Legendary US soul artist Bobby Womack, who influenced and wrote for generations of musicians, died on Friday aged 70, a spokeswoman said.
Womack wrote a string of R&B staples, including It’s All Over Now — which went to No. 1 for British rockers The Rolling Stones and Lookin’ for A Love.
The singer started out performing with his brothers in the 1950s and later a band called the Valentinos.
Sonya Kolowrat, a spokeswoman for his label XL, Recordings, confirmed his death, but said she had no further details.
Womack, who was credited with influencing generations of acts, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
He struggled with drugs and health problems for decades, but in 2012 released a comeback album, The Bravest Man in the Universe.
Although he had long had health woes, he was due to go on tour in Europe next month — his Web site listed shows in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Britain in the second half of next month and the start of August.
Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a musical family, forming The Womack Brothers gospel group with his siblings, managed by their father.
Their career took off when they were signed by Cooke to his label Sar Records and renamed The Valentinos in 1962.
After Cooke died in 1964, the Valentinos floundered, and Womack launched his solo career.
Some of his biggest hits were songs written for other stars, including Pickett, Franklin, Joe Tex and Dusty Springfield.
In the early 1970s he recorded hits of his own, including That’s The Way I Feel About Cha and Woman’s Gotta Have It.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in