Leonard Charles Williams (born February 16, 1945)"Biography by Alex Henderson"
AllMusic. is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead vocalist for the soul/funk group

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the b ...

in the early 1970s. As a solo artist, Williams made several hit

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

, including 1978's "Cause I Love You" and 1977's "Choosing You".

Early life and career

Williams was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

, and moved to

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California, before the age of 1. Learning to play the trumpet in elementary school fueled his interest in music; his skills as a vocalist were first nurtured by singing in gospel choirs and groups around the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. He worked with several notable artists, such as

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

Andraé Crouch Andraé Edward Crouch (July 1, 1942 – January 8, 2015) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor. Referred to as "the father of modern gospel music" by contemporary Christian and gospel music profess ...

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

and members of the Hawkins family,

Edwin The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (died ...

Walter Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

and Tramaine.

Professional recordings

After winning several local

talent contest A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather th ...

s, Williams signed his first

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its inves ...

. He cut two

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

for the label, including "Lisa's Gone" and "Feelin Blue", written by

John Fogerty John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American mu ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

. In 1972, Williams joined the emerging

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band Tower of Power. A string of hits followed, including "

So Very Hard to Go "So Very Hard to Go" is a torch song performed by American rhythm and blues band Tower of Power, issued as the second single from their eponymous third album. It was produced by the band and written by band members Emilio Castillo and Stephen Ku ...

", "What Is Hip", "Don't Change Horses (In The Middle of the Stream)" and "Willing To Learn". During his two years with the group, Williams participated in three albums: ''Back To Oakland'', ''Urban Renewal'' and the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

LP ''Tower of Power''. Williams and Tower of Power toured throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Solo works

While still with Tower of Power, he recorded his first solo album ''Pray for the Lion'' for

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

in 1974. At the end of 1975, Williams left the band and returned to his solo projects. Initially signing with

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

in 1975, he later moved to

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

in 1977 (which was then purchased by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

in 1979). With producer Frank Wilson at the helm and songwriters such as Judy Wieder, Clay Drayton, Terry McFadden, and John Footman, over the next four years, he scored ten

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

hits, including "Shoo Doo FuFu Ooh", "Choosing You", "You Got Me Running", "Love Hurt Me Love Healed Me", "Here's to the Lady," and "Midnight Girl". Williams recorded four more albums from 1977 to 1980: ''Choosing You'', his first gold LP; ''Spark of Love'' (contains the hits "You Got Me Running", and "Cause I Love You" as well as "Midnight Girl"); ''Love Current''; "Taking Chances" and ''Let's Do It Today''. After leaving MCA, Williams recorded for the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

s, Rockshire and Knobhill. In 1986, he was invited to sing vocals on "

Don't Make Me Wait For Love "Don't Make Me Wait For Love" is a song by Kenny G featuring Lenny Williams on lead vocals—the first single released from Kenny G's 1986 album ''Duotones''. The song was written and composed by Walter Afanasieff, Preston Glass and Narada Michae ...

", a track from ''

Duotones ''Duotones'' is the fourth studio album by American saxophonist Kenny G, released on September 29, 1986 by Arista Records. It features one of Kenny G's best-known songs, "Songbird", which reached number four on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. T ...

'', a multi-platinum recording by

Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...

. The song became a

Top 20 A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B hit the following year. His 1978 hit song "Cause I Love You" was

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

by Havoc of

Mobb Deep Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from New York City. The duo consisted of rappers Prodigy and Havoc. They are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hopEdwards, Paul, 2009, ''How to Rap: The Art & Scien ...

for the track "Nothing Like Home", and by

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

for the songs "

Overnight Celebrity "Overnight Celebrity" is the second single from Twista's 2004 album ''Kamikaze (Twista album), Kamikaze''. The song was produced and features uncredited vocals by Kanye West and uncredited violin by Miri Ben-Ari. It contains a sample of the 1978 s ...

" by

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his Chopper (rap), chopper style of rapping and for once holding the t ...

and " I Got A Love" by Jin. The track was sampled a fourth time in 2007 by Scarface for his single "Girl You Know" featuring

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...

"Let's Talk It Over" for his single "I Do" featuring

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

and Andre 3000. His song "Half Past Love" was also sampled by

The Coup The Coup is an American hip hop band from Oakland, California. Their music is an amalgamation of influences, including funk, punk, hip hop, and soul. Frontman Boots Riley's revolutionarily-charged lyrics rank The Coup as a renowned political ...

for their 2006 single "My Favorite Mutiny" featuring

Black Thought Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded ...

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

and

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

of Black Star. Since that time, Williams has continued his solo career, touring the US, Europe and South Africa, and has also expanded his career to include acting, starring in several stage plays, including ''Love on Lay Away'' starring

Deborah Cox Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before ...

Mel Jackson Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

and

Martha Wash Martha Elaine Wash (born December 28, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, who sang backing vocals for the disco si ...

; ''What Men Don't Tell'' starring

Kenny Lattimore Kenny Lattimore (born April 10, 1970) is an American R&B singer. Early life Lattimore first developed his interest for music in the high school band program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. He often acknowledges Dr ...

, Chante Moore, and

Dottie Peoples Dorothy "Dottie" Peoples (born August 12, 1950) is an American gospel singer from Dayton, Ohio. After completing high school, she toured with gospel pioneer Dorothy Norwood, a member of the Caravans. After a stint in jazz, she relocated to Atlant ...

; and ''When A Woman's Fed Up''. He is also one of the featured artists on Urbanland Music's DVD ''The Big Show'', recorded at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 29, 2002.

Discography

With
Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the b ...

*1973: ''

'' (Warner Bros. Records) *1974: ''

Back to Oakland ''Back to Oakland'' is the fourth album by Bay Area based band Tower of Power, released in early 1974 on Warner Bros. Records. It was voted by ''Modern Drummer'' magazine as one of the most important recordings for drummers to listen to. The c ...

'' (Warner Bros. Records) *1975: ''

Urban Renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

'' (Warner Bros. Records)

Studio albums

*1974: ''Pray for the Lion'' (Warner Bros. Records) *1975: ''Rise Sleeping Beauty'' (Motown Records) *1977: ''Choosing You'' (ABC Records) *1978: ''Spark of Love'' (ABC Records) *1979: ''Love Current'' (MCA Records) *1980: ''Let's Do It Today'' (MCA Records) *1981: ''Taking Chances'' (MCA Records) *1984: ''Changing'' (Rocshire Records) *1986: ''New Episode'' (Knobhill Records) *1989: ''Layin' In Wait'' (K-Tel Records) *1994: ''Chill'' (Marathon Records & Bellmark Records, 2020 Reissue by SoulMusic Records) *1996: ''Here's to the Lady'' (Universal Special Products) *2000: ''Love Therapy'' (Volt Records) *2004: ''My Way'' (Thump Records) *2007: ''It Must Be Love'' (LenTom Records) *2009: ''Unfinished Business'' (Lentom Records) *2012: ''Still in the Game'' (Music Access Inc) *2020: ''Fine'' (Bridle Ridge Records)

Compilation albums

*1993: ''Ooh Child'' (MCA Special Products) *2001: ''Ultimate Collection'' (Universal) *2002: ''Ten Ways of Lovin' You'' (Volt Records) *2008: ''You Won My Heart'' (Crush Records)

References

External links

Official site
*
Lenny Williams 2012 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Lenny Musicians from Little Rock, Arkansas Musicians from Oakland, California 20th-century African-American male singers American soul singers Tower of Power members Living people 1945 births Singers from Arkansas 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers People from Oakland, California 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century African-American male singers