Bill Withers is in Heaven & Lookin' For Grandma's Hands

These already sad times became sadder with news of the passing of Bill Withers. The singer-songwriter actually died on Monday, but his family only announced his passing yesterday. Withers died of a heart ailment. He was 81.

Withers had a brief yet enduring career. Born the son of a coal miner in West Virginia, Withers enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17 and spent nearly a decade in the service primarily as an airplane mechanic. When his military career ended, Withers worked in a factory in Los Angeles. He might have stayed had he not seen Lou Rawls perform and teach himself to play the guitar and write songs.

Withers would soon lose his job making toilets, but instead of being down in the dumps "Ain't No Sunshine" was rising on the charts. During the 1970's, Withers would also have hits with "Grandma's Hands", "Lean On Me", "Use Me" and "Lovely Day". His final chart hit was "Just The Two of Us", a duet with saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. Although Withers stopped making music after 1985 nearly all the aforementioned songs receive regular radio play and are licensed for movies, TV shows and commercials. Withers' songs are a chapter of the Great American songbook and are familiar to people young and old.

Among those songs the only exception would be "Grandma's Hands". Yet it is well worth a listen. Although Withers could be properly described as a r&b and soul musician he can also be properly described as a folk musician in the story telling tradition of Harry Chapin or Richie Havens. As you can hear from this performance, Withers speaks and sings with a gentle authority accompanied by warmth, humor and a plain spoken manner.

The final lyric of "Grandma's Hands" are particularly resonant now. If I get to Heaven I'll look for Grandma's Hands.

Now that Bill Withers is in Heaven I hope he found what he was looking for. R.I.P.