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Grammy award winner Bill Withers passes away
April 6, 2020

Bill Withers, the legendary performer who defined 1970s soul with timeless hits like 'Ain't No Sunshine' and 'Lean on Me' has died, his family said in a statement. He was 81 years old.

The Grammy-winning artist succumbed to heart complications, according to his family, which said it was "devastated" over the loss.

In 2006 he was awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award, in 2007- Inducted into West Virginia Music Hall of Fame & in 2015- Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Before his music career, he served in the Navy as an aircraft mechanic.

The youngest of six, Withers was born on July 4, 1938 during the final years of the Great Depression in Slab Fork, West Virginia, in a segregated coal mining region.

As a child he struggled with a stutter, and in his teenage years enlisted in the US Navy and then worked as an aircraft mechanic.