It is nearly three years since I published the first of Mayhem’s Before They Were Famous series, kicking off with Noddy Holder. Click here to read that one.
So the second in the series is long overdue and it features the late, great soul legend William Harrison Withers Jr, a.k.a Bill Withers. Bill’s first job was making toilet seats for Boeing airliners. Probably not the Poopersonic planes. Apparently, he wrote “Ain’t No Sunshine” during that time. When that song became a big hit in 1971 he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. He was probably right, but he was a hell of a talented artist. Before his toilet seat making role he spent nine years in the US Navy, finally leaving in 1965. “Ain’t No Sunshine” bagged him a Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Song in 1971. Bill famously walked away from the music industry in 1985 (in that he did not sign a further record contract) and by all accounts continued to live a happy and fulfilling life.
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