Hear Bill Withers’ isolated vocals for ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’
Before the 1980s, there was no such thing as pitch correction or autotune. Singers had to match the pitch of their instruments naturally or else they weren’t going to get far. Some did it better than others, but one of the most surprisingly natural voices came from a former Navy man who had already turned 30 when he first began making inroads into the music industry. For Bill Withers, stardom was anything but straightforward.
You could never tell from his voice, however. Unadorned, soulful, and full of bluesy melancholy, Withers sang with both the impassioned longing that came from being a black man in a rural white setting and also the natural twang that was present from growing up in a West Virginian coal-mining town. Withers wasn’t a traditional funk or R&B singer, but he also didn’t sing folk, pop, or rock music either. Instead, Withers was a force unto himself, making what could only be described as Bill Withers Music.
For most of the world, their first exposure to Withers came on ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, a plaintive plea about loneliness and desolation that nevertheless featured a hypnotising vocal performance. Even though he was reaching deep into the darker areas of his mind, Withers was still able to draw in the most casual of listeners to hear his tail of sadness and despair.
Even though the general public hadn’t heard of Withers, the singer had already made quite the impression among his fellow musicians. Produced by legendary Stax Records bandleader Booker T. Jones and featuring the talents of Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn on bass, Al Jackson, Jr. on drums and Stephen Stills on guitar. At the centre of it all was Withers, who put his unmistakable voice right up to the microphone for one of the greatest vocal performances of all time.
Withers refused to quit his factory job even after recording ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, figuring that if it wasn’t a hit, he would always have something to fall back on. One gold record, a Grammy award, and a number three placement on the Billboard Hot 100 managed to convince Withers that it was time to move on from the factory.
Check out the iconic isolated vocals for ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ down below.
