Who Is He and What Is He to You

Recorded in Los Angeles at Record Plant during the Still Bill sessions, with Bill Withers working alongside the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band core of Ray Jackson, Benorce Blackmon, Melvin Dunlap, and James Gadson. Ray Jackson handled the horn and string arrangements, and Bob Hughes and Phil Schier were the engineers. Released on Still Bill in 1972, the track stood out for its tense, understated groove and its sharply drawn jealousy narrative. It helped define the album’s reputation as a stripped-down, emotionally direct classic of 1970s R&B. The song has remained one of Withers’ best-known album tracks and has been repeatedly covered, including versions by Creative Source and Meshell Ndegeocello. Its lyrical economy and slinking groove have kept it in circulation as a deep-catalog favorite.