Linda Womack

Linda Womack (née Cooke; born April 25, 1953), also known as Zeriiya Zekkariyas, is an American singer and songwriter.

Biography

Womack is the daughter of Sam Cooke, and with her husband Cecil Womack has had a successful recording career under the name Womack & Womack. Their first album Love Wars proved a critical hit on the Elektra label. "Baby I'm Scared of You" was a Top 40 R&B single. 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. The 1993 album Transformed Into The House Of Zekkariyas was their last as Womack & Womack.

Womack, in partnership with Cecil, gained renown as a songwriter of soul songs in the late seventies and eighties, with "Woman's Gotta Have It", co-written with her stepfather and brother-in-law Bobby Womack and Darryl Carter; "Love T.K.O.", recorded by Teddy Pendergrass; "Love Bankrupt", released by Patti LaBelle; and the ballad "New Day" by soul singer and jazz guitarist, George Benson.

In the 1990s, she and her family moved to South Africa. She records with her seven children as "The House of Zekkariyas". Their album Sub Conscience was released in 2002. Her husband died on February 1, 2013 in South Africa, aged 65.