Song of the Day 4/3: Bill Withers, “Lean on Me”

Amid the COVID-19 catastrophe, deaths from other causes continue apace. Bill Withers, 81, died Monday in Los Angeles of heart failure, apparently unrelated to the coronavirus. Withers was a working stiff who rose to sudden stardom in 1971 when”Ain’t No Sunshine,” the B-side to his first single, stormed up the singles charts. His string of hit through the mid-’70s remain popular, despite the fact that Withers walked away from the recording industry in the 1980s. This Rolling Stone feature from a few years back provides the story.

Withers was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2015.