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Bobby Womack

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AboutRobert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack (March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer-songwriter and musician, and producer. Since the early 1960s, when 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 spanned more than 60 years, during which he played in the styles of R&B, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, gospel, and country.

Womack was a prolific songwriter who wrote and originally recorded the Rolling Stones' first UK No. 1 hit, "It's All Over Now" and New Birth's "I Can Understand It". 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", "Across 110th Street", and his 1980s hits "If You Think You're Lonely Now" and "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much".

Throughout his long recording career, many of Womack's songs have been covered by other artists. In addition to the famous Rolling Stones' version of "It's All Over Now", it has charted also with versions by Patti Drew in 1966 and as a duet between Womack and Bill Withers in 1975. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s other artists regularly recorded his songs. They included Ella Washington and Baby Washington, who recorded "I Can't Afford To Lose Him" in 1968, Jerry Butler, who released "Yes My Goodness Yes" in 1968, Margie Joseph, who issued "What You Gonna Do", and Roosevelt Grier, who had an R&B success with "People Make The World". One of his most famous songs, "Trust Me", was recorded by Janis Joplin and later by Winfield Parker amongst others. The 1960s and 1970s were especially profitable years for Womack's songwriting, either solo efforts or in partnership with the likes of Darryl Carter and Jim Ford. Whilst working as a session musician with Wilson Pickett he regularly contributed songs, including the original version of "I'm In Love", later covered by Aretha Franklin. Another Atlantic Records artist, Percy Sledge, issued "Baby Help Me" in 1967. The J. Geils Band covered "Lookin' for a Love", released on several albums, including the live album Blow Your Face Out.

In the following decade, Millie Jackson with "Put Something Down On It" , Kokomo and New Birth with "I Can Understand It", Ronnie Wood with "I Got A Feeling", and George Benson with the instrumental "Breezin", recorded versions of Womack songs. Lou Donaldson, the American jazz saxophonist, reinterpreted "You're Welcome To Stop On By" in 1974. The British singer Rod Stewart used the distinctive string arrangement from "Put Something Down On It" for his massive hit "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy". Other significant artists to record Bobby Womack songs include: Georgie Fame and Kelly Rowland with "Daylight", O V Wright's cover of "That's The Way I Feel About You" and reggae acts Dennis Alcapone, who issued a distinctive version of "Harry Hippy" entitled "Sorry Harry", and Triston Palma, who issued "Love Has Finally Come At Last" in 1984.

Jodeci's 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.'" In 2007, R&B singer Jaheim interpolated the song as "Lonely" on his album "The Making of a Man". Neo soul singer Calvin Richardson also covered many of Womack's tunes. "That's the Way I Feel About Cha" was covered by the late R&B musician Gerald Levert and fellow singer Mary J. Blige on Levert's 1998 album Love & Consequences.

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 True Crime: New York City.

On the 1994 release 1-800-NEW-FUNK, Nona Gaye covered "Woman's Gotta Have It", produced by Prince and backed by his band, New Power Generation.
During the spring of 1997, R&B singer Rome covered the original song from his self-titled debut album.

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 Singles Chart, where it was previously released as a single by Womack in 1976.

In 2009, Calvin Richardson was chosen to record a tribute album to Womack to coincide with Womack's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Grammy-nominated album was entitled Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack. It reached No. 30 on the US R&B chart.

In early 2012, Womack's career was the subject of the documentary show Unsung on TV One.

In March 1965, just three months after Sam Cooke's death, 21-year-old Womack married Cooke's widow, Barbara Campbell, ten years his senior. The marriage was considered a scandal by some in the music business, and Womack found himself ostracized in the soul-music world. Womack's brothers turned against him, as did his audiences, and he was assaulted by Barbara's brother. Womack claimed he initially went to Barbara's side to console her following Cooke's death for fear that, if she were left alone, she would "do something crazy."

In 1970, Bobby and Barbara divorced after she found out that he had an affair with his 18-year-old stepdaughter Linda, daughter of Sam Cooke and Barbara. In the ensuing tussle, Barbara fired a gun at her husband. Vincent Womack, his son with Barbara, committed suicide in 1986, at age 21.

In 1974, Harry, Bobby's brother, was fatally stabbed in the neck with a steak knife by his jealous girlfriend.

Womack's second marriage (1976) was to Regina Banks with whom he had two sons, Truth Bobby and Bobby Truth, and a daughter, Gina. In 1978, Truth Bobby died aged four months old, and Womack turned again to cocaine. The marriage also ended in divorce.

From his relationship with Jody Laba, he fathered two sons, Cory and Jordan.

Linda, Sam Cooke and Barbara Campbell's daughter, later married Cecil, Bobby's younger brother. Bobby and Linda collaborated on the hit song "Woman's Gotta Have It" and he applied background vocals for Cecil and Linda as the pair teamed up as Womack & Womack. The song "Baby I'm Scared of You" by Womack & Womack, from their album Love Wars, was released as a single in the US and UK in 1983.

Womack died at his home in Tarzana, California at the age of 70 on June 27, 2014. He was cremated, and his ashes were interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, in The Great Mausoleum, Memorial Terrace.

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