0:00:02 > 0:00:05- BOBBY WOMACK:- # The bravest man
0:00:06 > 0:00:09# In the universe
0:00:12 > 0:00:15# Is the one
0:00:17 > 0:00:20# Who has forgiven first... #
0:00:20 > 0:00:23WOMAN: The bravest man in the universe.
0:00:25 > 0:00:31In 2011, Bobby Womack recorded an acclaimed album with Damon Albarn.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35His voice, in particular, just resonated emotionally with me.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38# I got a story
0:00:40 > 0:00:42# I want to tell... #
0:00:42 > 0:00:45It was the start of a completely unexpected Indian summer
0:00:45 > 0:00:48for a musician whose 60-year career has been
0:00:48 > 0:00:53a rollercoaster ride of wild ups and traumatic downs.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Him having the ability to express himself musically has saved him.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00# I once was lost
0:01:03 > 0:01:06# But now I'm found. #
0:01:07 > 0:01:12I think what drives Bobby is people telling him that he can't.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16MUSIC: "Across 110th Street" by Bobby Womack
0:01:16 > 0:01:21# Wooo, oooh
0:01:21 > 0:01:25# I was the third brother of five
0:01:25 > 0:01:27# Doing whatever I had to do to survive... #
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Starting his life on the streets of segregated black America,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Bobby Womack embarked on an epic odyssey.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37# Trying to break out of the ghetto was a day to day fight... #
0:01:37 > 0:01:39He never stepped in front of a train.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42He never jumped out of an aeroplane without a parachute.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45But Bobby is an adventurer.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48He is living, breathing music history.
0:01:48 > 0:01:54His career encapsulates so many critical moments in popular music.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57JANIS JOPLIN: # Oh, my love is like a seed... #
0:01:57 > 0:02:03Bobby wrote for Janis Joplin and was with her on the very night she died.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05He hung out with The Rolling Stones and wrote
0:02:05 > 0:02:08- one of their biggest '60s hits. - # It's all over now... #
0:02:08 > 0:02:10It just fitted, because, er,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13it made you think that the Stones had written it.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Bobby played guitar on Sly & the Family Stone classics.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21# It's a family affair... #
0:02:21 > 0:02:23That's the man who pays his dues, you know,
0:02:23 > 0:02:29who comes up through the ranks, you know, not just handed something.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33# Across 110th Street... #
0:02:33 > 0:02:38In the '70s and '80s, Bobby Womack became a major soul star,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43with hits like Woman's Gotta Have It and Across 110th Street.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47There is such a mixture of heaven and hell at the same time coming at you.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52You can't but to hear the church AND the streets.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58This programme contains some strong language.
0:03:01 > 0:03:09# Oh, how I love Jesus
0:03:09 > 0:03:17# Oh, how I love Jesus
0:03:17 > 0:03:23# Oh, how I love Jesus
0:03:23 > 0:03:29# Because he first loved me. #
0:03:34 > 0:03:38- WOMAN: # I made a vow to the Lord MAN:- And I won't take it back!
0:03:38 > 0:03:42- # I made a vow to the Lord - And I won't take it back... #
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Bobby Womack's musical personality was sparked into life
0:03:46 > 0:03:53six decades ago, in the ecstatic gospel churches of 1940s Cleveland.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Those weren't places where people tried to be reserved.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01People screaming, falling out in the floor, "Oh, Lord!" you know,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03having spasms and stuff.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Well, you do that in a nightclub, you get arrested.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10At the Baptist church, the most important thing that I learned
0:04:10 > 0:04:16was how to relate spiritually to people.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19If you didn't reach their heart, you didn't reach them.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22# I believe to my soul... #
0:04:22 > 0:04:24BAND JOINS IN, MUSIC CONTINUES
0:04:28 > 0:04:30For Bobby Womack and his brothers,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33church was an almost daily experience.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Their father insisted on it.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Most gospel fathers were strict at that time and they felt that
0:04:39 > 0:04:45that, in order to set a difference against the cards that were dealt
0:04:45 > 0:04:49to black people, they had to just kind of maintain this regimen.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Bobby was born in 1944
0:04:53 > 0:04:58in the northern industrial city of Cleveland.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01His father worked in the local steel mills.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04It was a tough, low paid job.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Money was exceptionally tight.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13One of the Womack father's few prized possessions was his guitar.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16He had more nerve than any of us, you know,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19he would do things that we wouldn't do.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Take my dad's guitar and play it when my dad said...
0:05:23 > 0:05:25"Don't EVER touch it."
0:05:25 > 0:05:28You know, he says, "Something very bad going to happen to you."
0:05:28 > 0:05:32And he slipped in and we'd get the guitar...
0:05:32 > 0:05:35HE PLAYS CHORDS
0:05:35 > 0:05:36Yeah.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43I just love playing. It was like being able to express myself,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47not knowing how to express myself unless I had that guitar.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Bobby was left-handed. His father was right-handed.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56So, unwittingly, he taught himself to play the instrument upside down.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02And one particular time, he was playing it and an E string popped.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07Then Bobby's father arrived home after a long day at the steel mills.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09And he say, "Who's been playing my guitar?"
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Everybody pointed to me.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15He said, "I'm going to put the string back on."
0:06:15 > 0:06:17He says, "But you're going to have to play it."
0:06:17 > 0:06:22And I start playing. And I think I was the first one who played with
0:06:22 > 0:06:25the guitar behind my neck before Jimi Hendrix.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27I hadn't even known him then.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Well, I was playing slide, I was playing everything,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32and he...he was shocked.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36With the revelation of knowing that Bob could play,
0:06:36 > 0:06:41and then, um, later on finding out that we could sing too,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45that really, um, that was a revelation for my father.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50Womack Snr saw an opportunity. All the pieces were now in place
0:06:50 > 0:06:55to create his own family gospel quintet, the Womack Brothers.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58They were not allowed to play outside much.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03He spent their time rehearsing.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07And he would always say, "If you want to leave the ghetto,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11"being poor, you could sing your way to success."
0:07:11 > 0:07:15- # Oh, Jesus!- He gave me water! - He gave me water!- He gave me water! #
0:07:15 > 0:07:20Bobby's life changed dramatically when, in 1953,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22a major gospel act, The Soul Stirrers,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25with their dynamic new lead vocalist Sam Cooke,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27rolled into Cleveland to perform.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30ARCHIVE RECORDING PLAYS
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Womack Snr approached Sam Cooke and asked
0:07:32 > 0:07:34if his boys could open the show for them.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37Sam agreed.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46We got a standing ovation at the church.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48CHEERING
0:07:48 > 0:07:50At the end of their performance,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Sam asked the congregation to give cash donations to the young boys.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59They took home more than Womack Snr's weekly wage.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01And when we saw that, in one evening,
0:08:01 > 0:08:06you could make what Dad makes three times over, that was the effect.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11The mid-'50s was the golden age of gospel music.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Bobby and his brothers became a part of this,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17spending their weekends and summer holidays on the road.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22The gospel highway was essentially packages of gospel groups
0:08:22 > 0:08:25that would tour America and it was big business.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29It was really show business in spiritual form.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34- # My God is good to me - Yeah!- My God is good to me
0:08:34 > 0:08:39- # Yeah!- My God is good to me - Oh, yeah!- Ain't he good to you?
