<p><strong>Photo Credit:&nbsp;</strong><em>Bobby Caldwell performs onstage at the 2013 Soul Train Awards at the Orleans Arena on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013 in Las Vegas. Caldwell, a singer of R&amp;B, soul, adult contemporary and American standard music who had a major hit in 1978 with &ldquo;What You Won't Do For Love,&rdquo; died at his home in Great Meadows, N.J. on Tuesday, March 14.</em></p>
<p>Bobby Caldwell, a soulful R&amp;B singer and songwriter who had a major hit in 1978 with&nbsp;&ldquo;What You Won&rsquo;t Do for Love&rdquo;&nbsp;and a voice and musical style adored by generations of his fellow artists, has died, his wife said Wednesday.</p>
<p>Mary Caldwell told The Associated Press that he died in her arms at their home in Great Meadows, New Jersey, on Tuesday, after a long illness. He was 71.</p>
<p>The smooth soul jam &ldquo;What You Won&rsquo;t Do for Love&rdquo; went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on what was then called the Hot Selling Soul Singles chart. It became a long-term standard and career-defining hit for Caldwell, who also wrote the song.</p>
<p>The song was covered by artists, including Boyz II Men and Michael Bolton, and was sampled by Tupac Shakur on his posthumously released song &ldquo;Do For Love.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Other Caldwell songs were sampled by hip-hop artists including The Notorious B.I.G., Common, Lil Nas X and Chance the Rapper.</p>
<p>Stories abound, many of them shared on social media after his death, of listeners being surprised to learn that Caldwell was white and not Black.</p>
<p>Caldwell appeared only in silhouette on the self-titled debut solo album on which &ldquo;What You Won&rsquo;t Do for Love&rdquo; appears.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Caldwell was the closing chapter in a generation in which record execs wanted to hide faces on album covers so perhaps maybe their artist could have a chance,&rdquo;&nbsp;Questlove said on Instagram.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Thank you for your voice and gift #BobbyCaldwell,&rdquo; Questlove wrote.</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpz-K-OOLAY/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpz-K-OOLAY/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Questlove (@questlove)</a></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Chance the Rapper shared a screenshot on Instagram&nbsp;of a direct message exchange he had with Caldwell last year when he asked to use his music.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be honored if you sample my song,&rdquo; Caldwell wrote.</p>
<p>&ldquo;You are such an inspiration to me and many others,&rdquo; Chance told him. He said in the post that he had never been thanked for sampling a song before and has &ldquo;not felt broken like this at a stranger&rsquo;s passing in so long.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Born in New York and raised in Miami, Caldwell was the son of singers who hosted a musical variety TV show called &ldquo;Suppertime.&rdquo; A multi-instrumentalist, he began performing professionally at 17, and got his break playing guitar in Little Richard&rsquo;s band in the early 1970s. In the mid &rsquo;70s, Caldwell played in various bar bands in Los Angeles before landing a solo record deal.</p>
<p>Caldwell would never have a hit that came close in prominence to &ldquo;What You Won&rsquo;t Do for Love,&rdquo; but he released several respected albums, including 1980s &ldquo;Cat in The Hat&rdquo; &mdash; on which he appeared prominently on the cover wearing a fedora &mdash; and 1982&prime;s &ldquo;Carry On,&rdquo; on which he was his own producer and played all the instruments.</p>
<p>His song &ldquo;Open Your Eyes&rdquo; from &ldquo;Cat in The Hat&rdquo; was covered by John Legend and sampled by Common on his Grammy-nominated 2000 single &ldquo;The Light.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the 1990s, Caldwell shifted to recording and performing American standards, including songs made popular by Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, he loved in his youth.</p>
<p>In addition to Mary, his wife of 19 years, Caldwell is survived by daughters Lauren and Tessa and stepdaughter Katie.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

On Air Now

Non-Stop Music

You May like

Schedule

Non-Stop Music