William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. (born July 4, 1938) is an American pop/soul singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine," "Use Me," "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day," and "Grandma's Hands".
Bill Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the inaugural class of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Also, in 2007 his "Lean On Me" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
he wrote and produced two songs on the Gladys Knight & the Pips record I Feel a Song, and in October 1974 performed in concert together with James Brown, Etta James, and B. B. King at the historic Rumble in the Jungle fight between Foreman and Ali in Zaire. Footage of his performance was included in the 1996 documentary film When We Were Kings, and he is heard on the accompanying soundtrack.
Just the Two of Us" is a 1981 Grammy Award-winning R&B song recorded by Grover Washington, Jr. and Bill Withers. The song appeared on Washington's album Winelight. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the ARC Weekly Top 40 for a week.
Regina Belle covered "Just the Two of Us" in 1991 on the Tribute album To Grover, With Love, produced by Jason Miles, which made # 4 on Top Contemporary Jazz Albums Billboard Chart.
Bill Withers recorded another version of the song which is included on a CD of his greatest hits. Christian McBride covered the song with overdubbed basses only in a hidden track included in the album Philadelphia Experiment, released on Rope-A-Dope Records. Will Smith sampled "Just the Two of Us" in 1998. This version was parodied in the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. It was heard in a TV commercial for Taco Bell that aired during NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009. Bill Cosby did a parody version, "Just the Slew of Us", as the theme music for his movie Bill Cosby: Himself.
Musicians:
Bill Withers - Lead Vocals
Ralph MacDonald - Percussion
Steve Gadd - Drums
Eric Gale - Guitar
Richard Tee - Fender Rhodes
Marcus Miller - Bass
Bill Eaton - Oberheim Synthesizer
Grover Washington, Jr. - Saxophone
Hilda Harris , Ullanda McCullough , Yvonne Lewis - Backing Vocals
