Lean on Me (song)

Song infobox
Name =Lean on Me


Caption =
Type =
Artist =Bill Withers
alt Artist =
Album =Still Bill
Published =
Released =June 1972
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Length =4:17
Writer =Bill Withers
Composer =
Label =Sussex Records
Producer =Bill Withers
Chart position =
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Misc =Song infobox
Name =Lean on Me


Caption =
Type =
Artist =Club Nouveau
alt Artist =
Album =Life, Love and Pain
Published =
Released =January 1987
track_no =
Recorded =
Genre =
Length =5:57 (original album version)
Writer =Bill Withers
Composer =
Label =King Jay
Producer =Jay King
Chart position =*1 US, *2 US R&B
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"Lean on Me" is a well known hit song written and performed by Bill Withers on the 1972 album "Still Bill". It is ranked number 205 on the "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Bill Withers' original version of the song has become a popular inspirational anthem and would be his first (and only) Billboard Hot 100 number one single to date. Numerous cover versions have been recorded, and it is one of only nine songs to have hit #1 with versions recorded by two different artists.

Withers' hardscrabble childhood in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/billwithers/articles/story/6596050/lean_on_me Lean On Me] entry in the "Rolling Stone" 500 Greatest Songs of All Time] was the inspiration for "Lean on Me", which he wrote after he had moved to Los Angeles and found himself missing the strong community ethic of his hometown.

Several members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were used for the recording session in 1972.

It has been interpreted by various artists ever since, including Will Smith, Mud (1976), Al Jarreau (1985), Club Nouveau (1987), dc Talk (1992), Michael Bolton (1994), Bonnie Tyler (1999), Anne Murray (1999), and Limp Bizkit (2005). Country singer Kenny Rogers has performed the song at his concerts, but has not released a recording.
R&B group Club Nouveau covered the song andtook it to number one on the Billboard charts in 1987. The1987 Club Nouveau version won a Grammy award.In 1989, covers of "Lean on Me" by The Winans and Sandra Reaves-Phillips provided the emotional uplift for a motion picture of the same name. Additionally, for the same film, the song was adapted by Big Daddy Kane in hip hop form.

UK Singer Elkie Brooks performed the song as the title music for BBC comedy program "Agony Again".

American band Counting Crows used the song as entrance music before every show during their 2008 American tour in support of their album Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings.

References