Lean on Me (song)

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“Lean on Me”
Song by Bill Withers
Album	Still Bill
Released	June 1972
Length	4:17
Label	Sussex Records
Writer	Bill Withers
Producer	Bill Withers

“Lean on Me”
Song by Club Nouveau
Album	Life, Love and Pain
Released	January 1987
Length	5:57 (original album version)
Label	King Jay
Writer	Bill Withers
Producer	Jay King

"Lean on Me" is a well known hit song written and performed by Bill Withers on the 1972 album Still Bill. It is ranked number 205 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Bill Withers' original version of the song has become a popular inspirational anthem and would be his first (and only) Billboard Hot 100 number one single to date.

Withers' hardscrabble childhood in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia^[1] were the inspiration for "Lean on Me", which he wrote after he had moved to Los Angeles and found himself missing the strong community ethic of his hometown.

Several members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were used for the recording session in 1972.

It has been interpreted by various artists ever since, including Will Smith, Mud (1976), Al Jarreau (1985), Club Nouveau (1987), dc Talk (1992), Michael Bolton (1994), Bonnie Tyler (1999), Anne Murray, and Mitchel Musso (2008). (1999). Country singer Kenny Rogers has performed the song at his concerts, but has not released a recording. R&B group Club Nouveau covered the song and took it to number one on the Billboard charts in 1987. The 1987 Club Nouveau version won a Grammy award. In 1989, covers of "Lean on Me" by The Winans and Sandra Reaves-Phillips provided the emotional uplift for a motion picture of the same name. Additionally, for the same film, the song was adapted by Big Daddy Kane in hip hop form.

UK Singer Elkie Brooks performed the song as the title music for BBC comedy program Agony Again.

Preceded by "Song Sung Blue" by Neil Diamond	Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Bill Withers version) July 8, 1972	Succeeded by "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan
Preceded by "Woman's Gotta Have It" by Bobby Womack	Billboard's Hot Soul number one single (Bill Withers version) June 24, 1972	Succeeded by "Outa-Space" by Billy Preston
Preceded by "Jacob's Ladder" by Huey Lewis & The News	Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Club Nouveau version) March 21, 1987- March 28, 1987	Succeeded by "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship

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