Having labored in the industry for more than ten years before finally securing a chance at individual prominence, Bobby Womack overcame profound loss and struggles with substance dependence to stand out as one of soul music’s enduring figures. Capable of commanding attention up front as a vocalist or contributing from the wings as a musician and composer, Womack never received widespread acclaim from mainstream listeners, yet throughout the late 1960s and much of the 1970s he maintained steady success on the R&B charts while upholding rigorous artistic standards. His output embodied classic soul, drawing on techniques absorbed from Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, and Sly Stone, each of whom he collaborated with closely during different periods. At the same time, many tracks carried Womack’s distinctive personal imprint, whether in the form of extended spoken reflections on life or bold reinterpretations of familiar pop material. Though underappreciated as a guitarist, Womack helped shape a spare, economical playing style akin to that of Curtis Mayfield and exerted an early influence on the young Jimi Hendrix. Countless performers across R&B and rock have since recorded his compositions, several of which have attained the status of timeless standards.
Bobby Dwayne Womack entered the world in Cleveland on March 4, 1944. His childhood unfolded under strict religious guidance, yet his father Friendly actively supported his sons’ musical pursuits, having himself sung and played guitar in a gospel ensemble. During the early 1950s, while still a boy, Bobby formed the gospel quintet the Womack Brothers alongside siblings Cecil, Curtis, Harry, and Friendly Jr. In 1953 the group was selected to open a local performance for the Soul Stirrers, an occasion that allowed Bobby to befriend lead singer Sam Cooke; thereafter the brothers toured nationally as an opening act for various gospel ensembles. Once Cooke established his SAR label, he enlisted the Womack Brothers with the intention of steering them toward R&B crossover success. Upon learning that his sons intended to pursue secular music, Friendly Womack expelled them from the family home, prompting Cooke to send funds so they could purchase a vehicle and travel to his Los Angeles headquarters. Between 1960 and 1961 the Womack Brothers issued several sides for SAR, some still rooted in gospel, before Cooke persuaded them to shift fully into R&B and renamed the act the Valentinos. Their 1962 single “Lookin’ for a Love” reached the R&B Top Ten, after which Cooke arranged for the group to tour behind James Brown as a rigorous training ground. Bobby later joined Cooke’s touring band on guitar. The Valentinos’ 1964 release “It’s All Over Now,” penned by Bobby, received swift approval from Cooke for a cover by the Rolling Stones; once the track became the Stones’ first U.K. number one, Womack unexpectedly found himself financially secure.
Cooke’s death in December 1964 left Womack deeply unsettled and placed the Valentinos’ future in uncertainty. Just three months afterward, Womack married Cooke’s widow, Barbara Campbell, an act that provoked widespread resentment within the R&B community, where many regarded him as an opportunist seeking to exploit Cooke’s reputation, particularly given the age difference between Womack and Campbell. Womack maintained that his initial impulse had been to provide stability for Campbell during a difficult period rather than to diminish his mentor’s legacy. Nevertheless, the ensuing controversy stalled his solo prospects; releases on Chess (“I Found a True Love”) and Him (“Nothing You Can Do”) were largely ignored despite their merit. The Valentinos produced two additional Chess singles in 1966, “What About Me” and “Sweeter Than the Day Before,” neither of which gained traction. To sustain himself, Womack turned to session guitar work, first with Ray Charles, then forging a key association with producer Chips Moman that led to frequent appearances at American Studios in Memphis and at Muscle Shoals, Alabama. During this time he contributed to landmark recordings by Joe Tex, King Curtis, and Aretha Franklin on Lady Soul, among others. Although singles issued on Keymen and Atlantic met with little success, Womack became one of Wilson Pickett’s most reliable songwriters, supplying the R&B Top Ten entries “I’m in Love” and “I’m a Midnight Mover,” along with fifteen additional compositions.
