Linda Womack
Linda Womack | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Linda Cooke |
| Born | April 25, 1953 Chicago,Illinois,U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Labels | Capricorn |
| Formerly of | Womack & Womack(disbanded 2004) |
Linda Womack(néeCooke;born April 25, 1953), now known asZeriiya Zekkariyas,is an American singer and songwriter.[1]She is the daughter of soul singerSam Cooke.She later had a successful career as half of the duoWomack & Womackwith her husbandCecil Womack.
Early life and family
[edit]Linda Womack (née Cooke) is the eldest child of Barbara Campbell and Sam Cooke, born on April 25, 1953. Her parents married in 1958. In December 1964, when she was 11 years old, her father was killed. Soon after, her mother married Cooke's protégéBobby Womackon March 5, 1965.[2]In 1970, Barbara shot at him after she discovered he was having an affair with Linda, who was 17-years-old at the time.[3]According to Womack, Linda never spoke to her mother again after that incident.[4]
Career
[edit]In 1972, Linda co-wrote Bobby Womack's 1972 hit song "Woman's Gotta Have It".[5]In 1979, she signed toCapricorn Recordsand went on the road with him.[6]They planned to collaborate for her debut album.[7]She gained renown as a songwriter ofsoulsongs in the late 1970s and '80s, with "Love Bankrupt", released byPatti LaBelle;and the ballad "New Day" by soul singer and jazz guitarist,George Benson.[8]
Linda married Bobby's brother Cecil Womack, and together they had a successful recording career under the name Womack & Womack. Their first album,Love Wars,released byElektra Records,was a critical hit. "Baby I'm Scared of You" was aTop 40R&B single.[9]Other albums includedRadio M.U.S.I.C. Man(Elektra 1985),Starbright(Manhattan EMI 1986),Conscience(Island 1988) andFamily SpiritonArista/RCAin 1991. Their 1988 single "Teardrops"from the albumConsciencewas a worldwide hit. The song, written by Linda and Cecil (as Womack and Womack), featured Linda on lead vocals. The 1993 albumTransformation Into The House Of Zekkariyaswas their last as Womack & Womack.
In the 1990s, Linda and her family moved to South Africa. She records with her seven children as The House of Zekkariyas. Her husband died on January 25, 2013, in South Africa, aged 65.[8]
References
[edit]- ^Cook, Emma (30 January 1994)."How we met: Womack and Womack".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-06-14.
- ^"Sam Would Want It This Way—Barbara Cooke: Widow of Slain Singer Marries Friend 77 Days After His Death".Jet.March 18, 1965. pp. 46–49 – via Google Books.
- ^Hyman, Dan (June 29, 2014)."Remembering Bobby Womack: A Passionate, Reckless Soul Man to the End".Time.
- ^Wolk, Douglas (June 13, 2012)."Bobby Womack and His Brothers Found Love in Familiar Places".MTV News.Archived fromthe originalon January 24, 2016.
- ^Womack, Bobby (2014-08-07).Bobby Womack My Story 1944-2014.Kings Road Publishing.ISBN978-1-78418-273-1.
- ^"Bobby Womack To Take Stepdaughter On Road To Teach Showmanship".Jet.May 17, 1979. p. 60 – via Google Books.
- ^"Womack's Back On Recording Track With Sam Cooke's Daughter".Jet.January 4, 1979. pp. 30–31 – via Google Books.
- ^abLewis, John (February 5, 2013)."Cecil Womack obituary".The Guardian.RetrievedJune 2,2016.
- ^"Womack & Womack Chart History".Billboard.
External links
[edit]- Review/Rock; Womacks:Songs of Life,The New York Times;accessed January 2, 2014.
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| Related articles | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1953 births
- American women singers
- Living people
- American expatriates in South Africa
- Singers from Chicago
- Capricorn Records artists
- African-American women singer-songwriters
- American women singer-songwriters
- 21st-century African-American musicians
- 21st-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American musicians
- Singer-songwriters from Illinois
- 20th-century African-American women