Mr Withers was well into his 30s when he began recording music, after growing up in a segregated coal-mining town in West Virginia, serving in the Navy and working as an aircraft mechanic.in 1971, he wrote and performed songs that have become anthems around the word, drawn from gritty blues, R&B and the era's confessional style of lyrics.
Long after his de facto retirement from recording — he released his last album in 1985, after many battles with music industry executives — Mr Withers entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 by Stevie Wonder.
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