Originally scheduled to record a solo album for Minit, Womack instead supplied Pickett with much of his strongest material, an arrangement that ultimately restored positive attention to his name. In 1968 he achieved his first solo chart entry with “What Is This?” and soon followed with a series of imaginative pop reinterpretations, including “Fly Me to the Moon,” “California Dreamin’,” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” the first two of which reached the R&B Top 20. A songwriting alliance with engineer Darryl Carter yielded further R&B successes such as “It’s Gonna Rain,” “How I Miss You Baby,” and “More Than I Can Stand” between 1969 and 1970. Corporate consolidations elevated Womack to United Artists in 1971, the label that would host his most significant solo achievements; in the interim he contributed the ballad “Trust Me” to Janis Joplin’s Pearl and saw the J. Geils Band revive “Lookin’ for a Love” as their initial hit. He also collaborated with jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo on the album High Contrast, which introduced the composition “Breezin’,” later a major success for George Benson. Most notably, Womack played guitar on Sly & the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On, a darkly psychedelic funk landmark that would shape his own sonic direction.
Womack released his debut United Artists album, Communication, in 1971, initiating a sequence of strong recordings that continued through the mid-1970s. Alongside several of his signature pop covers, the set included the original “That’s the Way I Feel About ’Cha,” which ascended to number two on the R&B chart and marked his long-awaited breakthrough. The 1972 follow-up Understanding delivered his first R&B number one, “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” co-written with Darryl Carter and stepdaughter Linda, following Womack’s 1970 divorce from Barbara Campbell. Its successor, “Harry Hippie,” a wry tribute to his brother, also reached the R&B Top Ten. Later that year Womack composed the score for the blaxploitation film Across 110th Street; the title track later appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s 1998 film Jackie Brown. The 1973 album The Facts of Life produced an R&B number-two hit with a reworking of “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” while Lookin’ for a Love Again in 1974 revisited his Valentinos-era song, the new version becoming his second R&B chart-topper and his sole Top Ten pop single. The follow-up “You’re Welcome, Stop on By” reached the R&B Top Five.
By this point Womack had become deeply immersed in the rock-and-roll milieu, forming friendships with the Rolling Stones, the late Janis Joplin, and Sly Stone. After his brother Harry was killed by a jealous girlfriend inside Womack’s own apartment in 1974, his drug use escalated. Additional R&B Top Ten hits arrived with 1975’s “Check It Out” and 1976’s “Daylight,” the latter conveying a desire to escape the relentless socializing that concealed deepening depression. Despite his marriage to Regina Banks, the song signaled mounting personal strain. Womack persuaded United Artists to approve a full country album, a genre he had long admired, though the label viewed the project as commercially risky, especially given the working title Step Aside, Charley Pride, Give Another Nigger a Try. Once released, BW Goes C&W met with limited interest, prompting United Artists to transfer the increasingly unpredictable artist to Columbia. Two albums there failed to restore commercial momentum or adapt him to the disco era, leading him to Arista for 1979’s Roads of Life, issued shortly after the sudden death of his infant son.
At a difficult juncture, Womack briefly stepped away from music. He appeared as a guest vocalist on Wilton Felder’s 1980 album Inherit the Wind, performing the title track that became a hit, then signed with independent Beverly Glen Records under Otis Smith. His label debut, 1981’s The Poet, earned strong reviews and unexpected commercial success, reviving his career with the number-three R&B single “If You Think You’re Lonely Now.” Financial disagreements soon strained relations with Smith, delaying The Poet II until 1984; that album featured several duets with Patti LaBelle, including another number-three R&B hit, “Love Has Finally Come at Last.” Beverly Glen issued a final collection drawn from earlier sessions, Someday We’ll All Be Free, in 1985, by which time Womack had already moved to MCA. A further collaboration with Wilton Felder, “(No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up to You,” charted that year, while So Many Rivers yielded the Top Five R&B entry “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much.” Womagic, released in 1986, reunited Womack with Chips Moman, and he also contributed guitar to the Rolling Stones’ version of “Harlem Shuffle.” The following year he titled an album The Last Soul Man, his final MCA release.
Thereafter Womack returned to recording only occasionally. Resurrection, issued in 1994 on Ron Wood’s Slide label, featured contributions from Wood, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart, and Stevie Wonder. In 1999 he honored a promise to his late father, who had died in 1981, by releasing his first gospel album, Back to My Roots. Although he continued performing through the next decade, his appearance on the Gorillaz’ 2010 album Plastic Beach marked a notable reemergence. Following a 2012 television documentary on his life, he issued The Bravest Man in the Universe, a project developed with Richard Russell and Damon Albarn. Persistent health difficulties marked his final years, culminating in his death in June 2014 at age 70.
