Milan B. Williams (March 28, 1948 – July 9, 2006) was an American keyboardist and a founding member of

The Commodores Commodores are an American funk and Soul music, soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed wit ...

Biography

Williams was born in

Okolona, Mississippi Okolona is a city in and one of the two county seats of Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States. It is located near the eastern border of the county. The population was 2,692 at the 2010 census. History Okolona was named as Rose Hill in 1 ...

, and began playing the piano after being inspired by his older brother Earl, who was a multi-instrumentalist. Williams's first band was called The Jays. After they disbanded, he met the other founding members of the Commodores in 1967. They were

freshmen A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

, Alabama and Williams was recruited into the newly-formed band. In 1969 he traveled with the band to New York City, where they recorded a single called "Keep on Dancing" on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. Williams also wrote the Commodores' first

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

record the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

track, "

Machine Gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

". Other Commodores songs penned by him are; "The Bump", "Rapid Fire", "I'm Ready", "Better Never Than Forever", "Mary Mary", "Quick Draw", "Patch It Up", "X-Rated Movie", "Wonderland", "Old-Fashion Love", "Only You" (a track Williams also produced, taken from the Commodores first LP without

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

, ''Commodores 13''), "You Don't Know That I Know", "Let's Get Started" and "Brick House". While on his way to a concert in 1980 Williams crash landed his single engine plane on a freeway in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

after it developed engine troubles. He and The Commodores press agent, Lester Mornay, escaped injury, jumping from the plane before it burst into flames. He left the Commodores in 1989, allegedly after refusing to perform with them in South Africa.

Death

Milan Williams died of cancer at MD Anderson Hospital,

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

on July 9, 2006, aged 58. His interment was at Zion Spring Cemetery in his hometown of Okolona.

References

External links

* * 1948 births 2006 deaths People from Okolona, Mississippi People from Texas Deaths from cancer in Texas Commodores members American funk keyboardists American soul keyboardists American rhythm and blues keyboardists 20th-century American musicians Songwriters from Mississippi African-American songwriters {{US-keyboardist-stub