Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne Womack (/ˈwoʊmæk/; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, musician and songwriter. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career spanned more than 60 years and multiple styles, including R&B, jazz, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, and gospel.
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne Womack
March 4, 1944
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
June 27, 2014 (aged 70)
Tarzana, California, U.S.
- Singer
- musician
- songwriter
- record producer
- Vocals
- guitar
1952–2014
Womack was a prolific songwriter who wrote and originally recorded, (with his brothers, the Valentinos), the Rolling Stones' first UK number one hit ("It's All Over Now") and New Birth's "I Can Understand It". 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 hits "If You Think You're Lonely Now" and "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much".
In 2009, Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Personal life[edit]
Marriages[edit]
On February 26, 1965, 77 days after Sam Cooke's death, 20-year-old Womack and Cooke's widow Barbara Cooke, who was 10 years his senior, attempted to marry at the Los Angeles county courthouse.[33][34][12] Womack wore one of Cooke's suits to the courthouse and the media was present to record the event, but their application was rejected. According to the Los Angeles Sentinel, it was denied because Womack was under 21 years old and did not have his parents' permission to marry. They were finally married on March 5, the day after his 21st birthday.[13] Their marriage was considered a scandal by some in the music business and Womack found himself ostracized in the soul music world.[4][11] Womack's brothers turned against him, as did his audiences and disc jockeys.[12][15] Cooke's family was also enraged. His brothers Charles and David Cook broke Womack's jaw during an attack at a hotel in Chicago.[13][35] Womack later claimed he initially went to Barbara's side to console her following Cooke's death for fear that if she were left alone, she would "do something crazy."[36]
In 1970, Womack and Barbara separated after she discovered he was having an affair with his 17-year-old stepdaughter Linda Cooke (daughter of Barbara and Sam Cooke).[37][38] In the ensuing tussle, Barbara fired a gun at her husband and the bullet grazed his head.[38][4] Their divorce was finalized in 1971.[39] According to Womack, Linda never spoke to her mother again.[40]
Womack married his second wife Evelyn Evans when he was 29.[41] She was his personal secretary.[42]
On December 31, 1975, Womack married his third wife, 19-year-old Regina Banks.[41] Together they had three children. In the early 1990s, Regina left him and went to New York.[37] They later remarried in 2013.[38]
Children[edit]
Womack had six children, with three passing away before him.
Womack's firstborn from his marriage to Barbara, Vincent Dwayne Womack, was born in 1966.[43] He committed suicide at the age of 21 by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.[37][4] Barbara had two daughters from her previous marriage to Sam Cooke, Tracy and Linda.[39] She also had a son, Vincent Lance Cooke (1961–1963), who drowned in the family pool aged 18 months.[44][43]
Womack had two sons Truth Bobby (1978–1978) and Bobby Truth, and a daughter, GinaRe, with his wife Regina. Truth Bobby, whose name was suggested by Womack's friend Sly Stone,[45] died aged 4 months old after falling into a coma when he was found "wedged between the wall and the bed."[45] His death caused Womack to delve deeper into drug addiction.[12] Bobby Truth got involved with gangs and was sent to a youth detention center at about 11 or 12 years old.[37]
Womack fathered two sons, Cory and Jordan, from his relationship with Jody Laba.[12]
Family[edit]
In 1974, Bobby's brother Harry Womack was fatally stabbed in the neck with a steak knife by his girlfriend Patricia Wilson in a jealous rage.[46][4][47] She had found another woman's clothes in a room he was occupying at Bobby's house. It turned out that the clothes actually belonged to Bobby's girlfriend.[40] After his death, Bobby established the 'Harry James Womack Memorial Scholarship Fund' in his memory. The $50,000 scholarship fund was to aid minority students complete college, because Harry had always "wished he had gone on and gotten a degree."[48]
Bobby's former stepdaughter, Linda Cooke, co-wrote his 1972 hit song "Woman's Gotta Have It."[37] They collaborated in the late 1970s for her planned debut album.[19] She married Bobby's younger brother Cecil Womack, and the duo teamed up as Womack & Womack.[49] The song "Baby I'm Scared of You" by Womack & Womack, from their album Love Wars, was released as a single in 1983.
Drug addiction and health issues[edit]
Womack opened up about his frequent drug use in his memoir, Midnight Mover.[50] Womack said he began using cocaine sometime in the late 1960s. He had become close friends with Sly Stone, and was an enthusiastic participant in Stone's infamous drug binges.[47] Womack told Rolling Stone in 1984: "I was really off into the drugs. Blowing as much coke as I could blow. And drinking. And smoking weed and taking pills. Doing that all day, staying up seven, eight days. Me and Sly [Stone] were running partners."[4]
In 1974, Womack experienced "temporary blindness" after he suffered a concussion from a blow to his head when he flipped backwards over an amplifier during a recording session.[51]
His cocaine use turned into an addiction by the late 1970s. Womack partially attributed his drug addiction to his infant son Truth's death in 1978, which he said changed him forever. Throughout most of the 1980s, Womack struggled with a worsening addiction. During this period his career slowed down significantly, partly as a result of his drug usage.[11] In 1985, after completing 14 one-nighters, Womack was hospitalized after experiencing a blood circulation problem in his left leg.[52] Towards the end of the 1980s, he went into a rehabilitation center to get over his cocaine addiction,[4] which he said he conquered.
Womack survived prostate cancer. A series of health problems would follow, including diabetes, pneumonia, colon cancer and the early signs of Alzheimer's disease.
Womack developed diabetes in his later years. It was revealed in March 2012 that Womack was diagnosed with colon cancer after Bootsy Collins reported it on his Facebook page.[53] Womack announced afterwards that he was to undergo cancer surgery. On May 24, 2012, it was announced that Womack's surgery to remove a tumor from his colon was successful and he was declared cancer free. On January 1, 2013, Womack admitted that he struggled to remember his songs and other people's names, and later he was diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer's disease.[54]
Death[edit]
Womack died at his home in Tarzana, California, at the age of 70 on June 27, 2014.[7] He was cremated, and his ashes were inurned at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, in The Great Mausoleum, Memorial Terrace, Memorial Terrace Columbarium.[55]
Musical legacy[edit]
In 2009, Calvin Richardson was chosen to record a tribute album to Womack to coincide with Womack's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Grammy-nominated album was entitled Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack. It reached No. 30 on the US R&B chart.[56]
In early 2012, Womack's career was the subject of the documentary show Unsung on TV One.[57]
Awards and nominations[edit]
In 2009, Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. However, his original vocal group, his brothers, The Valentinos (Friendly Womack Jr., Curtis Womack, Harry Womack and Cecil Womack), were not inducted with him.
In 2011, Womack received his first Grammy nomination for Best Short-Form Music Video for "Stylo" shared with Mos Def & Gorillaz.[58]