Lifestyle
Bill Withers’ music career offers business lessons to lean on in difficult times
When songwriter and musician Bill Withers died on April 32020 caused a wave of respect and admiration. And no wonder. Withers’ musical legacy features a string of hits which have resonated across generations, races, religions, genres and geographic boundaries, including 1972’s “Lean On Me,” whose director Tyler Perry and others clearly called out those difficult, socially distanced days .
Much less known than Withers’ beautiful music is the story of his career, which provided him with lifelong financial freedom and the flexibility to live on his own terms until his death on the age of 81.
Songs like “Lovely Day” and “Just the Two of Us” helped put Withers in the Rock and Roll Songwriters Hall of Fame. But the lessons learned from his music career are as timeless and relevant today as ever.
Luck favors exertions, the self-employed and the self-taught
You haven’t got to have access or the most effective education to get ahead. You have to be hungry and willing to work hard. Withers never had any formal musical training; he had a natural talent, a real passion, and a desire to learn whatever he could, in any way he could.
He grew up because the youngest of six children in Slab Fork, West Virginia, a poor mining town marked by Jim Crow racism and native music, mainly country and gospel. He was born with a stutter, which he fastidiously managed to eliminate while serving in the Navy. While working in a California aircraft parts factory, after getting back from the Vietnam War, Withers bought a used guitar at a pawn shop and taught himself how to play. He began writing songs between shifts on the factory. The goal wasn’t fame, he told journalist Andy Greene in a 2015 profile in . “It was about survival.”
Rejection is a component of the method. Just keep going.
By 1970, Withers had scraped together enough of his hourly wage to self-finance a crude demo and sell it to major labels without success. But meeting Clarence Avant, now generally known as the Black Godfather, modified the whole lot. Avant signed Withers to his newly formed independent label Sussex, teamed up with producer Booker T. Jones, and in just a couple of days they accomplished his 1971 debut album. They included two hits which have survived to at the present time – “Grandma’s Hands” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” performed by artists starting from Michael Jackson to Ladysmith Black Mambazo and heavy metal band Black Label Society. The song even has its own Wikipedia page. “There aren’t a few songs I’ve written in my short career, and there isn’t a genre in which someone hasn’t recorded them,” he said. “I’m not a virtuoso, but I managed to write songs that people could identify with.”
Stay humble. And keep your day job.
The photo for Withers’ first album cover was taken during his lunch break at work at Weber Aircraft. “Because I didn’t want to take time off,” he explained in an interview on CBS This Morning in 2015. “So I’m standing in the doorway with my real lunch box!” Withers never quit the job. He was fired just before the album’s release, and when the corporate tried to rehire him, he was also invited to perform.
Reinvest in your business and long-term financial stability.
Withers took a few of his earnings and purchased a piano. While he was learning to play a brand new instrument again, sooner or later he began tinkering with some easy chord progressions. The result was the hit “Lean on Me,” which became the centerpiece of his second album and stays a beloved anthem of friendship and unity in times of world crisis.
Stay true to yourself!
In the start, Withers all the time did his own thing and his own way. He never hired a manager, produced his own songs (music and lyrics), wrote his own notes and designed his own album covers. At Sussex he had full creative control over his music, but after Avant went bankrupt in 1975, Withers signed a five-album contract with Columbia, and the experience ruined him in business.
“I met my A&R guy, and the first thing he said to me was, ‘I don’t like your music or any black music, period,’” Withers recalled in a 2015 article. “I’m proud of myself for not hitting him.” When he fulfilled his obligations to Columbia in 1985, he left the corporate. And he could have, because he would go on to earn about half of each dollar he produced from his songs for the remaining of his life.
Never stop growing – or knowing who to trust.
Withers’ first marriage to Denise Nicholas was notoriously unhappy and rumored to be abusive, but Withers went on to marry Marcia Johnson, whom he met in 1976 at a Gil Scott Heron concert. Marcia Withers, married for 44 years until her death, managed her husband’s publishing for years and was instrumental in the lucrative placement of his songs in countless movies, television shows and other media. “We are a mom and pop store,” he said. “She is my only overseer. I’m lucky I married a woman with an MBA.”
Recently there have been students from Southern University and A&M College honored A short documentary film for his or her work.
Loren Sullivan, Verbon Muhammad, Sydney Cuillar, Ashley Lovelace and Eric White, referred to as “Dream Team”, received Emmy Sportowe HBCU in 2025 during a ceremony in New York in New York.
“This is not just a win – this is a call to act in order to invest in art,” said Sullivan, a senior from Chino Hills, California, who focuses on mass communication.
Sullivan is a member of the Human Jukebox Media team. Other filmmakers are recent graduates of the South University. Cuillar, Lovelace and White are a former office of student media members, while Muhammad is a former member of the Human Jukebox Media team.
He emphasizes the heritage of the “Human Jukebox” school marching team and its impact on sport and athletics at historically black universities and universities (HBCU).
The document was submitted as an entry in the Emmy Awards as part of the National HBCU Sports Broadcasting HBCU HBCU SPONTH competition by Coca-Cola Company and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences foundation.
Film creators said that they plan to create scholarships for college kids of the University in southern place and transfer part of the subsidy to the human cabinet cabinet and the Mass Communication Department of the South University.
The document can be available on YouTube later this summer.
The school also announced that the Southern University School of Nursing famous The largest class of doctoral students of nursing in its history. Twelve students obtained a doctoral degree in nursing practice (DNP), and two students received a doctorate. in nursing. A graduate Darryl Davis was the first man to win a doctorate under the DNP program.
(Tagstranslate) Emmy Award (T) The Hidden Sport (T) Human Jukebox Marching Band (T) Southern University
Lifestyle
Tabitha Brown refers to negativity after he talked about the influence of the target boycott on black authors: “I pray for love to find you”
Tabitha Brown will all the time be in favor of black authors, black corporations, content creators and creations, regardless of what haters can say.
After Backlash after she told about how the target boycott affects black authors on Tuesday, May 20, a 46-year-old web personality and the writer doubled her support of her peers in the film sent Instagram.
“This is my prayer for you”, the founder of “Donny’s Reptipe” began in a movie, returned to all users flooding her comments and DM “uneducated” hate news.
“I pray for love to find you, true love. I pray that she finds you and keeps you tightly,” she continued. “I pray that somebody will love you sufficient to see you, see you whenever you do not feel good, see you whenever you need real support, to see you whenever you need sympathy to see you whenever you need kindness. I pray that somebody loves you sufficient to sacrifice your life.
In the video signature, Vegan influence on food explained that he was not withdrawing from his support in the near future.
“There is no hatred and ignorance that will stop me from using my platform and voice to support and raise small companies, black companies, black content creators, black authors,” said. “Take it with God because he gave me my voice, blessed me with a platform and I’m going to use it.”
Earlier on the same day, Brown devoted a moment to share an insight into how the destination boycott, began at the end of January after the retailer announced that he would withdraw the DEI initiative, influenced some of her peers. In the filmShe noticed that she had just received a plaque from the New York Times bestsellers on the occasion of her kid’s book “Hello Im, Sunshine”, and made her think about other black authors who try to move the titles from the shelves at the Big Box seller.
“Target is a huge seller of books that sells our books, so because of the boycott, many books of our black authors did not sell well, because people did not buy books because they are sold in target,” explained Brown. “This influenced their sale. This affected their ability to be on the New York Times bestseller list. But the bigger problem is that it also affects the next contract.”
Although she noticed that she wanted boycotters to be “attentive” on the impact of not shopping in Target, she also encouraged people to support black authors through other channels “because if not, they may not display their number.”
She also turned to publishers, calling them not to consider selling the last five months for the “truth” of these authors.
“These numbers do not reflect … their truth,” said the actress. “They are talented writers with beautiful stories and they have something that they did not do on them.”
When a boycott began for the first time, Brown was one of the first to defend black corporations. In January she received a bottle when she called for consumers to consider black corporations and black authors, trying to send a message to the seller.
In his film on Tuesday, Brown updates the followers of a boycott, saying that “he prays that it has soon ended and we receive resolution.”
(Tagstranslate) Tabitha Brown
Another national battle of bands will happen in Houston on August 23 at the NRG stadium.
According to Webber Marketing, he accomplished a press conference. The company is working With the unit of Harris – Houston Sports Authority and Lone Star Sports & Entertainment to bring the public the national battle of the Pepsi Battle of the Batts. It shall be the eleventh anniversary of the event.
Eight schools will present talents of musicians participating in the National Battle of the Bands.
“Officially, there is the composition of the National Battle of Pepsi in Pepsi in Pepsi and we bring 8 most dynamic marching teams in the country to the NRG stadium in August!”
“We try to raise the platform and experience each year,” said Derek Webber, general director of Webber Marketing and executive producer of the National Battle of the Bands. “NBOTB is more than a performance. It’s a move that celebrates tradition, talent and impact of HBCU throughout the country.”
Recommended schools are:
- Alabama A&M University – Marching Maroon & White
- Albany State University – Marching Rams Show Band
- Florida A&M University – “100” marching
- Jackson State University – sound boom in the south
- Langston University – Marching Pride Band
- North Carolina A & T State University – Blue & Gold Marching Machine
- Prairie view a & m university – Marching Storm
- Texas Southern University – “Ocean of Soul”
The event will include several functions for the community except and in reference to NBOTB.
2025 nbotb Weeknitowe Wydłody includes:
- Emerging Experience Conference: Powered by JPMorgan Chase, combining innovators and small business leaders. Free of charge with registration.
- Fan experience (Saturday, August 23 at NRG Center from 12:00 – 15:30):
Free, community -oriented event that enlivens the energy of the NBOTB weekend. The impressions of the fans are the following foremost activations: - Pepsi experience: Interactive experience with national performances of artists, live entertainment and the living market of suppliers and partners.
- HBCU College & Career Fair: An event wealthy in resources that mix students with HBCU and profession possibilities through details about parties, representatives on the spot and lots of others.
- Walk from the competition: Dynamic showcase of step and walking culture, celebrating black Greek letter organizations and HBCU tradition.
- Nbotb cares community outreach: Transfer of initiatives corresponding to feeding the involvement of the homeless and youth.
To get details about the event, people can go to the website www.nationalbattleofthebands.com. Information can be available through social media: @Nationalbattleoftheofthebands on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube. @Nationalbotb on Twitter.
(Tagstotransate) Battle of the Bands
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