0:08:39 > 0:08:41- # Yeah!- Ain't he good to you? #
0:08:41 > 0:08:44On the gospel highway, Bobby and his brothers absorbed
0:08:44 > 0:08:48techniques from the masters of the genre, like The Dixie Hummingbirds.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51They would say, like, "OK, instead of you guys
0:08:51 > 0:08:54"just walking out and walking up to the mic,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58"when they call y'all, all of y'all come running out," you know,
0:08:58 > 0:08:59"and leave space open for Bobby
0:08:59 > 0:09:02"to run down through the middle to start singing lead."
0:09:02 > 0:09:04All of the things that would make people jump up
0:09:04 > 0:09:06out of their seats they would tell you.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Young Bobby was also able to observe one of his biggest heroes at work.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15# There's no need to cry... #
0:09:15 > 0:09:20The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi's star vocalist Archie Brownlee.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25# Things go wrong... #
0:09:25 > 0:09:26He knew he was bad,
0:09:26 > 0:09:31but he just had a voice that could put chills on you.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36# There's no need to fear... # BACKING SINGERS HARMONISE
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Hearing Archie Brownlee played a huge part
0:09:41 > 0:09:45in moulding Bobby's vocal style, you know,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48what he calls the beautiful scream.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51SOULFUL CRY: # He... cut her down... #
0:09:51 > 0:09:54But as Bobby and his brothers travelled the gospel circuit,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58the boys realised a less benevolent side of the church
0:09:58 > 0:10:00was affecting their careers.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05They called him a Prince of Devils! They called him a winebibber!
0:10:05 > 0:10:08The preachers rolled around in Cadillacs and they all had
0:10:08 > 0:10:14nice homes and, er, we were still living poor from day to day.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18We were seeing gospel groups that were so hungry
0:10:18 > 0:10:22for the money that they would put stumbling blocks in your way.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25You know, they would mess with your instruments.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30After experiencing this exploitation and dishonesty, The Womack Brothers
0:10:30 > 0:10:33believed their prospects could be better beyond the church.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38SAM COOKE: # Darling, you send me... #
0:10:38 > 0:10:41In the late '50s, gospel was being drowned out by a new sound -
0:10:41 > 0:10:43rhythm and blues.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47# Darling, you send me
0:10:47 > 0:10:51# Honest, you do! Honest, you do! Honest, you do! #
0:10:51 > 0:10:55In December 1957, they watched Sam Cooke,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59the man who had given them their big break five years earlier,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03abandon gospel and cross over into the secular world.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08# At first I thought it was infatuation
0:11:08 > 0:11:13# But ooh, it's lasted so long... #
0:11:13 > 0:11:17When Sam performed You Send Me on The Ed Sullivan Show in front
0:11:17 > 0:11:22of a huge national audience, it was a landmark moment.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25He became an overnight star, blazing a trail
0:11:25 > 0:11:28for other disillusioned gospel singers to follow.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32The teenaged Bobby and his brothers were tempted by what they saw,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36so they asked a mutual friend to make a phone call to Sam Cooke.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39He called Sam and said, "You remember The Womack Brothers?
0:11:39 > 0:11:41"The guys who used to open up for you years ago?
0:11:41 > 0:11:44"They're still around." So he said, "Can they sing?"
0:11:44 > 0:11:48And he said, "Can they sing?! Oh, man, they're tough!"
0:11:49 > 0:11:55# Yield not to temptation
0:11:55 > 0:12:00# For I know it is sin... #
0:12:00 > 0:12:03Sam offered to sign them to his new record label,
0:12:03 > 0:12:08where they'd be able to record R&B and put gospel behind them.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11That's a big push and pull on you, you know,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13and you want to please your parents.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18You know, one of those old hymns said, "Yield not to temptation".
0:12:18 > 0:12:22There's a whole lot of temptation not to yield to.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24That was hard for me to tell my father
0:12:24 > 0:12:26that we didn't want to sing gospel any more.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29- He walked off... - BOBBY LAUGHS
0:12:29 > 0:12:33He said, "I've spent all this time working with you guys
0:12:33 > 0:12:35"and you guys want to go to the devil."
0:12:35 > 0:12:38And he started crying.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42I got a whupping that day. I'll never forget it.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46And the next day, I told him I still wanted to sing rock'n'roll.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52That scared him, so he said, "Well, you guys got to leave here,"
0:12:52 > 0:12:53and then he put us out.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55# ..God's name
0:12:55 > 0:12:59# Hold it in rev'rence... #
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Sam wired Bobby and his brothers funds to buy a car
0:13:03 > 0:13:06and drive to his headquarters in California.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09When you leave the church,
0:13:09 > 0:13:15when you leave that pulpit-themed world,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18all kinds of heaven and hell come with it.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24MUSIC: "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke
0:13:24 > 0:13:27# Don't know much about history
0:13:27 > 0:13:31# Don't know much biology... #
0:13:31 > 0:13:35LA at the start of the '60s was booming.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36It was a city of opportunity
0:13:36 > 0:13:40and becoming America's entertainment capital.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Bobby Womack was about to start a new life here.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48# ..if you love me too what a wonderful world this would be... #
0:13:48 > 0:13:51To break from the past, he and his brothers switched their name
0:13:51 > 0:13:55to The Valentinos and changed their musical style.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58They hit the spot on their very first single
0:13:58 > 0:14:01by adapting an old gospel song.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05# Couldn't hear nobody pray
0:14:05 > 0:14:09# Oh, couldn't hear nobody pray
0:14:09 > 0:14:15# Oh, I was way down yonder in the valley by myself
0:14:15 > 0:14:20# And I couldn't hear nobody pray
0:14:20 > 0:14:26# I couldn't hear nobody pray. #
0:14:26 > 0:14:32- And then, we changed it to... - SAME TUNE:- # I'm lookin' for a love
0:14:32 > 0:14:35# Oh... # But they did that a lot back then.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38You know, just took the melody, changed the lyrics.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42- # I'm lookin' for a love - Well, now!- Whoa-oh!
0:14:42 > 0:14:45# I'm lookin' here and there And I'm searching everywhere
0:14:45 > 0:14:49# And I'm lookin', I'm lookin' I'm lookin', I'm lookin'
0:14:49 > 0:14:51# I'm lookin' for a love to call my own... #
0:14:51 > 0:14:56I just said, "Oh, man, I know I'm going to get crucified for this!"
0:14:56 > 0:14:59You know, always thinking that's just like I'm putting God down
0:14:59 > 0:15:04and I'm going to the devil with these lyrics.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06But the audience bought it.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11# Someone to do a load of housework and back with me again... #
0:15:11 > 0:15:15That song was a turntable hit in Los Angeles.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19The Valentinos had a following here. You heard it.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22# I'll be lookin' for a love... #
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Now that The Valentinos were signed to Sam Cooke's SAR Records,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28one of the very first things he did
0:15:28 > 0:15:31was put Bobby and his brothers through showbiz boot camp.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Let's everybody shout and shimmy!
0:15:37 > 0:15:42Sam hooked them up with the master of R&B performance...
0:15:42 > 0:15:44James Brown and The Famous Flames!
0:15:44 > 0:15:46BAND PLAYS
0:15:46 > 0:15:51James Brown was the master teacher. He was able to, you know,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55push the boundaries of sound, sight and performances
0:15:55 > 0:15:56to the next level.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02In October 1962, James Brown was recording his pivotal live album.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05The Valentinos were supporting him.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08And he made them sweat for a whole week at Harlem's Apollo Theatre.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Things such as performing and they give me a standing ovation
0:16:13 > 0:16:15and we wouldn't go back out and bow.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18You know, because they didn't do that in gospel. So James would
0:16:18 > 0:16:21always be there to tell us, "What's the matter with y'all?
0:16:21 > 0:16:23"Get your ass back out there!" you know.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28And we just thought he was the meanest guy we had ever ran into.
0:16:28 > 0:16:34I think what he took from that was, "I could have my own show."
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Sam Cooke was also sharpening up Bobby and his brothers' sound
0:16:37 > 0:16:40back in the Los Angeles recording studio.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42- Keep cooking like that, Bob.- Yeah.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45- Er, this time, watch your words... - All right.- Give me that message.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50- All right.- All right, we keep the feel, but give me that message.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56Sam would say to him to sing a part over and always enunciate.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59You only do that once, then you went "doo-da-loo"!
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Sam was encouraging his compositional talent too.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05In 1964, Bobby wrote a song for The Valentinos
0:17:05 > 0:17:08that would become one of the biggest hits of the '60s.
0:17:08 > 0:17:15# Well, my baby would stay out all night long
0:17:16 > 0:17:19# Made me cry
0:17:19 > 0:17:22# She did me wrong
0:17:22 > 0:17:27# Because I used to love her
0:17:27 > 0:17:30# But it's all over now #
0:17:30 > 0:17:34MUSIC: "It's All Over Now" by The Valentinos
0:17:34 > 0:17:38# Because I used to love her
0:17:38 > 0:17:41# But it's all over now... #
0:17:41 > 0:17:46I remember going down to Flash Records in downtown LA
0:17:46 > 0:17:50and buying It's All Over Now by The Valentinos.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52And I just went, "Wow! This is just...
0:17:52 > 0:17:55"This is the coolest thing on the planet." I was just a kid.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00# But she put me down and it was a pity how I cried
0:18:00 > 0:18:06# But the table's turning now It's her turn to cry
0:18:06 > 0:18:09# Because I used to love her
0:18:09 > 0:18:14# But it's all over now... #
0:18:14 > 0:18:16And then, I remember all of sudden
0:18:16 > 0:18:19seeing these strange looking English blokes
0:18:19 > 0:18:23doing, you know, Bobby's song. "What's this all about?"
0:18:23 > 0:18:26# Because I used to love her.. # CROWD SCREAMING
0:18:26 > 0:18:30When the Stones made their American breakthrough in 1964,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Sam Cooke gave them permission to cover Bobby's song,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36which they performed on The TAMI Show.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39The white teen audience was completely taken in.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41It just fitted, because, er,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44it made you think that the Stones had written it.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47# But it's all over now... #
0:18:47 > 0:18:51It became the Stones' first UK number one single.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54These white boys come and cut the song and now,
0:18:54 > 0:18:59everybody thinks they cut it, you know, so we were, I was quite angry.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Until Sam told him, "This is a good thing.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04"You will reach a different market."
0:19:04 > 0:19:06I've been chasing them ever since,
0:19:06 > 0:19:10trying to, trying to get them to cut another one of my songs.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14As well as writing songs that helped make the Stones famous,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Bobby was also beginning to compose with his mentor Sam Cooke.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21# She's good to me... #
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Sam Cooke was like a big brother to Bobby,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25because Bobby was around him more.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29It went beyond mentorship.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33Bobby got to see how a real star lived, with a big house.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36He got to cruise with Sam Cooke.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41But Bobby's partnership with Sam would be cut short.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47MUSIC: "I'll Come Running Back To You" by Sam Cooke
0:19:47 > 0:19:52# Folks say that you've found someone new... #
0:19:52 > 0:19:55On the night of December the 11th, 1964,
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Sam Cooke invited a woman back to a Los Angeles motel.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02During an altercation with the motel's manager, he was killed.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05# I'll come running back to you... #
0:20:05 > 0:20:10It was like Bobby just graduating high school and just beginning
0:20:10 > 0:20:16his first year of college and then the professor was no longer there.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19# Just call my name
0:20:19 > 0:20:21# I know, I know
0:20:21 > 0:20:22# I'm not ashamed
0:20:22 > 0:20:25# I'll come running back to you. #
0:20:25 > 0:20:29This is the first time I've been here in 50 years...
0:20:29 > 0:20:33er, it's really strange, it's really eerie.
0:20:33 > 0:20:40You know, because to look at it, everything looks the same, you know.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45I was so crazy about Sam...that the first thing that I said...
0:20:47 > 0:20:50.."I'm going to protect his family."
0:20:54 > 0:20:57But protecting Sam's family would put young Bobby through hell
0:20:57 > 0:21:00and have a devastating effect on his career.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07You want to understand why he made the choices he made.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10It's not just like an open and closed book.
0:21:10 > 0:21:11You're curious
0:21:11 > 0:21:15as to what he was thinking when he married Barbara.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Just three months after his death,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Bobby married Sam's widow Barbara Cooke.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39It was just one of those kind of things
0:21:39 > 0:21:42that, in the black community, just didn't happen.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46It got to a place whereby if somebody said,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49"Friendly Womack, are you any kin to Bobby Womack?"
0:21:49 > 0:21:50I said, like, "No".
0:21:53 > 0:21:55I'm going to take care of his family,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59you know, and I really meant that from here,
0:21:59 > 0:22:06and, er, that's what's happened but people looked at it different.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11When Bobby and Barbara visited Sam Cooke's hometown of Chicago,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15two close associates of Sam's decided to teach them both
0:22:15 > 0:22:17a physical lesson.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22I think he got three or four broken ribs, his jaw was broken,
0:22:22 > 0:22:27you know, his eyes were swollen up, he couldn't even see out of them
0:22:27 > 0:22:31and Barbara was beaten up just as bad but not as bad as Bobby.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39The Valentinos had fallen apart after Sam's death and the scandal
0:22:39 > 0:22:42now affected Bobby's attempt to launch his solo career.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45# I found a true love
0:22:45 > 0:22:48# Swear by the stars above
0:22:48 > 0:22:50# I know she's mine... #
0:22:50 > 0:22:53If I was on a record, they would throw the record in the waste basket
0:22:53 > 0:22:56and say it would never get played on this station.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57I mean, this is big.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59# I thought I might know you... #
0:22:59 > 0:23:05The whole music industry just kind of, like, piled on top of him
0:23:05 > 0:23:09and, like, he's not going to have a career no kind of way.
0:23:09 > 0:23:10# She got to know that for real... #
0:23:15 > 0:23:19Bobby now had no choice but to start again from the bottom up,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22falling back on his strengths as a guitarist and songwriter.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27He made contact with an old friend from his gospel days who was
0:23:27 > 0:23:31now a big star on Atlantic Records and had considerable clout.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35# I'm in love
0:23:35 > 0:23:36# Yes, I am... #
0:23:36 > 0:23:41What Pickett did is took me to Atlantic and he says,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44"This guy's talented, man, y'all need to sign him."
0:23:44 > 0:23:48After I'd finished, they said, "Well, I'm afraid to sign him,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52"there's too much negative talk on him for marrying Sam's wife
0:23:52 > 0:23:54"and I don't want to deal with it."
0:23:55 > 0:23:59So Pickett talked me into giving him all of my songs.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01He'd say, "Every time they see Wilson Pickett,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03"they're going to see Bobby Womack underneath."
0:24:03 > 0:24:05# I'm in love... #
0:24:08 > 0:24:11If he wasn't going to get a crack at being a successful soul man
0:24:11 > 0:24:15himself, then he sure knew what was needed and they really made
0:24:15 > 0:24:19a connection that worked commercially for Pickett.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28# I'm a midnight mover
0:24:36 > 0:24:39# Feel so good
0:24:41 > 0:24:42# I'm a midnight teaser
0:24:46 > 0:24:47# Feel so pleased... #
0:24:47 > 0:24:52In 1968, Bobby and Wilson Pickett wrote a soul classic together.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54# Midnight hugger
0:24:54 > 0:24:56# All night long
0:24:56 > 0:24:58# Midnight lover.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02The midnight mover moves around in the midnight hour...
0:25:02 > 0:25:03HE CHUCKLES
0:25:03 > 0:25:06..doing what the midnight mover does!
0:25:06 > 0:25:08# Oooh!
0:25:08 > 0:25:10# They call me the midnight mover
0:25:10 > 0:25:12# Oh, yeah
0:25:12 > 0:25:13# Oh-h!
0:25:13 > 0:25:16# I'm a midnight walker
0:25:18 > 0:25:20# Sweet soul talker... #
0:25:20 > 0:25:24There's so many people that are midnight movers.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28They sleep in the day, but at night they come out on the prowl.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Bobby's collaborations with Wilson Pickett would open up
0:25:33 > 0:25:38another opportunity for him to repair his shattered reputation.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43# Oh, yeah... #
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Midnight Mover and other Womack-penned Wilson Pickett tracks
0:25:46 > 0:25:50were cut at American Sound in Memphis.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53This was a hot new recording studio attracting major
0:25:53 > 0:25:55artists in the soul and pop worlds.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59The studio was highly impressed with Bobby's guitar playing.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Bobby was unsettling. He wasn't like the average guitar player.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08First of all, he played upside-down and backwards,
0:26:08 > 0:26:13so his rhythm chords would naturally sound different from everybody else.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17American Studios offered Bobby a job as a session guitarist.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26But we were always adding something,
0:26:26 > 0:26:31a bass line or something or a guitar line, whatever your deal was,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34you just came out with it and it would happen.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39And he's a really key part of, um...
0:26:39 > 0:26:43some of the records that came out of America.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46# The only one that could ever reach me
0:26:46 > 0:26:48# Was the son of a preacher man... #
0:26:48 > 0:26:51At American, Bobby played rhythm guitar on classics
0:26:51 > 0:26:55by Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57# Sweet baby
0:26:58 > 0:27:01# There's something that I've just got to say... #
0:27:01 > 0:27:06He had become the hottest session guitar player in the country
0:27:06 > 0:27:10and I said, "Wow, he'll break through this way."
0:27:10 > 0:27:13So, that was a good time for him.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Just that little short period changed his life.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20After four years existing in other artist shadows,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Bobby was finally offered the chance to record an album of his own.
0:27:26 > 0:27:32That's a man who pays his dues, comes up through the ranks...
0:27:33 > 0:27:35..and then all of a sudden the spotlight
0:27:35 > 0:27:41hits the soldier because he's shining so brightly.
0:27:41 > 0:27:42Bobby Womack.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49# All the leaves are brown
0:27:52 > 0:27:55# And the sky is grey
0:27:56 > 0:27:58# I went for a walk
0:28:01 > 0:28:03# On a winter's day
0:28:05 > 0:28:06# I'd be safe... #
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Bobby had given Wilson Pickett most of his own songs,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14so his 1968 debut included a number of cover versions.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17# Yeah, California dreamin'... #
0:28:17 > 0:28:19One of my favourite songs, California Dreamin',
0:28:19 > 0:28:23because he just totally takes the arrangement and makes it his own.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28When I sang it, I thought of a lot of gospel singers, you know,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32and the trademarks that made them known.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36# And I got down on my bended knees
0:28:36 > 0:28:38# And I began to pray... #
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Bobby's cover versions were imaginative reworkings
0:28:42 > 0:28:44from the soul, jazz and pop worlds.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47You couldn't really say that Bobby Womack is a soul artist
0:28:47 > 0:28:51or an R&B artist or a pop artist - he's all of those things.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53# Whoa...
0:28:54 > 0:28:57# Somebody help me now. #
0:28:57 > 0:29:01This guy got to be in the game again,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04it got him out of the post-Sam Cooke funk.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08As he said, "My people started digging me again".
0:29:08 > 0:29:11# Why you want to meet me? Why you want to go? #
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Bobby sensed he'd finally been forgiven for marrying
0:29:14 > 0:29:18Barbara Cooke when he played a gig in Chicago, Sam Cooke's hometown.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24So I just walked that day and talked from my heart
0:29:24 > 0:29:25of how everything happened
0:29:25 > 0:29:29and how I'd been accused and how I've lived with, you know,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31trying to be a performer.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Well, when I'm finished,
0:29:33 > 0:29:36I got a standing ovation and it was jam-packed.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40Ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Womack. Bobby Womack.
0:29:40 > 0:29:41APPLAUSE
0:29:47 > 0:29:48# Whoa, baby
0:29:53 > 0:29:55# Girl... #
0:29:55 > 0:29:57At the start of the 1970s, Los Angeles
0:29:57 > 0:30:00was becoming the centre of the American music business.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02# Don't do it, baby... #
0:30:02 > 0:30:03Bobby Womack was there
0:30:03 > 0:30:07and ready to capitalise on his recent solo breakthrough.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10The industry has not been corporatised yet,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13so there's a sort of looseness and fluidity to it
0:30:13 > 0:30:16it's all about the hanging - nothing's planned.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22It was within this laid-back world that Bobby received a call
0:30:22 > 0:30:25that would place him at the very heart of a rock music tragedy.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Janis Joplin calls me.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32I had never met Janis Joplin and she said,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34"This is Janis Joplin,"
0:30:34 > 0:30:36so I said, "Yes, this is James Brown."
0:30:36 > 0:30:39And she said, "No, this is Janis Joplin for real.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42"Everybody records your songs.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45"I feel like I've got to record something of yours."
0:30:45 > 0:30:49And the queen bee of the hippies, Janis Joplin, summons
0:30:49 > 0:30:54you to the recording studio to hear your tunes and cuts Trust Me.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57# Trust in me, baby
0:30:57 > 0:31:01# Give me time, give me time
0:31:01 > 0:31:03# Mmm, give me time. #
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Nine days after Janis recorded Trust Me,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Bobby visited her at LA's Landmark hotel.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16I could tell she had been through a lot of hurt in her life,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18which I could relate to.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22I fell in love with her just as a person, you know.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25# It just takes time to grow... #
0:31:25 > 0:31:29Janis absolutely wanted to be black
0:31:29 > 0:31:31and Bobby was kind of interested
0:31:31 > 0:31:36in crossing over to the rock world.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40But Janis and Bobby's friendship would be short-lived.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42When I met her, I was doing drugs
0:31:42 > 0:31:45and I was saying to her, "You know what?
0:31:45 > 0:31:47"You should try this." And she said,
0:31:47 > 0:31:52"No, cocaine is an upper, I don't... I want a downer."
0:31:52 > 0:31:57So I was scared to mess with that cos you do that with a needle.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00When Janis's drug dealer rang from the hotel lobby,
0:32:00 > 0:32:02she asked Bobby to leave.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09Just hours later, Janis died of a heroin overdose.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13# It's growing stronger day by day... #
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Janis wasn't the only musical maverick that Bobby clicked with
0:32:24 > 0:32:25in the City of Angels.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29One of the biggest black superstars of the day had recently
0:32:29 > 0:32:34moved from San Francisco to LA's exclusive Bel Air neighbourhood.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39A mutual friend introduced Bobby Womack to Sly Stone.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44Sly had revolutionised black music,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48infusing soul with psychedelic funk rhythms.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53Bobby Womack and Sly Stone are similar spirits, you know,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56they come from the same planet.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00I don't know the name of it and I don't think they do either.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Bobby and Sly both have gospel backgrounds
0:33:03 > 0:33:08and their fathers were God-fearing people, so they had that in common.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14At Sly's Bel Air mansion, they cut a dark funk masterpiece.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21Every time you come to Sly's house, he was in the studio playing,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23so I pick up a guitar and start playing with him.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25So he said, "What's that you're doing?"
0:33:25 > 0:33:28I said, "Oh, man, I'm just adding something to it,
0:33:28 > 0:33:30"bringing something to the table." And then I said,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33"Man, I've got a terrific idea for an intro." He said,
0:33:33 > 0:33:35"Let me hear it" and I'd played it
0:33:35 > 0:33:36and he said, "Man that's incredible."
0:33:36 > 0:33:38INTRO PLAYS: It's A Family Affair
0:33:41 > 0:33:45# It's a family affair
0:33:45 > 0:33:49# It's a family affair... #
0:33:49 > 0:33:54Family Affair hit the very top of the US pop charts in 1971.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Disc jockeys in LA, they would say stuff like,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02"Sly Stone, It's A Family Affair, number 12 on tonight's top 30.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06"Nice wah-wah guitar by California...
0:34:06 > 0:34:08"LA's own Bobby Womack."
0:34:10 > 0:34:13# Got to make it... #
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Bobby's crazy Bel Air days with Sly helped him
0:34:17 > 0:34:23tap into a new musical language for his 1971 album Communication.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27What Bobby Womack, I think, learnt from Sly is the daring
0:34:27 > 0:34:30and that there's nothing you cannot do.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32# It's the situation
0:34:34 > 0:34:37# It's not the generation
0:34:38 > 0:34:41# That keep gettin' on this nation. #
0:34:41 > 0:34:44It's funky and passionate and loose
0:34:44 > 0:34:49and it's got gospel in there and it's got, you know, rock in there.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52# Wow! You got... #
0:34:52 > 0:34:55He caught a wave of black artists
0:34:55 > 0:34:58who were sort of reinventing themselves.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00After 18 years in the business,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Communication was Bobby's very first album
0:35:03 > 0:35:06for a major record label, United Artists.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08It was a significant hit.
0:35:08 > 0:35:09Bobby was becoming a star.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11OK, we're back with Bobby Womack
0:35:11 > 0:35:13and Bobby, we're going to turn the questioning
0:35:13 > 0:35:15over to The Soul Chain Gang, OK?
0:35:15 > 0:35:18- Yeah.- That OK?- You got a question, Miss?
0:35:18 > 0:35:21I want to know, as for the records you've recorded in your lifetime,
0:35:21 > 0:35:22which ones you like the best?
0:35:22 > 0:35:24The one that I'm getting ready to do right now for you.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27It's a song cos I think fellas just be giving women a hard time
0:35:27 > 0:35:28and I feel it's unnecessary.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30- Am I right or wrong about that? - APPLAUSE
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Am I right? Somebody say yeah!
0:35:32 > 0:35:33ALL: Yeah!
0:35:33 > 0:35:38There was a bass line that was on Marvin's What's Going On?
0:35:38 > 0:35:41It was uptempo and I said,
0:35:41 > 0:35:46"What would it be like to slow that down?" Slow it way down.
0:35:46 > 0:35:47It was like...
0:35:59 > 0:36:01And that's where Woman Gotta Have It came from.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03# Oooh!
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Fellas, I wonder would you mind if I talked to ya a minute?
0:36:08 > 0:36:11You know, sometimes we have a tendency or - should I say? -
0:36:11 > 0:36:15we forget what a woman needs every now and then.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23That is if you want to keep your thing together.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Listen to me now.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30# Do the things that keeps a smile on her face
0:36:30 > 0:36:35# Say the things that make her feel better every day... #
0:36:37 > 0:36:40Bobby's label objected to the song's opening monologue
0:36:40 > 0:36:43in which he chastised insensitive male behaviour.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45# If you don't... #
0:36:45 > 0:36:49They call me and they asked me,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51"Do you think you could get Bobby
0:36:51 > 0:36:54"to take the monologue off the front?"
0:36:54 > 0:36:55I said, "I'll ask him."
0:36:55 > 0:37:00So I asked him and he said, "No, I'm not taking it off."
0:37:00 > 0:37:03# Oh, a woman gotta have it I believe...
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Bobby sang Woman Gotta Have It, Bobby meant Woman Gotta Have It,
0:37:07 > 0:37:11even when he gets mad about it when they demand to have it.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13But...!
0:37:13 > 0:37:16But he meant it. It was a sincere thing.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20# Oh, she wants to know that she's not walking on shaky ground. #
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Bobby's refusal to budge paid off.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26His message insisting men show more understanding hit home.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29The single became his first number one on the black charts
0:37:29 > 0:37:32bringing him a much bigger female audience.
0:37:33 > 0:37:38# Don't take for granted the smile on her face
0:37:38 > 0:37:40# Check a little bit closer
0:37:40 > 0:37:43# You might find a tear trace. #
0:37:43 > 0:37:49He touches men just as deeply and they call and they cry
0:37:49 > 0:37:52and they want advice on what to do with their woman and they have
0:37:52 > 0:37:57their own story, so I think he's a people's man, not a ladies' man.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59# True love... #
0:37:59 > 0:38:03But Bobby's ambitions didn't stop after reaching number one.
0:38:08 > 0:38:09In the early '70s,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12black soul stars like Isaac Hayes were writing the soundtracks
0:38:12 > 0:38:17to tough urban black action movies exploding across cinema screens.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22Bobby wanted to be a part of this, but United Artists didn't
0:38:22 > 0:38:25believe he had the experience to write a film score.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27And they say, "But you never did it."
0:38:27 > 0:38:30I say, "Yeah, but there's a lot of people never did anything
0:38:30 > 0:38:33"until they did it, that's when they became known for what they do."
0:38:33 > 0:38:38I think what drives Bobby is people telling him that he can't.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44United Artists were producing a black crime movie.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Impressed with Bobby's persistence, they finally relented,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51but the pressure was now on to deliver.
0:38:51 > 0:38:52And I know they didn't want me to do it,
0:38:52 > 0:38:58they let me see the script one time, the picture, with no music,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01one time and they said, "That's it," and...
0:39:03 > 0:39:07"Plus you have to finish the music to all of it within two weeks,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09"so the movie will be coming out."
0:39:09 > 0:39:12And I'm going on tour, so I says, "This is crazy."
0:39:12 > 0:39:17Across 110th Street premiered in December 1972.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22# I was the third brother of five... #
0:39:22 > 0:39:27This was a drama about the gritty side of New York.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30We see Central Park
0:39:30 > 0:39:34and Across 110th Street in the opening
0:39:34 > 0:39:38and then you finally smash cut into Harlem.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42And you hear Bobby's voice,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45and that wonderful orchestration.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Just the opening tune.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49# Across 110th Street
0:39:49 > 0:39:54# Pimps trying to catch a woman that's weak... #
0:39:54 > 0:39:58I mean, it just broke it down.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02It was definitely a part of the movie, a character in the movie.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04# ..Across 110th Street
0:40:04 > 0:40:08# A woman trying to catch a trick on the street
0:40:08 > 0:40:12# Take my advice, it's either live or die
0:40:12 > 0:40:16# You've got to be strong If you want to survive... #
0:40:16 > 0:40:20At that time, in New York,
0:40:20 > 0:40:25the record stores had speakers outside of the shops.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30# In every city, you find the same thing going down... #
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Across 110th Street was so popular
0:40:33 > 0:40:37there was nowhere that you could go and you wouldn't hear it.
0:40:37 > 0:40:42So, for a while, Across 110th Street was the anthem in New York City.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45# Across 110th Street
0:40:45 > 0:40:49# Pushers won't let the junkie go free
0:40:49 > 0:40:51# Oh... #
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Unlike other famous blaxploitation film scores,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Bobby did something unconventional.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58He wove his life experiences into the title track.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01# Across 110th Street... #
0:41:01 > 0:41:05I was just writing the truth. Doing whatever I had to do to survive.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08I'm not saying what I did was all right,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11but trying to break out of the ghetto was a day-to-day fight.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13# ..In the street
0:41:13 > 0:41:16# Yes, you can... #
0:41:16 > 0:41:21When you hear Bobby Womack, there is such a mixture of heaven and hell
0:41:21 > 0:41:24at the same time coming at you.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27You can hear the church AND the streets.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30That's just what it is.
0:41:30 > 0:41:37# Ooooh... #
0:41:37 > 0:41:40# Don't let me down, don't you let me down
0:41:40 > 0:41:43# Don't let me down, don't let me down... #
0:41:43 > 0:41:48After writing the acclaimed songs to Across 110th Street,
0:41:48 > 0:41:53Bobby released two more albums that cemented the Womack sound.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56# I'm doing the best that I can do... #
0:41:56 > 0:42:00A lot of those records were coming from curiosity,
0:42:00 > 0:42:06living the fast life, and being a hopeless romantic.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10# I can't stop holding on... #
0:42:10 > 0:42:14He can make you laugh and he can make you cry.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17You can feel the up, you are lifted.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19And you can feel the down
0:42:19 > 0:42:24when he is pleading in the ballads that he is so famous for.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29# Girl, let me tell you something and I hope you understand... #
0:42:29 > 0:42:33You got some wisdom cos you suffer some pain.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35You can tell almost anybody,
0:42:35 > 0:42:37"Pull up a seat, sit down, and listen to me talk to you."
0:42:37 > 0:42:40# ..I'm not saying I'm doing you wrong
0:42:40 > 0:42:43# But if you don't believe I'm working
0:42:43 > 0:42:45# Why are you staying at home? #
0:42:45 > 0:42:48He never went super smooth.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51There was always a sandpaper vocal.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56# Stop on by... #
0:42:56 > 0:43:02He just hits a certain melancholy inside you.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11I just love that acoustic guitar
0:43:11 > 0:43:15and his relationship with that instrument.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17You know, people always ask me, saying,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21"Bobby, why do you always talk before you sing?
0:43:21 > 0:43:25"You know, in songs you always have something to say."
0:43:25 > 0:43:27It's like a jam session.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29You're sort of hanging out with Bobby
0:43:29 > 0:43:31when you listen to Bobby's records.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34At some level, you're hanging out with Bobby Womack!
0:43:37 > 0:43:40# It's 5 o'clock AM
0:43:40 > 0:43:44# But the party is still going strong... #
0:43:44 > 0:43:50By the mid '70s, Bobby was living at Firenze Place in LA's Laurel Canyon.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53Now divorced from Barbara Cooke, he'd remarried
0:43:53 > 0:43:55and was whooping it up with rock stars.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58# ..And the FM music is grooving
0:43:58 > 0:44:00# Folks getting down... #
0:44:00 > 0:44:03His place was like a party place every night.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07You could go in there and not make out until the next day.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11But all of these people would be there.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16I remember Ronnie Wood used to come up here all the time.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20Crazy, it was frantic in Firenze!
0:44:20 > 0:44:22We always used to get high together,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25so you'd never get a sensible conversation.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28We'd immediately get the acoustic guitars out.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31That's the way we'd talk. He'd go, "Hey, Woody!" Dow-dow-dow.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35And I go, "Oh!" Ba-ba-ba. Then we'd start playing.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37And then he'd say, "I got this idea," and then he'd play it
0:44:37 > 0:44:42and I'd join in immediately and get it straight away.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Or I'd have an idea, and he'd join in immediately,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48playing upside down or the other way. Like Hendrix!
0:44:48 > 0:44:51So, he found craziness in Laurel Canyon.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55It wasn't a world of, "Go to the gym", "Change your diet",
0:44:55 > 0:44:57"Here's your nutritionist".
0:44:57 > 0:44:58People had fun.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03But the Laurel Canyon high-life was suspended
0:45:03 > 0:45:06when a tragic event happened at Firenze Place.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11I have the strong memory of my brother being killed right there.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Strong memory.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Harry Womack, Bobby's younger sibling, had been with him
0:45:16 > 0:45:19in The Womack Brothers and The Valentinos.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23In 1974, he was murdered by a jealous girlfriend.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26I was in Seattle at the time.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29But I jumped on the first plane getting back.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31And he was laying in the hallway,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34where he'd been hit.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36# Sha-na-na-na
0:45:36 > 0:45:39# Sha-na-na-na
0:45:39 > 0:45:43# Sha-na-na-na... #
0:45:43 > 0:45:48Bobby had always associated his earlier hit song Harry Hippie with his brother.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53# Harry Hippie
0:45:54 > 0:45:58# Lies asleep in the shade
0:45:59 > 0:46:01# Life don't bug him
0:46:01 > 0:46:03# Whoa, he thinks he's got it made
0:46:07 > 0:46:09# He never worry
0:46:11 > 0:46:13# About nothin' in particular
0:46:15 > 0:46:20# Oh, he might even sell a Free Press on sunset
0:46:21 > 0:46:23# I'd like to help a man
0:46:24 > 0:46:27# If I see him falling down, falling down
0:46:27 > 0:46:31# But somebody tell me, how can you help him
0:46:31 > 0:46:33# If he's sleeping on the ground
0:46:33 > 0:46:35# You know what I'm saying, I said... #
0:46:35 > 0:46:39'I could never find myself capable of singing it without crying
0:46:39 > 0:46:43'because it wasn't fun any more, this was real.'
0:46:43 > 0:46:48# But he still walks around all day long singing this song
0:46:48 > 0:46:51# Sha-na-na-na
0:46:51 > 0:46:54# Sha-na-na-na
0:46:55 > 0:46:59# Sha-na-na-na-na-na... #
0:47:04 > 0:47:10By the middle of the decade, Bobby Womack was a major soul star
0:47:10 > 0:47:13and highly respected by other artists.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17He was very much a deacon in the church of musicians.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22But he hadn't achieved the commercial pop heights that his label hoped for.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24Bobby was determined to be his own man
0:47:24 > 0:47:29and didn't always fit with the conventional soul singer image.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33He was often photographed with an acoustic guitar.
0:47:33 > 0:47:38He looked like a singer-songwriter in a way.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42I really don't think Bobby ever looked at many things and said,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45"I better not do that."
0:47:45 > 0:47:50In 1976, Bobby made a surprising musical swerve
0:47:50 > 0:47:55that panicked his label and pushed his musical career to the brink.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57My manager started talking to me, and said,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01"Bobby, if I go country, would you go country with me?" And I said, "Yup."
0:48:04 > 0:48:08I told them, I said, "I'm cutting a country-and-western album."
0:48:08 > 0:48:10They thought I was losing my mind.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14They definitely didn't want him to name it what HE wanted to name it.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16The title was crazy.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21It was called Step Aside Charlie Pride, Give Another Nigger A Try.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25And they said, "No, no, no. That'll never happen."
0:48:25 > 0:48:28They finally settled on BW Goes CW.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32But that was after a whole lot of tooth-pulling.
0:48:32 > 0:48:33I did everything I wanted to do.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38I got all my brothers on horses, my dad is on it.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40Don't get no better than that.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46But Bobby's ill-judged decision to go country
0:48:46 > 0:48:47was a commercial disaster.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52When you sit there with a western motif with a kind of a cowboy thing,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55it did not connect with people.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Radio people didn't know what to do t the record.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03I liked the cover, don't remember playing the album much.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07United Artists had now had enough of Bobby Womack.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10And then they sold my contract to Columbia.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13Cos they said, "This guy is gone."
0:49:16 > 0:49:19Disco music blew up in the very same year
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Bobby released his country album.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Disco music did not make sense to Bobby.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29I just did the disco dances.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33Bobby actually pointed out to me
0:49:33 > 0:49:36that you're not listening to the music,
0:49:36 > 0:49:40how could you enjoy this music when it's like this and it's like that?
0:49:40 > 0:49:44And this instrument is doing this? And it didn't make sense to him.
0:49:44 > 0:49:50Maybe there was a feeling that Bobby Womack was a relic of another era
0:49:50 > 0:49:54that all of us didn't want to get associated with.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59Disco wiped out the careers of most soul artists in the late '70s.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03Bobby just clung on but he did record a hit single
0:50:03 > 0:50:06and was bumped from label to label.
0:50:13 > 0:50:14# Once I lived a life
0:50:14 > 0:50:16# Of a millionaire
0:50:17 > 0:50:19# Spending my money, honey
0:50:19 > 0:50:21# Oh, I didn't care
0:50:24 > 0:50:27# Taking my friends out
0:50:27 > 0:50:29# For a mighty good time
0:50:31 > 0:50:34# Drinking that good gin and liquor
0:50:34 > 0:50:36# Champagne and wine
0:50:38 > 0:50:42# Oh, just as soon as my money got low
0:50:43 > 0:50:47# Couldn't find my friends And I had no place to go... #
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Nobody wants you when you're down and out,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53but sometimes you got to lose to win.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57There was also more heartbreak in Bobby's personal life.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02In 1978, his infant son died, traumatising him and his wife.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Although Bobby was already a drug user,
0:51:05 > 0:51:09these tough times accelerated his intake.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14I mean, you can deal with it better if you are intoxicated,
0:51:14 > 0:51:15if you are out of your mind.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19But it's taking your life at the same time.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22You can't escape from yourself.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27# Nobody wants you when you're down and out, let me tell you about it
0:51:27 > 0:51:30# Nobody wants you
0:51:30 > 0:51:33# Nobody wants you when you're down and out... #
0:51:34 > 0:51:38# If you think you're lonely now
0:51:38 > 0:51:39# Huh!
