the legendary Sam Cooke! Bobby confessed that just 3 months after his good friend, Cooke, died after having been shot to death by a hotel manager, Womack married Cooke’s wife, Barbara.
As if that wasn’t lowdown enough, he admitted to sleeping with Sam and Barbara’s teenage daughter, Linda (she was about 18 at the time). Here’s what Bobby wrote about how they eventually got caught in the act by his wife:
“I’m lying there kissing Linda and the light comes on — ‘You dirty fucking bastard. What are you doing with my daughter?’ It was Barbara.”
After that, Barbara shot Bobby with a .32 pistol and it grazed his scalp as he was running out of the house and into the garage. That is why they abruptly divorced in 1970. Barbara and her daughter never spoke again. [Sources: “Midnight Mover” book; Rolling Stone]
That was just foul wasn’t it?!!
Mr. Womack was one of the baddest blues legends in the game, and for that, we will always honor him for his contributions to music. What would music have been without songs like “Across 110th Street,” “If You Think You’re Lonely Now,” and “Harry Hippie?” Those songs are still CLASSICS to this day that cannot be denied.
Now as far as his personal life, yeah he did some jacked up stuff to the folks he loved, but it just goes to show that celebrities are no different than us regular folks- they are perfectly flawed human beings. May Bobby Womack and Sam Cooke continue to rest peacefully.
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