Bobby Womack, the revered “poet” of soul music for his prowess as a songwriter as well as singer and guitarist, died Friday at 70. 
 
 Representatives of Womack’s label, XL Recordings, confirmed the death. The cause wasn’t immediately known, but he had been battling diabetes and had cancer surgery in 2012. 
 
 
 
 Womack’s greatest work spanned decades. He was an in-demand session musician as a guitarist, a distinctively gritty vocalist and a renowned songwriter. Womack’s “It’s All Over Now” became a No. 1 hit when the Rolling Stones covered it in 1964 and his “Across 110th Street” enjoyed a revival when Quentin Tarantino made it the centerpiece of his soundtrack for the 1997 “Jackie Brown” movie. He has worked with, written for and inspired generations of artists, including Jimi Hendrix, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Sly Stone, Elvis Presley, and Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn. 
 
 
 
 Womack was born in Cleveland in 1944 and began performing and later recording gospel music with his brothers Curtis, Harry, Cecil and Friendly in the ‘50s. The Womack Brothers established a strong Chicago connection early on, performing frequently in the city. They were mentored by South Side native Sam Cooke, who signed them to his SAR label in 1960, and they went on national tours with the Staple Singers. The group found commercial success when it changed its name to the Valentinos and shifted to a more secular soul sound. 
 
 
 
 His extensive session work in the ‘60s included hits for Aretha Franklin, the Box Tops and Joe Tex, and writing songs for artists such as Wilson Pickett. He played guitar in Cooke’s band, and a few months after Cooke was killed in 1964, he wed Cooke’s widow, Barbara Campbell, which caused a scandal and got his career as a solo artist off to a bumpy start. 
 
 
 
 But as Womack began making his own albums, his substantive songs won favor from tastemakers such as “Soul Train” host Don Cornelius, who used to book him for Chicago concerts before the promoter’s TV show went national. 
 
 
 
 “Chicago is old stomping grounds for me,” Womack told the Tribune in a 2012 interview. “Don Cornelius used to bring me in, when they were very fearful of me because I married Sam’s wife. There were so many negative feelings about me. But I loved to sing so much, being young and naïve, all I thought I needed to do was come in and perform. If I’m a true entertainer I have to perform anywhere. It was a big thing for me to win over the crowd. (Chicago soul radio DJ) E. Rodney Jones would always bring me in. He said, ‘Bobby, you keep being you, they’ll join you.’ 
 
 
 
 “One day in the 1970s, we had a big date at McCormick Place. That was great news. I got paid a nice price to come in, but the promoter came in and said, ‘We got bad news, your band had a bus wreck. Nobody got hurt, but all the instruments got torn up. We got to take our money back, or you got to go out and perform without them. It’s up to you.’ I had my acoustic guitar, so I started to perform by myself. I started to talk to the crowd like I’m talking to you on the phone. I played some songs I never recorded. I went into some of these songs, told jokes about me and Sam coming up. I walked off, got a standing ovation. It was a full house. I never forgot that.” 
 
 
 
 Womack made a series of acclaimed albums in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, including “The Poet,” a No. 1 R&B; hit in 1981, that attested to his vision as a lyricist whose songs brimmed with vivid details about everything from domestic affairs to street life. He wrote about adult issues, and embodied characters from the preacher to the philanderer, ever the philosopher about the everyday travails in the inner-city. 
 
 
 
 His R&B; hits during this fertile era included “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha,” “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” “Across 110th Street,” “Lookin’ for a Love” and “If You Think You’re Lonely Now.” 
 
 
 
 But drug addiction set him back for much of the next two decades, as he recorded only sporadically and his health deteriorated. In 2010-11, Albarn invited Womack to record and go on tour with Gorillaz, and produced the singer’s 2012 comeback album, “The Bravest Man in the Universe.” 
 
 
 
 Womack said he had no idea who Albarn was until his daughter informed him. “I told her they (Gorillaz) wanted me to sing on a single they had coming out,” Womack told the Tribune. “She said, ‘Dad, that’s a break for you.’ But my break was being able to do what I wanted to do. Damon just wanted me to be me.” 
 
 
 
 He said he was grateful to be working again and was determined to stay healthy so he could keep touring. “I know a lot of people aren’t here anymore and I wonder why I’m still here,” he said. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about Sam (Cooke). His presence is so strong and so convincing to me, a true artist, a true talent. When you’ve been around Cooke, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Wilson Pickett – all those people had styles. Nobody sounded like nobody else. To keep up, you write a song, and you keep writing them, and you get better, you find your voice. Great lyrics never go out of style.” 
 
 
 
 greg@gregkot.com ||||| The iconic R&B;/gospel crooner and songwriter was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. 
 
 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame soul singer Bobby Womack, whose music was covered by The Rolling Stones, among many others, died Friday. He was 70. 
 
