Memphis soul veteran Don Bryant has died, his family announced Friday, Dec. 26. He was 83.
“Don loved sharing his music and songs with all of you and it gave him such great joy to perform and record new music,” Bryant’s family said in a statement shared on Instagram. “He was so appreciative of everyone who was part of his musical journey and who supported him along the way.”
The Memphis-based artist originally struck out as a solo artist in the Sixties, releasing a lone album, Precious Soul, in 1969. The following decade, he pivoted to songwriting, working at Memphis’ Hi Records, which was home to artists like Al Green and O. V. Wright. “I wanted to be a part of it,” Bryant told Rolling Stone in 2017. “If it wasn’t gonna be the singing, I was content with trying to do the writing.”
Bryant was credited on hundreds of songs, writing tracks that were cut by Solomon Burke, Etta James, Otis Clay, and Albert King. But Bryant he was perhaps best known for the string of hits he wrote for his wife, fellow Hi Records artist Ann Peebles, including “99 Pounds” and the Grammy-nominated “I Can’t Stand the Rain” in 1973.
The title of the latter track was inspired by an offhand quip from Peebles during one particularly heavy downpour. “At the time, there were a lot of records about the rain, but everyone was wanting the rain, trying to hide their tears,” Bryant told Rolling Stone. “I Can’t Stand the Rain” would peak at Number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 and would go on to be covered and sampled by the likes of Tina Turner, Seal, Missy Elliott, and Kaytranada.
Bryant largely devoted himself to Peebles’ career, only returning to the stage as a solo artist after she suffered a stroke in 2012 and stepped away from music professionally. With his wife’s encouragement, Bryant released his first album in nearly 50 years, the critically acclaimed Don’t Give Up on Love in 2017, followed by You Make Me Feel in 2020.
“Music is one of my greatest loves,” Bryant told Rolling Stone in 2020. “When I can concentrate on that, I can take my mind off everything else.”
