Bill Withers was born in 1938 in Slab Fork, a small coal-mining town in West Virginia. He didn’t start his music career until his 30s, while he was still working in an aircraft parts factory. After his first hit, he bought a little Wurlitzer electric piano and, as he later explained, he was simply running his fingers up and down the keys when the phrase “lean on me” came to him.
The song was inspired by the close-knit community he grew up in, where neighbors looked after one another when times were hard.
“Lean on Me” was released in 1972 on his second album, Still Bill. On July 8, 1972, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks. It was his only No. 1 pop hit.
In this footage from Chicago that same year, Withers sits at the piano and sings it with the quiet, honest warmth that made people love him.
The song has lived on for generations. A 1987 cover by Club Nouveau also went to No. 1, earning Withers a Grammy as its songwriter, and the original was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007. Withers passed away in 2020, but his message hasn’t aged a day.
We all need somebody to lean on.
Who do you lean on? Share this song with a friend who has always been there for you.