William Peter Charles Williams (born 1959) is a show director,

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

lighting designer In theatre, a lighting designer (or LD) works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text while keeping ...

and video director for concerts, theatre, and

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

projects. He is best known for his groundbreaking work with the rock band U2, and is recognised as one of the leading artists in this field.

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

, writing in

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

magazine, said “Willie Williams combines a passionate delight in technology with an infectious low-tech joy. His innovations have become industry standards.” He was born in 1959 in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

and raised in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England, son of Robert Woodman Williams, a singer & medical practitioner who was an early pioneer in the then fledgling field of physiotherapy and who also sang with South Yorkshire Opera. Williams excelled at mathematics and science in school and planned to study

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. The advent of punk rock caused him to enter the music scene instead, and he began doing lights for various bands such as Writz,

Deaf School Deaf School is an English art rock/ new wave band, formed in Liverpool, England, in January 1974. Overview Between 1976 and 1978, the year in which they split up, Deaf School recorded three albums for the Warner Brothers label. The first a ...

and

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the De ...

. Willie Williams has been responsible for the design of U2's tours from 1982 onward, most famously the extravagant, bewildering

Zoo TV Tour The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1991 album '' Achtung Baby'', the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 to 1993. It was intended to mirror ...

(1992–93), and most recently the

Innocence + Experience Tour The Innocence + Experience Tour (styled as iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour) was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the band's 2014 album ''Songs of Innocence'', the tour visited arenas throughout 2015. It was U2's first ...

(2015),

the Joshua Tree Tours 2017 and 2019 The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 and The Joshua Tree Tour 2019 were two worldwide concert tours by rock band U2 commemorating the 30th anniversary of their 1987 album ''The Joshua Tree''. The 2017 tour visited stadiums over four legs: North America f ...

, and the Experience + Innocence Tour (2018). He has also worked with musical artists such as

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

Darren Hayes Darren Stanley Hayes (born 8 May 1972) is an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the frontman and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden until their disbandment. Their 1997 album ''Savage Garden (Savage Garden album), Savage Garden'' peaked a ...

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

and

Self Esteem Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth or abilities. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) d ...

. Williams has designed for the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

-based dance company

La La La Human Steps La La La Human Steps was a Québécois contemporary dance group in Canada, active between 1980 and 2015, known for its energetic, acrobatic style involving fast-paced and athletic physical contact. Its signature move was the barrel jump – a gra ...

. Other collaborations have been with

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

and the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

, most notably on ''Sun Rings'', a joint effort with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

that combines the string quartet's music with video and audio material collected by the

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin ''Voyager 2'', ''Voya ...

and

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, ''Voyager 1'', on a ...

spacecraft.

Gallery and architectural installations

In 2015, Williams designed the giant kinetic chandelier installed at Omnia nightclub at

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. He has exhibited his own kinetic light sculptures in several art galleries. The sculptures, entitled " Lumia Domestica", create kaleidoscopic projections in the tradition of

Nicolas Schöffer Nicolas Schöffer ( hu, Schöffer Miklós; 6 September 1912 — 8 January 1992) was a Hungarian-born French cybernetic artist. Schöffer was born in Kalocsa, Hungary and resided in Paris from 1936 until his death in Montmartre in 1992. He b ...

and

Thomas Wilfred Thomas Wilfred (June 18, 1889 in Naestved, Denmark - August 15, 1968 in Nyack, New York), born Richard Edgar Løvstrøm, was a musician and inventor. He is best known for his light art, which he named '' lumia'', and his designs for color organs ...

by refracting light through household glassware. Other public works include the creation of lighting installations at London's

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

and within

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

; "SkyChurch", a multimedia performance space at the

Experience Music Project The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, and a permanent exhibit at Cleveland's

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

Museum.

Theatre works

Theatre shows Williams has worked on include ''

Prima Facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...

'', starring

Jodie Comer Jodie Marie Comer ( ; born 11 March 1993) is an English actress who rose to global prominence for her role as Oksana Astankova / Villanelle in the BBC America spy thriller '' Killing Eve'' (2018–2022). She has received various accolades in ...

, at the

Harold Pinter Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

, London, ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at numbe ...

'', ''

Little Britain Live ''Little Britain Live'' is a stage show based on the TV sketch series '' Little Britain'', performed by its stars, David Walliams and Matt Lucas, and directed by Jeremy Sams. Supporting characters are played by Paul Putner and Samantha Power (wi ...

'', ''

French and Saunders ''French and Saunders'' is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comedy duo and namesake Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders that originally broadcast on BBC2 from 1987 to 1993, and later on BBC One until 2017. It is a ...

Still Alive'', ''

Steve Coogan Stephen John Coogan (; born 14 October 1965) is an English actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. He is most known for creating original characters such as Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which ...

Alan Partridge Alan Gordon Partridge is a comedy character portrayed by the English actor Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept broadcaster with an inflated sense of celebrity. Since his debut in 1991, h ...

and Other Less Successful Characters'', ''

The Fast Show ''The Fast Show'', known as ''Brilliant'' in the US, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams (actor), M ...

Live'', '' Barbarella'' and ''

Pam Ann Pam Ann is the air hostess alter-ego of Australian comedian, writer, producer & DJ Caroline Reid. Performances focus on the nuances of air travel, identifying the individual quirks of some of the biggest international airlines and their media ...

''.

Awards

*1987 Lighting Director of the Year, ''Performance'' Magazine, United States *1992 Lighting Designer of the Year, ''Performance'' Magazine, United States *1992 Lighting Designer of the Year, Lighting Dimensions International, United States *2000 Top 25 Visionaries in Entertainment, ''Wired'' Magazine, United States *2001 Eddy Award for Excellence in Design, New York *2002 Lighting Designer of the Year, ''Live'' Magazine Awards, London *2003 Lighting Designer of the Year, Total Production Awards, London *2006 Lighting Designer of the Year, Total Production Awards, London *2006 Metropolitan Home, Design 100 *2007 Best in Book, Creative Review Annual (George Michael, 25 Live Tour) *2008 Excellence in Design Award (George Michael, 25 Live Tour), Live Design, New York *2009 Redden Award for Excellence in Design, United States *2010 Live Production of the Year (U2360), Lighting Designer of the Year and Video Visionary, Total Production Awards, London *2016 Most Creative Stage Production (U2 Innocence and Experience Tour), Pollstar Concert Industry Awards *2019 Honorary Fellowship, Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance

References

External links

*
Treatment Studio, London

Rolling Stone Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Willie 1959 births Living people Artists from Sheffield British scenic designers Lighting designers British music video directors People educated at Silverdale School, Sheffield