Bobby Womack, the ‘bravest man’ in R&B, is on the comeback trail

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The hits dried up in the late ‘70s, but then Bobby struck gold again in 1981 with “You Think You’re Lonely Now,” which is a staple in K-Ci and JoJo shows, thanks to the popularity of K-Ci’s 1994 cover of the song, and was referenced by name in Mariah Carey’s 2005 hit “We Belong Together.” He also hit with “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much,” about a man doing his best not to desire his best friend’s woman, which people easily applied to his situation with Sam Cooke’s widow, as well as the duet “Love Has Finally Come At Last,” with Patti LaBelle.

He got another major musical lifeline from across the pond in 2010 when he appeared on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, alongside Mos Def, for “Stylo.” That success led to his latest album on XL Recordings, which also did Gil Scott-Heron’s last album.

“If you tell the truth, truth never goes out of style,” he says in the video “The Making of The Bravest Man in the Universe” on his website. And that’s been a secret to his musical longevity. There’s a raw emotion that permeates his work. You can hear pain, sorrow, regret and even joy in his music, which he says has largely been inspired by his life experiences or that of those around him.

He’s cheated death more times than anybody can count, including a shooting by his first wife, Sam Cooke’s widow Barbara, after she discovered he was romantically involved with her teenage daughter, Linda, who later married his brother Cecil. Drugs, cocaine in particular, which he used for at least 30 years, could have also taken him out but didn’t. And, most recently, he beat prostate cancer. According to an article in The Guardian a few weeks ago, he was just in the hospital with pneumonia.

“It feels like they spared me to tell the story,” he says in that same video. And he didn’t hold much back in his 2007 autobiography, Midnight Mover: The True Story of the Greatest Soul Singer in the World, including his very well-known moral shortcomings.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if The Bravest Man in the Universe, which sometimes displays a man on his last act with songs like “Deep River,” a classic spiritual that harkens back to Bobby’s gospel roots where he truthfully sings “I ain’t got long to stay here,” ranks among his greatest recordings. Certainly the songs with Euro-hip beats won’t be to everyone’s liking and, definitely the lack of true reflection and introspection over the last 68 years of living that have made his work stand out, doesn’t help.

His voice may be weathered but his spirit is omnipresent. After all, if there’s one person who, today, embodies black music history of the 20^th century at its best, it’s Bobby Womack and, yes, he still has a story to tell.

Follow Ronda Racha Penrice on Twitter at @rondaracha