Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Bobby Womack [1944-2014]

Artist: Bobby Womack
LP: BW Goes C&W
Song: "Don't Make This the Last Date"
[ listen ]
Song: "I Take It on Home"
[ listen ]

I'm interrupting my ongoing and seemingly endless marathon of postings of stuff I found on my Southern Road Trip to remember talented singer, writer, and musician Bobby Womack; he passed away last Friday at age 70. Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944 to Friendly and Naomi Womack (he was a musical minister at the local Baptist church; she played the organ), Bobby first made music with his brothers in a group called, appropriately, The Womack Brothers. Bobby mastered the guitar and went on to play with other musicians (he's featured on Aretha Franklin's "Lady Soul" LP) releasing his first solo record, "Fly Me to the Moon," in 1968. Bobby was making regular appearances on the pop and R&B singles charts in the early-to-mid 1970s, finally going Country & Western with the album featured here, released in 1976. (Unfortunately, none of Bobby's C&W songs were hits.) While battling drug addiction and numerous health problems in the decades that followed, Bobby continued making glorious music—his latest, to be released sometime later this year, is titled "The Best Is Yet to Come." You can read all about Bobby Womack's life, career and his complicated personal life (ask him about the time his wife shot him after catching him in bed with her teenage daughter) on Wikipedia here. You can find his full discography here and there's a moving obituary for Mr. Womack on the Rolling Stone website here.

Bobby Womack
[ March 4, 1944 — June 27, 2014 ]
We will miss you, Bobby.

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