Bill Withers: soul music’s ‘everyman’ wrote songs for the world to lean on

Even before Bill Withers passed away from heart complications at the end of March, his 1972 hit Lean on Me had already become something of a marker for public solidarity in the face of the coronavirus.

From schoolchildren in Scotland, to quarantined apartment residents in Dallas and online virtual choirs around the world, the song has been a prominent feature of musical responses to the crisis.

This is unsurprising.

It was already a staple of charity concerts, and had been…