Cecil Womack  

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Cecil Womack (September 25, 1947 – February 1, 2013), was one of the musical Womack brothers.

Contents

Career

Cecil Dale Womack was one of the musical Womack brothers. Although lesser known than his elder brother Bobby, he had some success both as a songwriter and recording artist, latterly with his wife Linda, as Womack and Womack.

Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He and his brothers Bobby, Harry, Friendly and Curtis, were a gospel group appearing on the gospel circuit in the mid 50s where they were seen by Sam Cooke of the Soul Stirrers. As Cooke's protégés they changed their name to The Valentinos and in 1961 began to sing and record for secular audiences.

As the 1960s progressed Cecil Womack preferred a role away from performing as a song writer and producer. As husband of former Motown star Mary Wells he was well placed to provide several chart successes for Wells including "The Doctor" released on Jubille Records and Womack's later songwriting credits include: "Love TKO" a major hit for Teddy Pendergrass and "Love Wars", "Baby I'm Scared of You", and "Teardrops" for Womack & Womack, a group consisting of himself and his wife Linda Cooke.

In 1983, under the name of Womack & Womack, Cecil and Linda released a successful album, Love Wars, and continued to make albums until 1993. Their most successful single was "Teardrops" in 1988.

Covers of Cecil Womack songs

The Womack & Womack song "Love Wars" was covered by The Beautiful South for the 1990 compilation Rubáiyát. "Love T.K.O." has been recorded by many artists including Boz Scaggs, Teddy Pendergrass, and Micheal McDonald. "Teardrops" has been covered by Joss Stone. Eric Clapton recorded "Lead Me On". Other artists to record songs written by Cecil Womack include: Bonnie Raitt ("Good Man, Good Woman"), George Benson ("New Day"), The Dramatics, The Dells, Patti Labelle and brother Bobby Womack with whom he has co-written a number of hit songs that include "(If You Want My Love) Put Something Down On It".

Personal life

Cecil became the second husband of Motown singer Mary Wells in 1967. Together they had three children: Cecil Jr, Stacy and Harry. After their 1977 divorce, Wells dated Cecil's other brother, Curtis Womack and she gave birth to their daughter, Sugar. His oldest son Mateen Womack, born in 1966 from a prior relationship.

Cecil next married Linda Cooke, the daughter of Sam Cooke. This created a scandal because Cecil's brother Bobby Womack married Sam Cooke's widow Barbara Campbell in March 1965, just three months after Sam Cooke's December 1964 death.

Cecil Womack spent his final years in Africa using his time to explore his African heritage, spirituality and knowledge of the continent. In later years he was known by the name Zekuumba Zekkariyas. He died in Africa in February 2013.

Discography

Albums

  • 1983: Love Wars
  • 1985: Radio M.U.S.C. Man
  • 1986: Starbright
  • 1988: Conscience
  • 1991: Family Spirit
  • 1993: Transformation to the House of Zekkariyas
  • 2000: Greatest Hits
  • 2004: The Best of 1984-1993: Strange and Funny

Singles

  • 1983: "Love Wars" (UK #14)
  • 1984: "Baby I'm Scared Of You" (UK #72)
  • 1984: "Express Myself"
  • 1985: "Radio M.U.S.C. Man"
  • 1985: "Strange And Funny"
  • 1986: "Soul Love/Soul Man" (UK #58)
  • 1986: "Starbright"
  • 1988: "Teardrops" (UK #3, NZ #1)
  • 1988: "Life's Just A Ballgame" (UK #32)
  • 1989: "Celebrate The World" (UK #14)
  • 1989: "MPB (Missing Persons Bureau)" (UK #92)
  • 1991: "Uptown" (UK #79)
  • 1991: "My Dear (The Letter)"
  • 1992: "Alimony"
  • 1993: "Secret Star"





Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Cecil Womack" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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