Bill Withers

E528875

human musician singer-songwriter

Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter and musician best known for soulful hits like "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," and "Lovely Day."

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All labels observed (1)

Label	Occurrences
Bill Withers canonical	12

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5599146 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Bill Withers
Context triple: [Clarence Avant, workedWith, Bill Withers]

A. Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield was an influential American soul and funk singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer known for his socially conscious music and pioneering work with The Impressions and on the Super Fly soundtrack.
B. Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack was an influential American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his emotive vocals and genre-spanning contributions from the 1960s onward.
C. Al Green
Al Green is an American Democratic politician and longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives known for representing a Houston-area district and for his advocacy on civil rights and social justice issues.
D. Al Green
Al Green is an American soul and R&B singer renowned for his smooth, emotive vocals and classic hits like "Let's Stay Together," which made him a defining figure of 1970s soul music.
E. Donny Hathaway
Donny Hathaway was an influential American soul singer, pianist, and songwriter known for his rich, emotive vocals and classic recordings in the 1970s.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Bill Withers
Target entity description: Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter and musician best known for soulful hits like "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," and "Lovely Day."

A. Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield was an influential American soul and funk singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer known for his socially conscious music and pioneering work with The Impressions and on the Super Fly soundtrack.
B. Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack was an influential American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his emotive vocals and genre-spanning contributions from the 1960s onward.
C. Al Green
Al Green is an American Democratic politician and longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives known for representing a Houston-area district and for his advocacy on civil rights and social justice issues.
D. Al Green
Al Green is an American soul and R&B singer renowned for his smooth, emotive vocals and classic hits like "Let's Stay Together," which made him a defining figure of 1970s soul music.
E. Donny Hathaway
Donny Hathaway was an influential American soul singer, pianist, and songwriter known for his rich, emotive vocals and classic recordings in the 1970s.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (65)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	human ⓘ musician ⓘ singer-songwriter ⓘ
awardReceived	Grammy Award for Best R&B Song NERFINISHED ⓘ Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song NERFINISHED ⓘ Grammy Hall of Fame Award NERFINISHED ⓘ Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ⓘ Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame ⓘ
causeOfDeath	heart complications ⓘ
collaboratedWith	Benorce Blackmon NERFINISHED ⓘ Grover Washington Jr. NERFINISHED ⓘ James Gadson NERFINISHED ⓘ Ray Jackson NERFINISHED ⓘ
countryOfCitizenship	United States of America ⓘ
dateOfBirth	1938-07-04 ⓘ
dateOfDeath	2020-03-30 ⓘ
familyName	Withers NERFINISHED ⓘ
fullName	William Harrison Withers Jr. NERFINISHED ⓘ
genre	R&B ⓘ adult contemporary music ⓘ funk ⓘ smooth soul ⓘ soul music ⓘ
givenName	William ⓘ
grewUpIn	Beckley, West Virginia, United States NERFINISHED ⓘ
hasSignatureSong	Ain't No Sunshine NERFINISHED ⓘ Lean on Me NERFINISHED ⓘ Lovely Day NERFINISHED ⓘ
influenced	Alicia Keys NERFINISHED ⓘ Ed Sheeran NERFINISHED ⓘ John Legend NERFINISHED ⓘ Justin Timberlake NERFINISHED ⓘ Neo soul artists ⓘ
knownFor	introspective lyrics ⓘ soulful ballads ⓘ warm baritone voice ⓘ
memberOf	Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers collaboration ⓘ
militaryService	United States Navy ⓘ
notableAlbum	+'Justments NERFINISHED ⓘ Just As I Am NERFINISHED ⓘ Menagerie NERFINISHED ⓘ Still Bill NERFINISHED ⓘ Watching You Watching Me NERFINISHED ⓘ
notableWork	Ain't No Sunshine NERFINISHED ⓘ Grandma's Hands NERFINISHED ⓘ Just the Two of Us NERFINISHED ⓘ Lean on Me NERFINISHED ⓘ Lovely Day NERFINISHED ⓘ Use Me NERFINISHED ⓘ Who Is He (And What Is He to You)? NERFINISHED ⓘ
occupation	musician ⓘ record producer ⓘ singer ⓘ songwriter ⓘ
placeOfBirth	Slab Fork, West Virginia, United States NERFINISHED ⓘ
placeOfDeath	Los Angeles, California, United States NERFINISHED ⓘ
recordLabel	Columbia Records ⓘ Sussex Records NERFINISHED ⓘ
retiredFromMusic	mid-1980s ⓘ
rockAndRollHallOfFameInductionYear	2015 ⓘ
sexOrGender	male ⓘ
songwritersHallOfFameInductionYear	2005 ⓘ
yearsActive	1960s ⓘ 1970s ⓘ 1980s ⓘ

How these facts were elicited