The death of legendary American singer songwriter Bill Withers last week was announced just as his signature tune ‘Lean On Me” was being sang around the world, in hospitals and neighbourhoods, as an anthem of solidarity against the coronavirus pandemic.
Withers who died at the age of 81 from heart illness, was as unlikely a star as it gets: a former navy aircraft mechanic who started his music career at the age of 32 and less than a decade and a half later, quit the business, disillusioned by the confines of the recording industry.
