Yesterday was Christmas and I hope you and yours all had a lovely day. With that sentiment in mind, today’s classic song of the day is “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers.
Mr. Withers released “Lovely Day” as a single four days before Christmas in 1977 and it peaked the next year at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on Billboard’s R&B chart. The musicians on the track included producer Clarence McDonald on keyboards, Ray Parker Jr. on guitar, Jerry Knight on bass, Ralph McDonald on percussion, and Russ Kunkel on drums—a pretty decent group of musicians, overall.
What most people remember about “Lovely Day,” which was written by Bill Withers and Skip Scarborough, is that long held note in every chorus. Mr. Withers held that note for a full 18 seconds at the end of the song, which is somewhat impressive and the longest held note in any Top 40 hit in the U.S.
Bill Withers’ career is notable for how it began and how it ended. He entered the music business relatively late at life, at the ripe old age of 29. Prior to that he served in the Navy for nine years and worked as a mechanical assembler for companies like Douglas Aircraft Corporation, Ford, and IBM. He started singing professionally in 1967 and got his big break in 1971 with the #3 hit and Grammy-winning tune, “Ain’t No Sunshine.” He had additional success with “Lean On Me” (#1 in 1972), “Use Me” (#2, 1972), and “Just the Two of Us” (with Grover Washington Jr., #2 in 1981).
As to the ending, Withers retired from the music business in 1985, having done all he wanted to do and fallen out of love with the industry. He never recorded or performed live again.
Withers’ career and retirement was captured in the 2009 documentary Still Bill. Famed film critic Roger Ebert said of the film and of the man:
“He still lives and survives as a happy man. Still Bill is about a man who topped the charts, walked away from it all in 1985 and is pleased that he did.”
Interestingly, Mr. Withers won a Grammy Award (for Best Rhythm & Bluse Song) after he retired, in 1988, as the songwriter of Club Nouveau’s cover version of “Lean On Me.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and won another Grammy (for Best Historical Album) in 2014 for the nine-disc compilation Bill Withers: The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums Collection. “Lean On Me,” the song, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.
Bill Withers passed away on March 20, 2020, of heart complications. He was 81 years old and, by all accounts, had lived a long and happy life on his own terms. He’d had a lifetime of lovely days.
