Bobby Womack biography
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack () (born March 4, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40 years and has spanned a repertoire in the styles of R&B, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, gospel, and country.
As a songwriter, Womack is notable for penning and originally recording The Rolling Stones' first UK No. 1 hit, "It's All Over Now" and New Birth's "I Can Understand It" among other songs. As a singer he is most notable for the hits "Lookin' For a Love", "That's The Way I Feel About Cha", "Woman's Gotta Have It", "Harry Hippie","Across 110th Street" and his 1980s hit "If You Think You're Lonely Now".
In the year 2009 Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Biography
Early life and career; The Valentinos
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Womack was the third of five boys born to Friendly, Sr. and Naomi Womack in a housing project. Taking after their gospel-singing father, Womack and his four brothers Friendly, Jr., Cecil, Harry and Curtis formed The Womack Brothers and began touring the gospel circuit. One night, soul singer Sam Cooke spotted the Womack Brothers performing and immediately began seeking the group out for a record deal. Signing with SAR Records, Cooke's own imprint, they eventually agreed to leave the gospel circuit for a career in secular music and the group was renamed as the Valentinos. Shortly afterward, they scored their first charted single, "Lookin' For a Love", which peaked at number eight on the national R&B chart. In 1964, they scored a second hit with "It's All Over Now". The latter song was written by Womack and would give the singer monetary royalties after The Rolling Stones' cover of "It's All Over Now" hit the top of the UK singles chart. The Valentinos' career dwindled after the death of Cooke in December 1964. The group stayed together for a year and a half before splitting up in 1966. They reformed in the late 60's and recorded a few songs for
Jubilee Records in the early 70's , appearing on
Soul Train in 1973. Womack struggled to get noticed in the music industry and secluded himself as a session musician.
« previous 1 2 3 4 5 next » Biography from 
, the free encyclopedia.
It may not have been reviewed by a professional editor, and recent changes may not show up straight away. See the latest version of this article. Used under licence. Subject to disclaimers.