When the news broke yesterday that soul legend Bill Withers had died, many people might have thought: "Bill who?" But everyone knew him through his songs even if they didn't recognise his name.
Bill Withers was just about the best friend you never knew you had.
Music fans of a certain vintage will remember his hit period in the 1970s, while Michael Jackson aficionados should know him as the composer of Ain’t No Sunshine, a hit in Jacko’s early days as a teenage sensation.
True to his background, he wrote songs that ordinary people could identify with, because Bill Withers was a Joe Soap - he built toilets on aeroplanes until he started making hit records in his thirties.
From the restrained anger of Harlem to the evocative Grandma’s Hands, on to tender love songs such as Ain’t No Sunshine and Let Me in Your Life, he hit a common chord with many millions of people.
But Bill Withers’ greatest gifts were his singular voice - listen to Lovely Day and be amazed - and his obvious empathy, best exemplified in the classic Lean on Me, which was also a hit for British band Mud.
Another one of his hit songs, Use Me, was also covered by Grace Jones, who included it on her iconic Nightclubbing album.
Here are ten of Bill Withers’ greatest tracks:
