Liam Fray has shared a video of himself covering Bill Withers‘ hit ‘Lean On Me’ as a tribute to the late star.
The Courteeners frontman posted the clip on his social media accounts yesterday (April 3) after learning about the celebrated soul musician’s passing. Withers, 81, suffered heart complications and died on Monday (March 30), his family confirmed on Friday.
“This is for anyone that might need it,” wrote Fray in a caption accompanying the video – see below:
Lean on Me.
For anyone that might need it
Rest Easy Bill x pic.twitter.com/SDIRpauspv
— Liam Fray (@What_Liam_Said) April 3, 2020
Figures from across the music and entertainment world have paid tribute to Withers, including Brian Wilson, Lenny Kravitz, Nile Rodgers, Jennifer Hudson and Graham Coxon.
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Read more: Bill Withers, 1938 – 2020: the reluctant star whose songs were as understated as his genius
An NME obituary described Withers as “the reluctant star whose songs were as understated as his genius”.
“Bill Withers’ life was a lesson in being able to take or leave other people’s assessments of your success, and he was all the stronger for it.
Meanwhile, Fray spoke to NME recently about the making of The Courteeners 2008 single ‘Not Nineteen Forever’. He revealed that it was inspired by jamming to The Strokes and from nights out in Manchester’s indie clubs.
“‘Front crawl the crowd down the stairs’”, he said of one lyric, “is about when we used to go to this club in Manchester called 42s (42nd Street). You know, you have 800 kids who want to leave and get to the next party so they leave at the same time to find someone. On more than one occasion, I would front crawl and crowdsurf down the stairs.
“That’s a really evocative image. I can still see it now. It was 2003 so there were girls in their fishnets and eyeliner with every guy looking like Pete [Doherty] and Carl [Barat, The Libertines],” he said.
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