When soul icon Bill Withers teams up with Stevie Wonder, you know you’re in for a good time. The legendary performers brought along John Legend for the ride, who opened up the performance of “Lean On Me” for Withers’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. Legend played electric piano and sang for the opening verse and chorus. Next up, Wonder sang the second verse, and then the two hitmakers sang the hook together in beautiful harmony.
You can tell everyone there had a huge respect and love for Withers’ music, and that came through real strong. The big moment came when Withers stood up and sang the hook with Wonder and Legend, getting a big cheer from the audience. The whole performance gave off a real feel-good vibe, and felt like a victory lap for Withers’ whole career. The Music Man rates Withers as one of the greatest of all time, and seeing him come back to music at 75 years old is beautiful to see.
The late great Bill Withers was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 by Stevie Wonder. Withers made an exceedingly rare return from retirement to perform at the event, and his comeback gained 13 million views on YouTube. Fans online couldn’t get enough, and added comments such as “Stevie Wonder opened up and it literally brought me to tears. People these days just can’t compete with that.” and “Truly amazing! Tears in the eyes, just a wonderful performance from three of the best of all time.”
In his heyday in the 1970s, Withers had one of the hottest bands on the planet. He displayed his mastery of the live arena when he dropped in to perform on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972. One of the greatest cuts from the television appearance is his sublimely funky and loose performance of “Use Me.” The groove Withers and the band create on this one is just out of this world, and that’s without even mentioning his epic vocal performance.
Withers is the sole credited songwriter and producer of “Lean On Me,” which he released on April 21, 1972. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that while writing the lyrics, Withers drew inspiration from the strong community in his childhood home in Slab Fork, West Virginia, which is a coal mining town. Withers dropped “Lean On Me” as the lead single from his second studio album Still Bill, and it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 208 on its list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”