David Wayne Williams (February 29, 1972 – August 14, 2002) was an American vocalist best known as the original lead singer for the rock band Drowning Pool.

Biography

He grew up in Princeton, Texas, living with his parents Charles Edward and Jo-Ann Williams. He grew up in a pious family which caused him to move away from religion. Notably, he also used to wear a T-shirt that read "Worship Satan and Smoke Crack". In 1999, he joined Drowning Pool, which had formed in 1996 and had previously performed as an instrumental three-piece. The band released their debut album with Williams, '' Sinner'', in 2001. Williams soon gained recognition for his performances with the band; his nickname "Stage" came from

Pantera Pantera () is an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas formed in 1981, and currently comprised of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-known lineup cons ...

guitarist Dimebag Darrell, who gave it to him because of his known stage personality.

Death

On August 14, 2002, Williams was found dead in the band's tour bus in Manassas, Virginia. An autopsy established that he had died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

caused by

hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM, or HOCM when obstructive) is a condition in which the heart becomes thickened without an obvious cause. The parts of the heart most commonly affected are the interventricular septum and the ventricles. This r ...

(heart muscle disease), which went undiagnosed until his death. A public funeral was held in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, on August 18, 2002, at 2:00 P.M. A DVD titled ''Sinema'' has since been released, chronicling his life. His lifelong dream was to buy his parents a house; the sales from ''Sinner'' fulfilled his dream posthumously. Williams's microphone was given to Cristian Machado from

Ill Niño Ill Niño (stylized as ill niño) is an American metal band formed in Union City, New Jersey, in 1998 by drummer and percussionist Dave Chavarri. They have released seven studio albums, two EPs and one compilation album, totaling in over 1.3 mi ...

. They were good friends, so Drowning Pool and Williams' family gave it to Machado as a token of respect after his death. The band Memento dedicated their set to Williams on the Ozzfest 2003 stage.

Legacy

Williams was ranked in the top 100

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

vocalists of all time by ''

Hit Parader ''Hit Parader'' was an American music magazine that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it focused on rock and pop music in general until the 1970s, when its focus began turning to hard rock and heavy metal. By the early 1980s ...

'' at number 82. The Dallas, Texas music community honored Williams and his legacy with a multi-venue music festival named "Stage Fest". Stage Fest was held in downtown Dallas' Deep Ellum district on August 14, 2007, the fifth anniversary of his death, and played in seven Deep Ellum venues including Club Dada, The Curtain Club, The Lizard Lounge, The Darkside Lounge, Red Blood Club, Reno's Chop Shop, and Tomcat's. One of Williams's previous bands, Fugly, digitally released an album dedicated to him in 2008. On August 14, 2012, the 10th anniversary of his death, Drowning Pool released the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

" In Memory Of..." dedicated to him. For the 13th anniversary of ''Sinner'',

Bicycle Music Company The Bicycle Music Company was a music publishing company founded independently, and after growing for a number of years was merged with Concord Music Group in 2015. As of 2010, it owned or administered over 12,000 works from songwriters. Early h ...

released previously unreleased footage of Dave Williams and his bandmates answering questions about music, movies, and the Sinner album via their

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel. https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/unluckysinner13

References

External links

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Find A Grave EntryStage Fest Myspace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Dave 1972 births 2002 deaths American heavy metal singers Drowning Pool members Nu metal singers 20th-century American singers Alternative metal musicians 20th-century American male singers Deaths from cardiomyopathy