Paul Williams

There are at least five artists named Paul Williams: 1) Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. (born September 19, 1940) is an American singer-songwriter. A staff songwriter for A&M Records, he composed several classic hit songs of the '70s for artists such as Carpenters ("We've Only Just Begun"), Helen Reddy ("You and Me Against the World"), and Three Dog Night ("An Old Fashioned Love Song"). Themes evoked by Williams' oeuvre include the gain and loss of love, social isolation, loneliness, and escapism. He has received many awards and accolades, and is the current chairman and president of ASCAP. As a performer in his own right, Williams released a series of well-regarded soft rock albums on A&M, often recording his own versions of his hit songs for other artists. Several of Williams' most well-known songs were co-composed with Roger Nichols, who wrote the music whereas Williams penned lyrics. Williams is also known for his plentiful contributions to The Muppets (having composed the anthemic "Rainbow Connection") and soundtracks for films such as A Star Is Born, Bugsy Malone, and Phantom of the Paradise; in the latter, he also portrayed charismatic villain Swan, earning him the unlikely status of sex symbol. Williams all but disappeared from the public spotlight in the '80s; having been a victim of substance abuse for the better part of a decade (and having become more known for his constant television appearances than his music), managing to clean up at the dawn of the '90s and staying sober ever since. Since, Williams has worked primarily as an addiction counselor, drawing from his own experience, though he continues to perform and record, releasing a comeback studio album in 1997. The 2000s saw the release of a live album and a studio album of re-recorded classic songs and originals. The 2010s saw the release of the 2012 documentary Paul Williams Still Alive (Williams' most recent solo recording being a a song of the same name). In 2013, Williams appeared on French electronica duo Daft Punk's widely anticipated fourth studio album, Random Access Memories, as a guest vocalist on the song "Touch". The writing credits for this song, as well as Williams' other contribution, "Beyond", are shared between Williams, long-time cohort Chris Caswell, and Daft Punk members Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. 2) Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (July 13, 1915 – September 14, 2002) was an American rhythm and blues bandleader, songwriter and saxophonist. He composed "The Hucklebuck", a twelve-bar blues that also spawned the dance craze of the same name. 3) Paul Williams (born August 7, 1992 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a rapper who has quickly become a local celebrity due to his musical talents and clever rhymes. Paul first started attracting attention when he began to upload parodies and remixes of popular songs to his YouTube channel at the age of 16. However his popularity skyrocketed after creating a Facebook page for himself and uploading his music for fans to listen to. Paul's YouTube videos have a combined total of over 300,000 views. On August 17, 2010, Williams was featured on Close Up, a popular New Zealand current affairs program, where his song "Slice of Paul" (which samples Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven) paved the way for national fame for the young Nelson College student. Paul released a free mixtape entitled Apauling later in 2010. Paul's influences include Kanye West, The Strokes, Drake, Animal Collective, Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi, and MGMT. 4) Paul Williams is a British guitarist and Gospel artist. 4) Paul Williams is a Canadian electronic artist. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.