John Gary Williams obit

Remembering John Gary Williams

 

He was not on the list.

Beloved soul singer and songwriter John Gary Williams died at his home today. He was 73 years old.

With his honey-sweet vocals, John Gary Williams rose to fame as the lead voice of inimitable Stax group, The Mad Lads (“Don’t Have to Shop Around,” “I Want Someone”). Williams formed the group with fellow students from Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis during the early sixties and eventually recorded on Stax Record’s Volt label. With Williams’ high tenor voice and the soft soul harmonies of William Brown, Julius Green and Robert Phillips, The Mad Lads had several songs on the Billboard R&B chart during the sixties including “I Want a Girl” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” At the height of the band’s success, however, Williams was drafted into the military to serve in the Vietnam War and when he returned home his newly discovered political consciousness led him down a different path altogether. His powerful 1973 solo effort, John Gary Williams, was his last recording for the Stax label.

“We had the great privilege of knowing and working closely with John Gary Williams,” said Michele Smith VP, Estate & Legacy Brand Management for Stax Records and Craft Recordings. “The joy he had going through the Mad Lads photos and listening to his recordings for the 2017 reissue of his self-titled solo album, John Gary Williams, will always be remembered.  His wish for peace, love and equality in that album’s ‘The Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy’ is as relevant today as it was in 1973. He will be missed.”

“It takes my breath away to see people live from day to day

Without respect for each other, without love for their brothers

Without a second of kindness or a minute to be reminded, that we all have a common cause

And together we could conquer all, but I believe, I believe, I believe, yeah

I believe that the whole damn world is going crazy.”

–Lyrics from “The Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy”