Ken Williams dead: the singer-songwriter of “Everybody Plays The Fool” was 83 years old

Kenneth “Will” Williams, who wrote or co-wrote more than 500 songs, including the 1972 classic “Everybody Plays the Fool” recorded by The Main Ingredient with the lead vocal of Cuba boss Gooding, died on June 17 after a long absence. greedy Northern Disease among the University Hospital of Manhattan, New York. He was 83 years old.

His death was announced by his wife, Broadway actress and singer Mary Seymour Williams.

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Although best known for “Everybody Plays the Fool,” a classic R&B song he co-wrote with Rudy Clark and JR Bailey, Williams has been a prolific songwriter, record producer, arranger and singer for the past 60 years. His songs include “Love, Love, Love” (recorded by Donny Hathaway), “I Can’t See Me Without You” (The Impalas), “Let Me Prove My Love to You” (main ingredient), “Only When You Are Lonely “(Holly Maxwell),” Seven Lonely Nights “(Four Tops),” Keep Going “(Margaret Reynolds),” Hope You’re Back “(Sandra Phillips), etc. Her songs span genres including blues , jazz and ballet, R&B, country and pop.

Williams was born on January 13, 1939 in Fernanda Beach, Florida. He moved to New York in 1959 and began writing for a local publisher.

In 1968, Williams founded A Dish-A-Tunes LLC Publishing, a family-owned music company. Over the past five decades, Williams has added more than 500 songs to his music catalog. In 2004, A Dish-A-Tunes received a Grammy Award for the song “You Don’t Know My Name”, written by Alicia Keys and produced by Kane West.

Featuring an instantly recognizable soundtrack for singer Gooding (“Ok, so your heart breaks …”), “Everybody Plays the Fool” was the first single from The Main Ingredients album. bitter sweetIt became the group’s highest-rated single, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1972. It was number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 25 on the Billboard Modern Adult chart.

Gooding, father of Cuba actor Gooding Jr., passed away in 2017. Aaron Neville also recorded a version of the song in 1991 and it hit the Top 10 on the Hot 100.

Except for his wife (who appeared on Broadway in the original Თმა and 1973 with raisins), to the left of Williams and Dorothy Jones; the godson Olivia Goldsmith; Children Kenny Williams Jr., Kevin D. Williams, Kalvin Williams, Cheryl Nicholson; stepmother Kenny J. Seymour; And other extended families.

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