 A representative for Womack's label, XL Recordings, confirmed the news of his death this morning to The Hollywood Reporter. He was suffering from colon cancer and diabetes. An obituary first appeared on Rolling Stone.com. 
 
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 Born and raised in Cleveland, the son of two musicians and the third of five brothers, Womack began his career as a member of Curtis Womack and the Womack Brothers, who were signed to SAR Records by Sam Cooke. The group released a handful of gospel singles, including "Buffalo Bill," when Bobby was just 10 years old, before changing their name to The Valentinos and pursuing a more pop-influenced, secular sound. 
 
 In 1964, one month after The Valentinos released their hit "It's All Over Now," The Stones released their version, which went to the top of the U.K. singles charts. The Valentinos' career stalled when Cooke was shot and killed in a Los Angeles motel in December 1964. Just three months later, Womack created a scandal by marrying Cooke's widow, Barbara Campbell. 
 
 Womack wrote and originally recorded New Birth's "I Can Understand It," among other songs. As a singer, he is best known for the hits "Lookin' for a Love," "That's the Way I Feel About Cha," "Woman's Gotta Have It," "Harry Hippie" and "Across 110th Street." 
 
 After leaving The Valentinos in 1965, Womack became a session musician at producer Chips Moman's American Studios in Memphis, playing on recordings by Joe Tex, Aretha Franklin and The Box Tops, before his work as a songwriter caught the ear of Wilson Pickett, who recorded his "I'm a Midnight Mover" and "I'm in Love." 
 
 In 1968, Womack signed with Minit Records and released his debut album, Fly Me to the Moon, scoring a major hit with a cover of "California Dreamin'." In 1969, he forged a partnership with Gabor Szabo that produced the instrumental hit "Breezin' " for George Benson. He also worked on Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On album and penned the ballad "Trust Me" for Janis Joplin's Pearl album. 
 
 A string of successful albums included Understanding and Across 110th Street, both released in 1972, the latter of which was the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film of the same name. The titular single also was later used in the opening and closing sequences of Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film Jackie Brown. Other albums followed including 1973's Facts of Life, with the Top 40 hit, "Nobody Wants You When You're Down and Out," an older song Cooke had done years before, and 1974's Lookin for a Love Again, which featured a remake of his first hit single, "Lookin' for a Love." In 1975, he collaborated with The Stones' Ronnie Wood on the guitarist's second solo album, Now Look. 
 
 Womack's career revived in 1981 when he signed with Beverly Glen Records and had his first Top 10 R&B single with "If You Think You're Lonely Now." His accompanying album, The Poet, went to No. 1 on the R&B charts, bringing him increased acclaim in the U.S. and Europe. He had two more R&B Top 10 singles, including the Patti LaBelle duet "Love Has Finally Come at Last" and "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much." Throughout most of the ‘80s, he struggled with drug addiction, eventually checking himself in to a rehabilitation center. 
 
 In 1989, Womack sang on Todd Rundgren's "For the Want of a Nail" on the album Nearly Human and in 1998 performed George Gershwin's "Summertime" with The Roots for the Red Hot Organization's Red Hot + Rhapsody benefit album. 
 
 Womack contributed lyrics and sang on "Stylo" alongside Mos Def on the first single from the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, where he met Damon Albarn in 2010. 
 
 In 2012, Womack began a career renaissance with the release of The Bravest Man in the Universe, his first album in more than 10 years. Produced by Albarn and XL's Richard Russell, the album received critical accolades. Upon his death, Womack was recording his next album for XL, tentatively titled The Best Is Yet to Come, featuring cameos by Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart and Snoop Dogg. His final performance was at Bonnaroo on June 14. 
 
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 Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. 
 
 "I can think of no other living artist I've had the experience of seeing perform or meeting whose music has meant more to me and given me more comfort," wrote longtime music exec David Gorman on his Facebook page. "I'm thankful the last time I saw Bobby play was one of the best. Losing him hurts bad."
– Bobby Womack is dead at age 70 after a musical career that has tributes, like this in the Chicago Tribune, referring to him as the "revered poet of soul music." Though renowned as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist in his own right, Womack's work has been extensively covered by the greats. The New York Times relays this anecdote from 1964,when a new British band called the Rolling Stones covered a song he wrote called "It's All Over Now." At first Womack was ticked because he and his brothers had their own version out on the R&B charts as the Valentinos. But the Stones' version hit No. 1 in Britain, and “I stopped being upset when we got our first royalty check," Womack once said. "That changed everything.” Womack got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 and recorded a widely acclaimed album in 2012 called the Bravest Man in the Universe, a collaboration with younger artists, reports Rolling Stone. "You know more at 65 than you did at 25," he said at the time. "I understand the songs much better now." Womack the singer is probably best known for "Lookin' for a Love," "That's The Way I Feel About Cha," "Woman's Gotta Have It," "Harry Hippie," and "Across 110th Street," notes the Hollywood Reporter. Quentin Tarantino featured the latter song in his 1997 film Jackie Brown.