Linda Womack
{{short description|American singer-songwriter}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Linda Womack
| image =
| caption = Linda (right) with Cecil Womack (2013)
| image_size =
| background = solo_singer
| birth_name = Linda Cooke
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|4|25}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter}}
| years_active =
| label = Capricorn
| past_member_of = Womack & Womack (disbanded 2004)
}}
Linda Womack (née Cooke; born April 25, 1953), now known as Zeriiya Zekkariyas, is an American singer and songwriter.{{cite news|first=Emma |last=Cook|date=30 January 1994|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met--womack-and-womack-1403513.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met--womack-and-womack-1403513.html |archive-date=2022-06-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Independent|title=How we met: Womack and Womack}} She is the daughter of soul singer Sam Cooke. She later had a successful career as half of the duo Womack & Womack with her husband Cecil Womack.
Early life and family
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 protégé Bobby Womack on March 5, 1965.{{Cite magazine|date=March 18, 1965|title=Sam Would Want It This Way—Barbara Cooke: Widow of Slain Singer Marries Friend 77 Days After His Death|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMADAAAAMBAJ&q=womack|magazine=Jet|pages=46–49|via=Google Books}} In 1970, Barbara shot at him after she discovered he was having an affair with Linda, who was 17-years-old at the time.{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/2938141/bobby-womack-a-passionate-reckless-soul-man-to-the-end/|title=Remembering Bobby Womack: A Passionate, Reckless Soul Man to the End|last=Hyman|first=Dan|date=June 29, 2014|magazine=Time}} According to Womack, Linda never spoke to her mother again after that incident.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2696322/bobby-womack-sam-cooke/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124214249/http://www.mtv.com/news/2696322/bobby-womack-sam-cooke/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 24, 2016|title=Bobby Womack and His Brothers Found Love in Familiar Places|last=Wolk|first=Douglas|date=June 13, 2012|website=MTV News}}
Career
In 1972, Linda co-wrote Bobby Womack's 1972 hit song "Woman's Gotta Have It".{{Cite book|last=Womack|first=Bobby|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTitDwAAQBAJ&q=Woman%27s+Gotta+Have+It+linda&pg=PT103|title=Bobby Womack My Story 1944-2014|date=2014-08-07|publisher=Kings Road Publishing|isbn=978-1-78418-273-1}} In 1979, she signed to Capricorn Records and went on the road with him.{{Cite magazine|date=May 17, 1979|title=Bobby Womack To Take Stepdaughter On Road To Teach Showmanship|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsADAAAAMBAJ&q=linda+bobby+womack+jet&pg=PA60|magazine=Jet|pages=60|via=Google Books}} They planned to collaborate for her debut album.{{Cite magazine|date=January 4, 1979|title=Womack's Back On Recording Track With Sam Cooke's Daughter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUIDAAAAMBAJ&q=linda+bobby+womack&pg=PA31|magazine=Jet|pages=30–31|via=Google Books}} She gained renown as a songwriter of soul songs in the late 1970s and '80s, with "Love Bankrupt", released by Patti LaBelle; and the ballad "New Day" by soul singer and jazz guitarist, George Benson.
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 by Elektra Records, was a critical hit. "Baby I'm Scared of You" was a Top 40 R&B single.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/womack-womack|title=Womack & Womack Chart History|magazine=Billboard}} Other albums included Radio M.U.S.I.C. Man (Elektra 1985), Starbright (Manhattan EMI 1986), Conscience (Island 1988) and Family Spirit on Arista/RCA in 1991. Their 1988 single "Teardrops" from the album Conscience was a worldwide hit. The song, written by Linda and Cecil (as Womack and Womack), featured Linda on lead vocals. The 1993 album Transformation Into The House Of Zekkariyas was 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.{{cite news | last = Lewis | first = John | title = Cecil Womack obituary | newspaper = The Guardian | date = February 5, 2013 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/05/cecil-womack | access-date = June 2, 2016}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFDD153FF936A15755C0A96E948260 Review/Rock; Womacks:Songs of Life], The New York Times; accessed January 2, 2014.
{{Sam Cooke}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Womack, Linda}}
Category:American women singers
Category:American expatriates in South Africa
Category:Expatriate musicians in South Africa
Category:American expatriate musicians
Category:Capricorn Records artists
Category:African-American women singer-songwriters
Category:American women singer-songwriters
Category:21st-century African-American musicians
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:20th-century African-American musicians