Where is … Bobby Womack?

Jet, May 26, 2008 by Clarence Waldron

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When it comes to old-school music, Mariah Carey knows what's up.

That's why the new-school superstar sampled Bobby Womack's '80s hit If You Think You're Lonely Now on her 2005 song We Belong Together.

"I can't sleep at night when you are on my mind," she sings. "Bobby Womack's on the radio saying to me: 'If you think you're lonely now ..."

"The old school can always teach the new school," Womack tells JET from his home in Sherman Oaks, CA. "My songs keep living."

"When someone like Mariah samples my songs it means they can relate to something that was done 30 or 40 years ago. There's a strength in the message in the song."

He adds, "I wrote 80 to 90 percent of my material. The truth doesn't lie. The songs that I wrote are the songs that I lived in my life. I write the truth."

Next week (May 27), Capitol/ EMI releases The Best Of Bobby Womack: The Soul Years, featuring his music from the 1960s and '70s, including That's The Way I Feel About Cha, Across 110th Street, Nobody Wants You When You Are Down and Out and Harry Hippie.

Across 110th Street, an ode to Harlem, was featured in Denzel Washington's film American Gangster and in fimmaker Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown in 1997.

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On the CD, Womack also does soulful renditions of standards, including Tony Bennett's I Left My Heart In San Francisco and James Taylor's Fire and Rain.

The 64-year-old singer still gets out on the road with his 12-piece band and has shared concert bills with The Manhattans and Frankie Beverly and Maze. "You have to keep your voice in shape. I go out and work it. When I get on stage, I feel so much younger. My music keeps me young," he says.

In the early 1950s, Womack began his career singing gospel with his siblings, The Womack Brothers. He later toured as a guitarist in the bands of Sam Cooke and Ray Charles and recorded as a session player on Aretha Franklin's albums Aretha Now and Lady Soul. His first No. 1 R&B hit was 1972's Woman's Gotta Have It, followed by Harry Hippie. His most requested hit remains the '80s soul classic If You Think You're Lonely Now.

He says what he likes most about his life today is that he has been drug-free for 12 years. "That's my biggest award today. I don't want to touch anything anymore, no drinking, no drugs, no smoke. I got tired of it. I don't do anything. I go to bed early," he laughs. "It's better to grow up then grow out. Some people change their ways. But some never stop and they die. I'm still here."

He advises today's artists to take time to write and produce their own songs. "It will keep you afloat. They may not buy your record, but they'll buy your record done by someone else and it keeps you in business and the royalties is like icing on a cake," Womack says.

He notes, "Nobody's going to stay hot. If they do, they are going to burn up," he laughs.

Still creative, he is taking his time writing tunes for what he describes as a "monster album" of new, original music. "It's important that when the Spirit has you, you work it. That's when you have something to say, not because you are under pressure to prove to somebody that you're still here and valid."

By Clarence Waldron

JET MAGAZINE