0:51:39 > 0:51:42# Wait until tonight, girl... #
0:51:42 > 0:51:49In 1981, Bobby channelled all of this despair into an acclaimed album, The Poet.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53Him having the ability to express himself musically
0:51:53 > 0:51:58through all of these dark situations has saved him.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04All the adversity just made him stronger
0:52:04 > 0:52:09and he had more things to write about, more things to feel.
0:52:11 > 0:52:16You know, I made music to talk to people and say, "You're not alone."
0:52:16 > 0:52:19# If you think you're lonely now... #
0:52:20 > 0:52:24Suddenly, here's this album by a relative veteran,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27you almost couldn't believe it.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29Beautifully produced, beautifully sung,
0:52:29 > 0:52:32like little emotional journeys.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35The Poet reached the top of the Black Album Charts.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Bobby followed it with two more LPs
0:52:38 > 0:52:42that completed his successful mid-'80s Poet Trilogy.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55After Bobby's resurgence, he continued to release albums.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58But by the late '90s, creatively, Bobby was drifting.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04He made a gospel record, he tried this and he tried that.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08And there've been, you know, slightly desperate choices.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11I mean, did he need to make a Christmas album?
0:53:11 > 0:53:13At the start of the new millennium,
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Bobby stopped recording studio albums altogether.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21At this point, my dad had the same regimen.
0:53:21 > 0:53:22He went to bed by 10pm,
0:53:22 > 0:53:27he would always lay like this and, like, grunt for hours.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29And just be in his own thoughts.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33It was sad for me to see someone waste their days.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38Then, one morning, out of the blue, a package arrived in the mail.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42So, I'm like, "Oh, you got a new CD?"
0:53:42 > 0:53:45He's like, "Oh, that's some band that wants me to work with them.
0:53:45 > 0:53:46"But I've never heard of them,
0:53:46 > 0:53:50"and I listened to the tape and I don't understand it."
0:53:50 > 0:53:51I'd never heard of the Gorillaz.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54I had walked away from the business,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57I really didn't want to be around it.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00You know, he was used to some group from his time called The Monkees?
0:54:00 > 0:54:05So, he was kind of, you know, putting them in the same family.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09And, to me, I'm like, "No, this is one of the hugest bands right now."
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Everything was done electronic,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13and I said, "Oh, man, this is just effort."
0:54:13 > 0:54:18Give me a real piano, give me a real this. The music had changed.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20"Come on, if you don't it for you, do it for me.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24"Just experiment, let's experience this. What else do you have to do?
0:54:24 > 0:54:28"We're doing the same thing every day. Why not?"
0:54:35 > 0:54:39# Yes, this love is electric
0:54:39 > 0:54:42# It'll be flowing on the street... #
0:54:42 > 0:54:46I was fascinated by the idea of Bobby Womack, it just seemed so,
0:54:46 > 0:54:50sort of, right to me.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55# Just to get through the week, sometimes it's hard... #
0:54:55 > 0:54:58His voice in particular, just resonated emotionally with me.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02So the chance to actually work with him was amazing.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07Bobby reached a whole new audience through his work with the Gorillaz and Damon Albarn.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11It was a really close relationship
0:55:11 > 0:55:14and they talked about making a record together.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17In 2011, Damon and Richard
0:55:17 > 0:55:21began composing a full-length studio album with Bobby.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26It was making a platform for Bobby. That's what it was about.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30# I got a story
0:55:30 > 0:55:33# I want to tell... #
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Damon would come in with just a track
0:55:36 > 0:55:40and we'd all fire off thoughts and ideas,
0:55:40 > 0:55:42it was a very open process.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44When you give Bobby a melody,
0:55:44 > 0:55:46it doesn't come out how you gave him.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49It comes out Bobby-fied.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52# ..I once was lost
0:55:54 > 0:55:56# But now I'm found... #
0:55:56 > 0:56:01It was like super people with no intentions
0:56:01 > 0:56:04but to make good music for super people that need to hear it.
0:56:04 > 0:56:11Richard and Damon were very keen on having Bobby's life story be told.
0:56:11 > 0:56:16# I could try to say I'm sorry
0:56:19 > 0:56:23# But that won't be quite enough... #
0:56:24 > 0:56:28I found myself crying in the bathroom a lot because I felt
0:56:28 > 0:56:34like the album covered so much of who he was and who he is now.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41There's just extraordinary emotional gravitas in the voice.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45# ..If you feel like the sky is falling... #
0:56:45 > 0:56:50I love the new setting for this voice, for this old friend of mine
0:56:50 > 0:56:53that I've followed and listened to all my life.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57# ..Where did I go wrong? #
0:56:57 > 0:57:01The spirit is still there, the voice and the message has not left.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05# ..Where did it all begin? #
0:57:05 > 0:57:07On its release in 2012,
0:57:07 > 0:57:13The Bravest Man In The Universe was acclaimed as one of the finest albums of the year.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17It was a glorious return for Bobby Womack.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21APPLAUSE
0:57:24 > 0:57:27# I was the third brother of five
0:57:28 > 0:57:31# Doing whatever I had to do to survive... #
0:57:31 > 0:57:34I doubt if he would want to change a thing.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37And to still have a guitar in his hand
0:57:37 > 0:57:40and for people to be wanting more,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43that's got to be a very satisfying place.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48# ..Been down so long... #
0:57:48 > 0:57:52He's not just a soul man, he's a poet, he's a country singer,
0:57:52 > 0:57:57he's a balladeer, he's a preacher. That's what makes him so compelling.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01# Across 110th Street is a hell of a tester
0:58:01 > 0:58:05# Across 110th Street... #
0:58:05 > 0:58:10He's risen above it all and is still standing and is still the man.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14Sometimes you're lost, trying to find your way.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16And that's basically it.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Everybody's lost and trying to find their way. You have to go through it to get to it.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22# Oh!
0:58:22 > 0:58:26# Across 110th Street
0:58:26 > 0:58:32# You can find it all
0:58:34 > 0:58:37# Across 110th Street. #
0:58:43 > 0:58:45I'm done.
0:58:45 > 0:58:47- APPLAUSE - Thank you so much.
0:58:47 > 0:58:50# Where there's a will, there's a way
0:58:50 > 0:58:52# Where there's a will, there's a way
0:58:52 > 0:58:55# Where there's a goal, there's a stage
0:58:55 > 0:58:57# Where there's a goal, there's a stage
0:58:57 > 0:58:59# Where there's a stage, there's a play
0:58:59 > 0:59:01# Where there's a stage, there's a play
0:59:01 > 0:59:04# Where there's a will, there's a way
0:59:04 > 0:59:06# Where there's a will, there's a way. #
0:59:12 > 0:59:16Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd