<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of CNN at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-----------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><h1 style="padding: 0px; margin: 15px 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bobby Womack dies</h1></strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><br></strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><img src="cid:8AF3DFDB-7A6B-4E05-AB8C-A4CCA40C3DED" alt="Bobby-Womack-Performs-Liv-008.jpg" id="8AF3DFDB-7A6B-4E05-AB8C-A4CCA40C3DED" width="460" height="276"></strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><br></strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">(CNN)</strong><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">-- The raspy, gruff voice behind some of the most soulful songs of the past six decades is now gone.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Legendary soul singer Bobby Womack died Friday, Womack's publicist said. He was 70.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I am sadly able to confirm but I have no details at this time," said Sonya Kolowrat, his publicist with XL Recordings.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Womack, whose career started before he was 10, wrote and performed hits such as "That's the Way I feel About Cha" and "Across 110th Street."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He also wrote The Rolling Stones' first U.S. No. 1 hit, "It's All Over Now."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Last year, he revealed to BBC 6 music that he had early signs of Alzheimer's disease.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"With the support of many good doctors, my family, and all of my wonderful fans, I will continue to write and perform and bring the good music to the people for as long as I can," Womack told CNN after his diagnosis.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He thanked his fans for their prayers and well wishes, adding, "I truly appreciate and can feel your love."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"> </div></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Womack's diagnosis came after several other health issues including pneumonia, diabetes, and colon cancer.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><br></strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">The evolutio</strong><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">n</strong><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"> of a legend</strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Bobby Dwayne Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1944. His father,</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><a href="http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bobby-womack/bio/" target="_blank" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">a steelworker</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">, also sang gospel -- and young Bobby followed in his father's musical footsteps.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We came up very poor. My kids have had a much better life than I'd ever thought of livin'," Womack</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><a href="http://www.bobbywomack.com/timeline/" target="_blank" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">said on his website</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By age 10, Womack and his four brothers -- Friendly Jr., Cecil, Harry and Curtis -- formed The Womack Brothers. They started touring the gospel circuit.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then came an encounter that would change the course of the group. In 1953, The Womack Brothers met Soul Stirrers lead singer Sam Cooke.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After The Womack Brothers changed their name to the Valentinos, Cooke signed them to his SAR Records label, and the Valentinos' success took off with the hit "Lookin' for a Love."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Sam had charisma and a very special way to get into people's hearts through his songs and his music," Womack said in the book "Midnight Mover."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"But Sam wasn't just a singer, he was a leader, and he was getting ready to shake things up, to raise the consciousness of the world and stop prejudice."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But in 1964, Cooke was shot to death at a Los Angeles motel. Four months later, Womack married Cooke's widow.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That same year, The Rolling Stones covered Womack's "It's All Over Now" -- and scored their first No. 1 hit in the United States. And Womack became rich.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He broke off into a solo career, which took off in 1967 with his first song "Trust Me."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His song "Across 110th Street" became a hit in 1972 and rode a new wave of popularity in 1997 when it was featured in the opening credits of Quentin Tarantino's film "Jackie Brown."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mourning an icon</strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Decades after The Rolling Stones made it big with Womack's song, guitarist Ronnie Wood recalled his friend's ability to captivate his audiences.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I'm so sad to hear about my friend Bobby Womack -- the man who could make you cry when he sang has brought tears to my eyes with his passing,"</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ronniewood/status/482679170552836096" target="_blank" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Wood tweeted</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"My heart goes out to his family & friends and everyone who loved his music. Bobby you will be greatly missed."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Singer Darius Rucker also remembered Womack's renowned baritone voice.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"To the great Bobby Womack. Rest In Peace u legend,"</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/dariusrucker/status/482675416730066944" target="_blank" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Rucker tweeted</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">. "Heaven just got another great singer for its choir."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-----------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">"That's the Way I Feel About 'Cha" by Bobby Womack</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/BobbyWomack/Thats_the_Way_I_Feel_About_Cha.mp3">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/BobbyWomack/Thats_the_Way_I_Feel_About_Cha.mp3</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">"Across 110th Street" by Bobby Womack</div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/BobbyWomack/Across_110th_Street.mp3">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/BobbyWomack/Across_110th_Street.mp3</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rest well, Bobby.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya at Farmers Market, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>