the Douglas Aircraft Corporation. He used the money from his job to record demo tracks that he could take to record companies. He also began to play his songs in nightclubs in the area, hoping someone might discover him.
In 1967, he had his first official release – “Three Nights and a Morning.” It was a song that got little recognition. Three years later, he was signed to Sussex Records and Booker T Jones was assigned to produce Bill’s first album. That album, Just As I Am, included his first hit – “Ain’t No Sunshine.”
The album was a huge success and Withers rounded up a band and went out on tour. “Ain’t No Sunshine” was a Top 10 song and went on to win the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1972. It also got him noticed by Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, who sent him a letter inviting him to appear on the show.
When his tour wrapped up, he used the time off to write and record songs for his second album entitled Still Bill. This album included Bill’s first #1 song – “Lean On Me,” which hit the top of the charts in July of 1972. This was followed up with his third million selling record – “Use Me.”
Bill’s relationship with Sussex record eventually went sour. He said of Sussex Records “They weren’t paying me.” He claims to have erased an entire album that he had recorded for the label in a fit of pique. “I could probably have handled that differently,” he said. There was an ongoing legal dispute with the Sussex company, and because of that Withers was unable to record for some time thereafter.
Sussex Records eventually went out of business and Bill had to find a new label. He wound up at Columbia Records in 1975. His first album on Columbia included the song “She’s Lonely,” which was featured in the movie Looking For Mr. Goodbar (which starred Richard Gere and Diane Keaton). He released an album every year afterward, including the 1977 album Menagerie which contained the hit “Lovely Day.”
Bill began to have trouble with Columbia. Apparently he was unable to get songs approved for his album. The label kept passing on the songs he wanted to record. Because of this, he decided to focus on joint projects beginning in 1977. He worked with the Crusaders, percussionist Ralph MacDonald, and jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr.
“Just The Two of Us” appeared on Washington’s 1980 album Winelight. It was released as a single in February of 1981 and went on to win a Grammy for Best R&B Song. In 1985, Withers released his final studio album, Watching You, Watching me. It was at this point that Bill decided to “go out on a high note.”
Withers was quoted in interviews that “a lot of the songs approved for the album—in particular, two of the first three singles released—were the same songs that had been rejected in 1982.” This played a big part in the eight-year hiatus between albums. Bill also stated how frustrating it was to see his record label release an album by actor Mr. T, when they were preventing him, an actual songwriter, from releasing his own.
With Columbia trying to exert control over his sound to sell more albums played a part in his decision to not record or re-sign with a record label after 1985. I would imagine the Mr. T thing played a part, too. This effectively ended his performing career, though remixes of his previously recorded music were released well after his “retirement.”
Withers was an artist who found musical success later in life. He was in his early 30’s when he began his career. Now at 47, he said he was socialized as a “regular guy” who had “a life before the music, so he did not feel an inherent need to keep recording once he fell out of love with the industry.” Bill felt he made the right decision. After leaving the music industry, he said that he did not miss touring and performing live and did not regret leaving music behind.
Accolades continued after his “retirement.” In 1988, he won another Grammy, this time as a songwriter for the cover of his “Lean on Me” by Club Nouveau. It won the Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. In 2005 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, followed in 2015 with his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He said:
“What few songs I wrote during my brief career, there ain’t a genre that somebody didn’t record them in. I’m not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don’t think I’ve done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia.”
Bill passed away in March of 2020 in a Los Angeles hospital due to cardiac complications.
He is still receiving accolades in 2025. Last month, he was selected to be inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony usually takes place in October.
Thanks to Dave for once again hosting Turntable Talk. I am already looking forward to what next month’s topic will be.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 