He had shunned the music business for years. “If I walked into a restaurant and saw somebody that looked like a musician, I would walk back out. They were either going to turn me back onto drugs or they were going to ask what I was doing, and I would have to lie.”
Womack intended to make the most of his fresh start.
“This is a new Womack,” he promised. “The best you’ve ever seen. I survived the storm.”
The Cleveland native was the third brother of five born to a Baptist church organist and a minister/musician. Bobby’s father, Friendly Womack, was surprised by the boy’s guitar-playing talent and the musical skills of his other sons, and they eventually began performing as the Womack Brothers.
The siblings were discovered in 1956 by Sam Cooke, who signed them to his SAR Records label four years later when Womack was 16. They changed their name to The Valentinos and had their first hit, Lookin’ for a Love (Womack would re-record it a dozen years later), in 1962. Two years later, the group’s next hit It’s All Over Now proved a turning point for the budding songwriter.