EURweb |
BILL WITHERS EXPLAINS INDUSTRY ABSENCE: In part two of EUR exclusive, singer says, 'the record business quit me.'
*In part two of Lee Bailey’s candid interview with Bill Withers, the recent ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Heritage Award recipient explains why he believes his record label CBS shut him out of the recording studio for eight years, and basically ended his career.
As previously reported, the creator of such standards as “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lovely Day” and “Just the Two of Us” decided to leave the industry for good after an uncomfortable experience during his last time in the studio. Withers said he was expected to work as a little 4-year-old girl was allowed to wander around the facility in the nude.
“Now here’s this little blonde-haired naked girl, and I’m black from the South,” Withers said. “And she’s coming over to me saying, “tickle me..." I could see myself standing up in front of some judge …trying to explain myself. So I said man, this stuff is crazy. And it just soured me on the whole experience, so I left it alone.”
But why did the record company want him out? The interview continues:
WHAT WAS THE LABEL’S REASONING BEHIND ALL OF THAT?
At these record companies man, it looked like to me that the people that were supposed to be running the black music departments could only greenlight [so much]. Mickey Eichner sure as hell wasn’t in black music, but he could shut me down. Shut me down, brother, from 1977 to 1985. And even after “Just the Two of Us,” I felt like okay, maybe I can get off of [CBS]. [The label told me], “If you could get somebody, any other record company, to give us $100,000, which is chump change in this business, [you can leave].” And nobody would touch me, then. This business back then, when one white guy spoke against you, that was your ass.
That’s something I’ve never talked about, but basically I got shut down. When I made records that turned out to be part of the landscape now, like “Lovely Day,” all I got was complaints [from the label]. That song hung around for 25 years and made its own way. So then after stuff I had done was still being listened to 30 years later, now I get offers all the time for record deals. They can kiss my ass (laughs) you know what I mean? I will never ever give anybody that kind of power over me again. …I felt like man, shoot, I’d rather get me a truck and write “Bill’s Handyman” on the side and go around fixing people’s toilets or something. I don’t need this sh*t. It turned me off.
So now, because of the longevity and stuff, I started to get approached [by labels]. If I chose to right now, I could sign a record deal probably by the end of the day.
AND WRITE YOUR OWN TICKET? IN OTHER WORDS, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO BOW DOWN TO ANYONE ELSE’S WISHES?
I don’t know about that. Somebody would be trying to stick his fingers into my brain, probably. At this point in life, I mean, I’ll be 68-years-old July the 4th, so I have a totally different outlook on life. My values are in different places. But it wasn’t like I just quit. I couldn’t get arrested.
WHY DIDN’T YOU AT LEAST KEEP PERFORMING?
I never sold that many tickets. It was not profitable for me to keep performing. When I worked, I was the opening act. I opened for Phyllis Hyman, I opened for Jennifer Holiday, those were the only gigs that were there for me. I couldn’t sell enough tickets to go on the road. I opened for the Fifth Dimension and had to play in front of the curtain. How much room is on the stage in front of the curtain? By the time I got through buying tickets and paying the band, I was losing money. So I stayed out of the way and kept my mouth shut, because people don’t wanna hear that stuff, man. And nobody would believe you anyway.
I did not quit the record business, the record business quit me, and then rediscovered me when I got to be an old man. This is something I’ve never told anybody, and I don’t know, maybe you’ve got that truth thing on you man, but I’m tired of getting blamed [by people who say], “Oh you just quit. You just walked away.” I did not quit anything.
WELL YOUR LEGACY OBVIOUSLY LIVES ON, AS DO YOU.
You know what? it’s fun being me, because I don’t remind you of nobody. Fortunately, I don’t have to go begging, and I’m grateful for that, but that’s the way it is. I love these young rappers man, because of their sense of ownership. They’re doing better business than anybody from my time was able to do.
AND THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE GOOD TASTE. THEY CAN’T SEEM TO LEAVE YOUR MUSIC ALONE.
Bless their hearts. Kanye and Will Smith and Blackstreet and all of them, I love them. They’ve all been nice to me when I talked to them, they treat me nice. I’ve been very, very fortunate with what happened with the music that I did. But I didn’t stop making music. I was stopped, brother. Cold.
.jpg)
