Overview

Bobby Womack's is the story of R&B and soul itself, a crucial link between the gospel of the 1950s and the greatest soul and rock of the 1960s and 1970s. As well as the 40 albums and 30 million records he sold in his own right, he provided key support and partied hard with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Sly Stone. In a turbulent life often as afflicted with battles with drink and drugs as it was with rich music, Womack was one of the last to see his friend Janis Joplin shortly before she died and one of the key witnesses to the mysterious shooting of Sam Cooke. He worked with Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart and his own hits included 'What Is This' and 'Across 110th Street'. He turned to drink and drugs after the murder of his brother Harry and went on the rampage with the likes of Sly Stone for much of the 1970s. It was a wild time he was lucky to survive. Back from the brink, he's gone on to be a hero to millions, with modern-day musicians claiming him as a key influence.

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9781844541485

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Reviews

The life and extreme times of a well-traveled soul man.It's tough to top the sensational first chapter of soul singer and songwriter Womack's autobiography, in which his wife - widow of the late Sam Cooke, whom he married less than four months after the singer's shooting death - attempts to kill him after she discovers him sleeping with his stepdaughter. In fact, it's all downhill from there in this perplexing book, first published in the U.K. in 2006. Womack's life was certainly not without incident. Raised in Cleveland in a gospel-singing family, he rose to fame as Cooke's protege in the Valentinos, whose '60s hits included It's All Over Now, which became a breakthrough cover for the Rolling Stones. After playing guitar in Ray Charles' band and crafting hits for Wilson Pickett, Womack stepped out on his own, creating the bestselling albums Communication, Understanding and The Poet. His career, which also encompassed encounters with Janis Joplin (on the last night of her life), the Stones and the Faces, takes a backseat to stories of drug abuse (in the company of such notorious figures as Ike Turner and Sly Stone), drinking and womanizing. Along the way, he recounts the breakup of two marriages, the murder of a brother, the deaths of two sons and the jailing of a third. It's frustrating reading, for Womack and collaborator Robert Ashton present his hair-raising and outrageous stories matter-of-factly, with little analysis of the character flaws that laid him so low in life; adversity has evidently taught him nothing. His chronology is frequently garbled; facts and names are scrambled; and the narrative takes enormous leaps. Some stories appear embroidered or simply implausible: For instance, Womack devotes several pages to Cooke's purported decision to not release A Change is Gonna Come, while the song actually appeared on an album six months before the singer's death.Minus any illuminating self-exploration, Womack's saga is a fitfully colorful but ultimately empty and depressing tale of a misspent musical life. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Bobby writes with Robert Ashton, an author and journalist who has contributed to a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian, Sunday Times, Los Angeles Times and Elle. He is also the author of The First Rock'n'Roll Bodyguard, Heroin and Waking Up in London.

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