Bill Withers, influential soul singer behind Ain't No Sunshine, dies at 81

Bill Withers, the influential US soul singer who wrote Lean on Me, Ain’t No Sunshine and Lovely Day has died aged 81 of heart complications, The Guardian reports, citing a statement from his family.

Withers wrote and recorded several other major hits including Use Me and Just the Two of Us, before retiring in the mid-1980s and staying out of the public eye.

He is survived by his wife Marcia Johnson and their two children,