Bobby Womack (Born 04/03/1944)

Often referred to as the last of the great soul men, Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio on 5th March, 1944. By 1959, he and his brothers (Cecil, Curtis, Harry and Friendly) had already formed the Womack Brothers group and were performing on the gospel circuit. Bobby then began an association with Sam Cooke, initially joining his band as a guitarist (the Cooke ties run deep, with Cecil Womack and Cooke's daughter Linda marrying and forming Womack and Womack and Bobby marrying Cook's wife Barbara shortly after Cooke's untimely death).

The Womack Brothers evolved into the Valentinos, most famous for their original version of the Womack penned 'It's All Over Now', later covered by the Rolling Stones. When the group began to break up, Bobby moved first to Chess, then Atlantic before his career began to take off properly when he joined Minit Records. It was here he started to have some chart success, from 'What Is This' in 1968 through to 'Lookin' For A Love' in 1974 (by this time Liberty / Minit had been bought out by United Artists. Album success followed, including "Communication", "Understanding" and the excellent 1974 release "Lookin' For A Love". He also cut a country album "BW Goes C&W" but it appears this was a stylistic change which most listeners weren't prepared to accept. This period in Bobby's career is well covered on the excellent value compilation "The Very Best Of Bobby Womack" on the budget priced Music Club label.

The late 70s was a fairly lean time for Bobby as personal problems, including the death of his brother Harry ('Harry Hippie' as Bobby's tribute would have it) and drug addiction, began to take their toll.
In 1980, he appeared on Wilton Felder's "Inherit The Wind" album and was signed to the independent Beverly Glen label. He then proceeded to release two absolute soul classics, "The Poet" and "The Poet II", although the latter was formally released by Motown after a few legal wrangles with Otis Smith, the owner of Beverly Glen. Both have been reissued on CD at mid price and are essential purchases, "The Poet" especially proving to be one of the gems of the 1980s.

Albums such as "So Many Rivers" and "The Last Soul Man" followed, there was then yet another career lull, and then in 1994 he came back with the storming and underrated "Resurrection" album (Continuum CDCTUM 8). Although it is littered with sidemen such as Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards and even Stevie Wonder anxious to pay their dues to a true original and is occasionally over produced, it's also full of excellent Womack originals and is testimony to his continued claim to be the last of a dying breed of truly great soul talents.