William Harrison Withers Jr. born July 4, 1938, was a singer-songwriter and musician from the United States.
He was the son of a maid, Mattie, and a miner, William Withers. He was born with a stammer and later admitted to having difficulty fitting in. When he was three years old, his parents split, and he was raised by his mother’s relatives in nearby Beckley, West Virginia.
His father died when he was 13 years old. At the age of 17, Withers entered the United States Navy and served for nine years, during which time he developed an interest in singing and songwriting.
Who is Bill Withers wife Denise Nicholas?
Denise Donna Nicholas born July 12, 1944, is a social activist, author, and actor from the United States.
Nicholas is most known for her work on ABC as high school guidance counselor Liz McIntyre.
In 2015, she was best recognized for her roles in Mr. Fantastic & The Wonderful Depot, a spoof of the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Room 222, and Councilwoman Harriet DeLong on the NBC/CBS drama series In the Heat of the Night.
Nicholas spent her childhood in Detroit. With her mother’s remarriage to Robert Burgen, she relocated to Milan, Michigan, a tiny town south of Ann Arbor.
At the age of 16, Nicholas was featured on the cover of Jet magazine on August 25, 1960, as a future school teacher prospect at Northwestern University’s National High School Institute.
In 1961, she graduated from Milan High School. Nicholas is the middle child in a family of three, with an elder brother, Otto, and a younger sister, Michele, who was killed in 1980.
On January 17, 1973, Nicholas married soul singer-songwriter, Bill Withers.
Prior to their marriage, their relationship had been tumultuous.
Nicholas allegedly informed authorities in November 1972 that Withers went to Tucson, Arizona, where she was filming The Soul of Nigger Charley, and assaulted her in a motel room after she threatened to quit their relationship, but she refused to press charges.
Their divorce was finalized in December 1974, after she filed for divorce in April 1974.
