In 1975, Withers segued to major Columbia Records, where he met diminishing commercial returns with “Making Music” (No. 81, 1975) and “Naked and Warm” (No. 169, 1976). “Menagerie” (1977) attempted to address the predominant style of the times by injecting disco into the musician’s sound; while it became his highest-charting release in five years, peaking at No. 39, it was also a definitive break with his more personal songwriting approach.
“‘Bout Love” (1979) topped out at No. 134, and Withers, at loggerheads with his label about the type of material he could record, took a long hiatus from recording under his own name.
He made his last appearance in the national top 10 in 1981 with a guest vocal on “Just the Two of Us” (No. 2 pop, No. 3 R&B), a romantic ballad issued on hitmaking saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.’s album “Winelight.”
His last top-20 R&B hit was “In the Name of Love,” a collaboration with his former percussionist Ralph MacDonald, which rolled to No. 13 in 1984. The tune, co-written with MacDonald and William Salter, captured the “best R&B song” Grammy the following year.
After Columbia’s release of “Watching You Watching Me” (No. 143, 1985), Withers stepped away from performing. In later years, he explained his retreat from the stage and the studio, and ultimately from writing, to Alix Sharkey of England’s Telegraph: “That kind of stuff, to me, was a lot more interesting at 35…. I’m not motivated to wanna draw attention to myself or travel all over the place. There was a time for that. When it was done, it was done.”
In later years, Withers’ still-potent songs racked up covers by more than 250 artists, and were sampled by hip-hop artists like Tupac Shakur and BLACKstreet. His evergreen copyrights were overseen by his second wife, Marcia, who ran his Beverly Hills publishing office. In 1988, “Lean On Me” collected a third Grammy Award for Withers, after the song was covered by Club Nouveau.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
Article Appeared @ https://variety.com/2020/music/news/bill-withers-dead-dies-singer-aint-no-sunshine-1234570209/