BOBBY WOMACK – TRIBUTE
Sadly we have lost one of the all time greatest Soul Singers , Bobby Womack at the age of 70. He was partly responsible for getting myself and many others into Soul music over 40 years ago. In the 60’s he was known as a Valentino, in the 70’s The Preacher, 80’s The Poet, 90’s The Last Soul Man and the 10’s Bravest man in the universe. Regardless of the tag, Bobby Womack was Soul personified. His Gritty Voice could express Emotions and feelings like no one else, and he has brought endless hours of spine tingling listening pleasure to us all.
He started singing with his brothers Cecil, Harry and Curtis and his father Friendly Snr in Cleveland Ohio in 1954 at the age of 10, initially as the Womack Brothers and then as the Valentinos. He became a protégée of Sam Cooke who signed the group to his SAR label. Their song ‘It’s All Over Know’ is covered by The Rolling Stones and became a No1 Pop hit. Another of their songs ‘Looking for a love’ was re-recorded by Bobby in the 70’s. He married Sam’s widow Barbara Campbell, barely three month after Sam’s sudden death. The reaction of the music industry was harsh, effectively stopping Bobby’s career for several years. Bobby found session work as a rhythm guitarist with Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett for whom he wrote songs like ‘I’m in love’ and ‘Midnight mover’. he also worked with Sly and thev Family Stone on their epic ‘There’s a riot going on’ album. He also made an album with Gabor Szabo and wrote the track Breezin made famous by George Benson 6 years later.
Bobby recorded his first solo albums for the Minit label in the late 60’s and signed to United Artists in 1971. This is when his career really took off and he recorded a string great songs and albums including Communication, Understanding, Facts of Life , I Don’t know what he world is coming to and the soundtrack to Across 110th Street. These records still sound incredibly fresh today and are the backbone of his work. After leaving UA he joined Columbia and recorded two great and under appreciated albums in Muscle Shoals ‘Home is where the heart is’ and ‘Pieces’. Another great album for Arista ‘Roads of life’ followed in the late 70’s. In the early 80’s he teamed up with Patrick Moten and recorded the two Poet albums which are quite rightly highly revered. Womack stuck to his soulful sound whilst many others had switched to a more electronic sound. Later in the Eighties he made several more commercially successful albums for MCA. He returned in 2012 with an album produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell which received critical acclaim in rock circles.
Bobby’s life was never far from Controversy , his drug addiction, his love life, and sudden deaths to his brothers and sons, brought him into the public eye for reasons other than his music. Despite of these we loved him as the great singer, songwriter and guitarist that he was. His music will live on with us for the rest of our lives and continue to tingle our spines and refresh us when we hear that incredible voice. There will never be another Bobby Womack. R.I. P. Bobby.
I hope that you enjoy this collection of the Bobby’s tracks which we played on Solar Radio as a celebration of his music and life. Hear our tribute on our show here
Laurence Prangell
July 2014
