Bill Withers - 10 Fun Facts

He didn’t release his first album until age 32 – Withers worked as a factory assembler for airplane toilets before his breakout.
He recorded Ain’t No Sunshine while still working a day job – He didn’t quit until the song became a hit; the album cover even shows him holding a lunch pail.
“Ain’t No Sunshine” repeats “I know” 26 times – Withers left it as a placeholder, but the producer kept it in, creating one of the song’s most emotional moments.
He never studied music theory – Bill wrote and played purely by feel and intuition, often writing songs in one sitting.
He wrote “Lean on Me” after a childhood memory – Inspired by neighbors supporting each other in his West Virginia hometown.
He refused to let the music industry push him around – After disputes with Columbia Records, Withers walked away from recording entirely in the mid-1980s.
He turned down Marvin Gaye’s band – Before his solo success, he declined an offer to join Gaye’s backing band—he wanted to sing his own songs.
He won 3 Grammy Awards – All in the R&B category, including for Just the Two of Us with Grover Washington Jr.
He wrote “Lovely Day” to create calm – The long-held note (18 seconds!) was meant to soothe listeners during tense times in the late ’70s.
He once called the music business “self-congratulatory nonsense” – Bill Withers often critiqued the industry’s egos and empty pageantry.