Joseph Williams

born on 1/9/1960

Alias Big Joe Williams

Joseph Williams (musician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Joseph Williams (musician)

Joseph Stanley Williams (born September 1, 1960, Santa Monica, California, United States), is an American rock singer and film score composer best known for his work in the rock band Toto. He is the son of film composer John Williams and actress/singer Barbara Ruick and the grandson of jazz drummer Johnny Williams and actors Melville Ruick and Lurene Tuttle.

Career

Toto

Joseph Williams was lead vocalist with Toto during the mid-to-late 1980s and was featured on the albums Fahrenheit (1986) and The Seventh One (1988) before leaving due to personal problems. He can also be heard on the album Toto XX (1998), a compilation of rare and unreleased tracks. He is featured on Toto's last album, Falling in Between, sharing lead vocals with Steve Lukather on Bottom of Your Soul. In addition to his guest spot on the last Toto album, Williams was a guest singer at several Toto concerts.

Since 2010, Joseph is once again Toto's lead singer. He re-joined the band during their reformation tour and has toured with them since then. [1][2]

Solo work as a singer

Williams released his first, self-titled solo album in 1982. After his tenure with Toto he has released several more. Many of Toto's members have contributed to his solo work over the years. In 2003 he released an album called Vertigo, a project he initiated, but where he was not in full charge of the production, only recording and supplying the vocals.[3] The second Vertigo album, "Vertigo 2", was released in 2006. Williams released an album of cover songs from renowned artists such as Elton John, Bryan Adams, Diane Warren, and Kevin Cronin in 2006, called Two of Us, featuring piano and voice only. He returned with two more voice & piano albums in 2007, Smiles and Tears, also consisting of classic hits by popular artists. His latest solo album containing original songs, This Fall, was released in November 2008.

Work as a film composer

Joseph Williams has also been busy as a composer of film and drama scores, most notably for episodes of the science fiction series "Roswell", and "The Lyon's Den" starring Rob Lowe. In 2003 he was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Main Title Theme Music" for the TV series Miracles.[4] The music to the CBS miniseries Category 7: The End of the World[5] and the TV film Momentum[6] were composed by him. He was the writer of the original English lyrics for the song Lapti Nek and the Ewok Celebration from the original 1983 release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,[7] which was scored and conducted by his father John Williams. He also composed the Max Rebo Band source cues and an unknown source cue for the same film.

Session work

Williams has been in demand as a session vocalist and can be heard on numerous projects by other artists, as well as on movie soundtracks. He provided backing vocals on Peter Cetera's album World Falling Down and co-wrote the song "Man In Me", lead vocals for three tracks - "Walk The Wire", "History" and "When You Look In My Eyes" - to Jay Graydon's Airplay for the Planet album, subsequently touring with the band and backing vocals on Jon Anderson's In the City of Angels in 1988, most prominently on the song "Top of the World (The Glass Bead Game)". In Disney's animated feature film The Lion King he can be heard as the singing voice of the Adult Simba, singing on the songs "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". He reprised this singing role in the direct-to-video animated film Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. In 1997 and 1998 respectively, he shared vocal duties on two albums by the a cappella covers group The West Coast All Stars, the other vocalists being Bobby Kimball, Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff, whereas Tommy Funderburk replaced Champlin on the Naturally album. He sings background vocals on Chicago's "King of Might Have Been" on the 2006 album XXX as well as on "Let's Take a Lifetime" on the 1993-recorded/2008-released album Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus. The song "What You're Missing" from the Chicago album Chicago 16 was co-written by him.[8] He also sings backing vocals on five tracks of Steve Lukather's solo album Ever Changing Times as well as on Lukather's solo album All's Well That Ends Well.

Discography

Toto albums

  • 1986: Fahrenheit
  • 1988: The Seventh One
  • 1998: Toto XX (two previously unreleased songs)
  • 2006: Falling in Between (sharing lead vocals on one song)

Solo albums

  • 1982: Joseph Williams (re-released 2002)
  • 1996: I Am Alive
  • 1997: 3
  • 1999: Early Years
  • 2003: Vertigo
  • 2006: Two of Us
  • 2006: Vertigo 2
  • 2007: Smiles and Tears
  • 2008: This Fall
  • 2011: Williams/Friestedt

Guest vocals (excerpt)

  • 1983: Lapti Nek (Urth)
  • 1984: Which One Of Us Is Me (Jay Gruska)
  • 1985: Sleepess Nights (Alan Gorrie)
  • 1988: In The City of Angels (Jon Anderson)
  • 1989: My Heart In Red (Ijiima Mari)
  • 1990: Tatsuro Songs from L.A. (Compilation)
  • 1990: Toy Matinee (Toy Matinee)
  • 1991: Tatsuro Songs from L.A. 2 (Compilation)
  • 1991: Fade In Love (Compilation)
  • 1992: Re-Import (Compilation)
  • 1992: Goody's (Compilation)
  • 1992: The Radical Light (Vonda Shepard)
  • 1993: Airplay for the Planet (Jay Graydon)
  • 1993: L.A. Cowboys / Endless Summer (Compilation)
  • 1994: Love Stories 3 (Compilation)
  • 1994: The Lion King (Original Movie Soundtrack)
  • 1997: California Dreamin' (West Coast All Stars)
  • 1998: Naturally (West Coast All Stars)
  • 1999: ELT Songs From L.A. (Compilation)
  • 1999: In A Dream (Lionel's Dad)
  • 2002: LA Project (Peter Friestedt)
  • 2006: Avalon (The Richie Zito Project)
  • 2008: LA Project II (Peter Friestedt)
  • 2008: Holy God (Brian Doerksen)

Source music (excerpt)

  • 1983: Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi (lyrics for "Lapti Nek" and an unused source cue)

References

  1. [1]
  2. Official TOTO Website - Joseph Williams. www.toto99.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-10.
  3. Interviews: Joseph Williams. Melodicrock.com. Retrieved on 2012-03-15.
  4. Awards for Joseph Williams. IMDb.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-10.
  5. Full cast and crew for Category 7: The End of the World. IMDb.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-10.
  6. Full cast and crew for Momentum. IMDb.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-10.
  7. Full cast and crew for Stars Wars Episode VI:Return of the Jedi. IMDb.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-10.
  8. What You're Missing - Chicago | Listen, Appearances, Song Review. AllMusic (2003-07-22). Retrieved on 2013-08-10.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joseph Williams

  • Joseph Williams at the Internet Movie Database
  • Joseph Williams at MusicTaste
  • List of songs and scores for film and television written by Joseph Williams
Toto
Steve Lukather | Bobby Kimball | Mike Porcaro | Simon Phillips | David Paich | Greg Phillinganes
David Hungate | Jeff Porcaro | Steve Porcaro | Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen | Joseph Williams | Jean-Michel Byron
Discography
Studio Albums: Toto | Hydra | Turn Back | Toto IV | Isolation | Fahrenheit | The Seventh One | Kingdom of Desire | Tambu | Mindfields | Through the Looking Glass | Falling In Between
Compilations, live albums, & soundtracks: Dune | Past to Present 1977-1990 | Absolutely Live | Toto XX | Livefields | Live in Amsterdam | The Essential Toto
Famous singles: Hold the Line | Rosanna | Africa
This page was last modified 04.09.2013 18:25:13

This article uses material from the article Joseph Williams (musician) from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.