Bobby Womack

Infobox Musical artist


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Name = Bobby Womack
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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Robert Dwayne Womack
Born = birth date and age|1944|3|4
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Genre = R&B soul, funk, deep soul, soul blues
Instrument = Vocals, guitar, drums, piano/keyboards
Voice_Type = Baritone
Occupation = Singer-songwriter, musician, producer, instrumentalist, sideman
Years_active = 1962 - present
Label = United Artists, Minit, The Right Stuff, Solar, MCA, Columbia, Castle, Indigo Records
Associated_acts = The Valentinos, Sam Cooke, Cecil Womack, Womack and Womack, Mary Wells
URL =

Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack (pronEng|ˈwoʊmæk) (born March 4, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than forty years and has spanned a repertoire in the styles of R&B, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, gospel, country and funk.

As a songwriter, Womack is notable for penning and originally recording The Rolling Stones' first UK No. 1 hit, "It's All Over Now" and New Birth's "I Can Understand It" among other songs. As a singer he is most notable for the hits "Lookin' For a Love", "That's the Way I Feel About Cha", "Woman's Gotta Have It", "Harry Hippie" and his 1980s hit "If You Think You're Lonely Now".

Womack has been nominated for possible 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [ [http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-etrockhall0922,0,3257546.story Run-D.M.C., Metallica nominated for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Associated Press September 22, 2008] ]

Biography

Early life and career: The Valentinos

Born Robert Dwayne Womack on March 4, 1944 in Cleveland, Ohio, Womack was the third of fifth boys born to Friendly, Sr. and Naomi Womack in a housing project. Taking after their gospel-singing father, Bobby and his four brothers Friendly, Jr., Cecil, Harry and Curtis formed The Womack Brothers and began touring the gospel circuit. One night, soul pioneer Sam Cooke spotted the Womack Brothers performing and immediately began seeking the group out for a record deal. Signing with SAR Records, Cooke's own imprint, they eventually agreed to leave the gospel circuit for a career in secular music and the group was renamed as the Valentinos where shortly afterwards they scored their first charted single with the single "Lookin' For a Love", which peaked at number-eight on the national R&B chart. In 1964, they scored a second hit with "It's All Over Now". Both songs were written by Womack and later would give the singer a lot of royalties especially after The Rolling Stones' cover of "It's All Over Now" hit the top of the UK singles chart. The Valentinos' career dwindled after the tragic death of Cooke in December of 1964. The group stayed together for a year and a half before splitting up for good in 1966. Due to Womack's controversial marriage to Cooke's widow, Barbara, the singer struggled to get noticed in the music industry and secluded himself as a session musician.

Early solo career: sideman

As a session guitarist, Womack worked at producer Chips Moman's American Studios in Memphis, and played on recordings by Joe Tex and The Box Tops. Until this point, around 1967, he had had little success as a solo artist, but at American he began to record a string of classic soul-music singles including the 1968 "What Is This" (his first chart hit), "It's Gonna Rain" and "More Than I Can Stand," all of which featured his elegant, understated rhythm-guitar work and his impassioned vocals. During this period he became known as a songwriter, contributing many songs to the repertoire of Wilson Pickett; these include "I'm in Love" and "I'm a Midnight Mover." He also applied guitar work on three of Aretha Franklin's hit-making late 1960s recordings including "Lady Soul", where he played guitar on Franklin's hit, "Chain of Fools". Among his most well-known works as a session musician from this period, his appearance as guitarist on Sly & the Family Stone's 1971 "There's a Riot Goin' On" and on Janis Joplin's "Pearl", which features a song by Womack and poet Michael McClure, "Trust Me". In 1971, on an album with jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo, he introduced his song "Breezin'", which later became a hit for George Benson.

olo stardom

In 1968, Womack signed with Minit Records and put out his first charted single, "What Is This" in 1968, following that up with "It's Gonna Rain", "More than I Can Stand", a soulful cover of Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" and his bluesy rendition of The Mamas and Papas' "California Dreamin'", which gave him his first top fifty pop single.

After moving to the United Artists label in 1971, he released the album "Communication" scoring the hit "That's the Way I Feel About You", which became his first top forty single in 1972.

His follow-up album, "Understanding", featured his original rendition of the single "I Can Understand It", which later became a funk hit for the Detroit-based band, New Birth, and the top ten R&B hit, "Harry Hippie", loosely based on Bobby's late brother Harry, who died two years after the song was recorded. "Understanding" also yielded his first R&B number-one single with "A Woman's Gotta Have It", later to be covered by James Taylor in 1976, returning the favor of having Womack cover his seminal single, "Fire and Rain". In 1973, Womack wrote, produced and recorded the soundtrack album to "Across 110th Street", with its title track becoming another successful hit for Womack.

In 1974, Womack reached the pinnacle of pop success when his remake of his old 1962 Valentinos single, "Lookin' for a Love" reached the top ten of the pop singles chart. Other hits afterwards included the funk singles "Check It Out" and "Daylight" and the single, "You're Welcome, Stop On By", later covered by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. After 1976, few of Womack's songs hit the charts as he dealt with creative difficulties with his record labels. Leaving United Artists at the end of 1976, he fell out of favor with R&B audiences at the end of the seventies. But in 1981, Womack regained success with the release of "The Poet", which included his top ten R&B hit, "If You Think You're Lonely Now". Womack gained a sizable European fan base which grew with the release of 1984's "The Poet II", which included the top ten R&B duet with Patti LaBelle titled "Love Has Finally Come at Last". In 1985, he scored his final top ten R&B single with "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much".

Legacy

K-Ci Hailey, a notable admirer of Womack's work, covered "If You Think You're Lonely Now" in 1994. Hailey again covered Womack in 2006 with his rendition of "A Woman's Gotta Have It". The song is referenced in Mariah Carey's song "We Belong Together", a number-one hit in June 2005. Carey sings "I can't sleep at night / When you are on my mind / Bobby Womack's on the radio / Singing to me: 'If you think you're lonely now.'"

Film director Quentin Tarantino used "Across 110th Street" (which, in a different version, had been the title song of the 1972 movie) in the opening and closing sequences of his 1997 film "Jackie Brown". His work has been used in several other popular films including Meet the Parents (2000), Ali (2001) and American Gangster (2007). A 2003 Saab commercial used Womack’s interpretation of "California Dreamin'". In 2005, "Across 110th Street" appeared in the hit Activision video game and was used again in 2007 for the film, "American Gangster".

In 2008, Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child recorded her own version of his R&B hit "Daylight" with Travis McCoy of the Gym Class Heroes, which became a hit in the UK, where it had not been previously released as a single by Womack.

Controversy

In March 1965 just after he turned 21 years old--and just 3 months after Sam Cooke's December 1964 murder -- Womack created scandal by marrying Cooke's widow Barbara Campbell. Womack claimed he married Barbara for fear that if she were left alone she would do something crazy [http://www.angelfire.com/music2/BobbyWomack/bwbiography.html Bobby Womack] [http://redkelly.blogspot.com/2006/09/bobby-womack-of-valentinos-lonesome.html the "B" side: Bobby Womack of the Valentinos - A Lonesome Man (Checker 1122)] . They divorced in 1970. Things became even more complicated when his younger brother, Cecil, married Sam and Barbara's daughter Linda. The controversy derailed Womack's career for some time. Ironically, Bobby and Linda collaborated on the hit song "Woman's Gotta Have It" and Bobby applied background vocals for his brother and Linda as the pair teamed up as Womack & Womack.

Discography

Albums

*1968: "Fly Me to the Moon" (Minit) - US #174, R&B #34
*1969: "My Prescription" (Minit) - R&B #44
*1970: "The Womack "Live" (United Artists) - US #188, R&B #13
*1971: "Communication" (United Artists) - US #83, R&B #7, Jazz #20
*1972: "Understanding" (United Artists) - US #43, R&B #7
*1972: "Across 110th Street" (United Artists) - US #50, R&B #6
*1973: "Facts of Life" (United Artists) - US #37, R&B #6
*1974: "Lookin' for a Love Again" (United Artists) - US #85, R&B #5
*1975: "Greatest Hits" (United Artists) - US #142, R&B #30
*1975: "I Don't Know What the World Is Coming To" (United Artists) - US #126, R&B #20
*1976: "Safety Zone" (United Artists) - US #147, R&B #40
*1975: "I Can Understand It" (United Artists) - same tracks as on "Greatest Hits"
*1976: "BW Goes C&W" (United Artists)
*1976: "Home Is Where the Heart Is" (Columbia)
*1977: "Pieces" (Columbia)
*1979: "Roads of Life" (Arista) - R&B #55
*1981: "The Poet" (Beverly Glen) - US #29, R&B #1
*1984: "The Poet II" (Beverly Glen) - US #60, R&B #5, UK #31
*1985: "So Many Rivers" (MCA) - US #66, R&B #5, UK #28
*1985: "Someday We'll All Be Free" (Beverly Glen) - R&B #59
*1986: "Womagic" (MCA) - R&B #68
*1987: "Last Soul Man" (MCA)
*1989: "Save The Children" (Solar)
*1994: "Soul Seduction Supreme" (Castle)
*1994: "Resurrection" (Continuum) - R&B #91
*1998: "Soul Sensation Live" (Sequel)
*1999: "Back to My Roots" (Capitol) - Gospel #27
*1999: "Traditions" (Capitol)
*2000: "Christmas Album" (Indigo)
*2003: "Lookin' For a Love: The Best of 1968-1976" (Stateside Records)http://www.statesiderecords.com]
*2004: "Fly Me To The Moon/My Prescription" on one CD (Stateside Records)
*2004: "Understanding/Communication" (Stateside Records)
*2004: "Womack Live/The Safety Zone" (Stateside Records)
*2004: "Lookin' For A Love Again/BW Goes CW" (Stateside Records)
*2004: "Facts of Life/I Don't Know What the World Is Coming To" (Stateside Records)

ingles

*1962: "Lookin' For a Love" - R&B #8
*1964: "It's All Over Now" - R&B #94
*1968: "California Dreamin'" - US #43, R&B #20
*1968: "Fly Me To The Moon" - US #52, R&B #16
*1968: "What Is This" - R&B #33
*1969: "How I Miss My Baby" - US #94, R&B #13
*1969: "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" - R&B #48
*1969: "It's Gonna Rain" - R&B #43
*1970: "I'm Gonna Forget About You" - R&B #30
*1970: "More Than I Can Stand" - US# 90, R&B #23
*1971: "Communication" - R&B #40
*1971: "The Preacher (Part 2)/More Than I Can Stand" - R&B #30
*1972: "Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)" - US #51, R&B #16
*1972: "That's The Way I Feel About Cha" - US #27, R&B #2
*1972: "Woman's Gotta Have It" - US #60, R&B #1
*1973: "Across 110th Street" - US #56, R&B #19
*1973: "Harry Hippie" - US #31, R&B #8
*1973: "I'm Through Trying To Prove My Love To You" - R&B #80
*1973: "Nobody Wants You When You're Down And Out" - US #29, R&B #2
*1974: "Lookin' For a Love" - US #10, R&B #1
*1974: "You're Welcome, Stop On By" - US #59, R&B #5
*1975: "Check It Out" - US #91, R&B #6
*1975: "It's All Over Now" - R&B #68
*1976: "Daylight" - R&B #5
*1976: "Where There's A Will, There's A Way" - R&B #13
*1977: "Home Is Where The Heart Is" - R&B #43
*1978: "Trust Your Heart" - R&B #47
*1979: "How Could You Break My Heart" - R&B #40
*1981: "Secrets" - R&B #55
*1982: "If You Think You're Lonely Now" - R&B #3
*1982: "Where Do We Go From Here" - R&B #26
*1984: "It Takes a Lot of Strength to Say Goodbye" - R&B #76
*1984: "Love Has Finally Come at Last" ("with Patti LaBelle") - US #88, R&B #3
*1984: "Tell Me Why" - UK #60
*1985: "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much" - R&B #2, UK #64
*1985: "Let Me Kiss It Where It Hurts" - R&B #50
*1985: "Someday We'll All Be Free" - R&B #74
*1986: "(I Wanna) Make Love to You" - R&B #57, UK #100
*1987: "How Could You Break My Heart" - UK #86
*1987: "Living in a Box" - UK #70
*1989: "Save the Children" - R&B #83
*2004: "California Dreamin' (re-release)" - UK #59

References

External links

* [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:rifxlfhe5cqy All Music Guide Entry]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/music2/BobbyWomack/index.html Angelfire Biography]
* [http://www.soul-patrol.com/soul/womack.htm Soul Patrol Biography]
* [http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Bobby%20Womack.html Soulwalking website]