Ulysses Kae Williams (February 4, 1921 – December 29, 1987) was an American DJ,

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

owner and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, known as one of the earliest local deejays to play the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. Born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, USA, he started in radio around 1945 and worked for numerous area stations, including WSSJ, WDAS,

WHAT (AM) WHAT (1340 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by VM Broadcasting. History Founded as WHAT (1922–1944) On October 17, 1922, a new Philadelphia radio station was authorized by ...

, and WCAM. At the same time, he worked for the '' Philadelphia Tribune'', from 1945 to 1948 as theatrical and night club critic. Williams managed several local acts, including

Lee Andrews & the Hearts Lee Andrews & the Hearts were an American doo-wop quintet from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formed in 1953. They recorded on the Gotham, Rainbow, Mainline, Chess, United Artists, Grand and Gowen labels. Managed by Kae Williams, in ...

, and

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1936 or 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been ...

(from 1954–1957). In the mid-1950s, Kae reached what would be eventually the high point of his career, when the group he was managing,

The Silhouettes The Silhouettes were an American doo wop/ R&B group, whose single " Get a Job" was a number 1 hit on the ''Billboard'' R&B singles chart and pop singles chart in 1958. The doo-wop revival group Sha Na Na derived their name from the song's lyric ...

, had a huge pop hit with " Get a Job". The track sold several million copies in the USA and abroad and topped the pop charts. Williams also managed a group called The Sensations, which sold close to a million with the pop tune ''Let Me In''.Jay Warner, ''American Singing Groups: A History from 1940 to Today'' (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2006):287. Kae Williams inspired many youngsters, black and white, to go into radio and music. Williams died on December 29, 1987, in Philadelphia. His second son, Ulysses Kae, Jr., (born 7 March 1956; died July 11, 2008), was a record producer, whose ''Catch Me I'm Falling'' by the group Pretty Poison climbed the charts on its release.

Awards

* BMD Publishers Award (1957) for ''Get a Job'' * Mary DEE Award for outstanding community service and broadcasting (1978) * Lifetime Achievement Award (1989) (presented to his son, Kae Williams Jr.) * Chairman of the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers

References

External links

Kae Williams Sr Page

Listing of Songs credited to Williams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ulysses Kae 1921 births 1987 deaths American radio DJs Radio personalities from Philadelphia

Awards

References

Further reading

External links