LESTER WILLIAMS
Aunque poco conocido fuera del circuito de blues Houston donde hizo su hogar durante varias décadas, el vocalista / guitarrista Lester Williams era un fenómeno local durante los años 50 tempranos cuyo éxito incluso llevó a una aparición en el Carnegie Hall. Nacido en Groveton, Texas el 24 de junio de 1920, se crió encaprichado con el sonido de T-Bone Walker, cuyo estilo Williams emulado conscientemente; después de servir en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, formó su propio combo, y en 1949 firmó con los registros de Macy con sede en Houston. Entonces Stockboy de la etiqueta, Steve Poncio, produjo el debut de Williams sola "Tiempo de Invierno Blues"; se convirtió en un éxito regional, a pesar de los esfuerzos posteriores fueron menos exitosos. Sin embargo, para 1951 Poncio propiedad y está operado su propia distribuidora, Distribuidores Unidas, ya través de varios canales entabló una relación de negocios con el dueño de Registros Specialty Art Rupe; como resultado, Williams se unió a la Especialidad estable y con Poncio nuevo detrás de las tablas obtuvo su mayor éxito en 1952 con "I Can not Lose con las cosas que uso", un tema más adelante cubierta por BB King. La canción fue otro gran éxito regional, y era lo suficientemente populares a nivel nacional a la tierra el cantante en un proyecto de ley 02 1953 Carnegie Hall, que también incluyó a Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine y Nat King Cole. Williams seguimientos fallaron a hacerse popular, sin embargo, y en 1954 él se realizaba regularmente en la estación de Houston KLVL y de gira por todo el Sur. Más tarde se registró en Duke antes de una fecha final para Imperial en 1956; en los años siguientes se mantuvo en un elemento básico del circuito club de Houston, de gira por Europa cuatro años anteriores a su muerte el 13 de noviembre de 1990.
Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny
Lester Williams:Vocals & Guitar
Ike Smalley:Alto Sax
Ferdinand Banks:Tenor Sax
Johnnie Mae Brown:Piano
James Moseley:Bass
L.D. Mackintosh:Drums
Recorded in Houston, Tx. 1949
Originally issued on the 1949 single (Macy's 5000) (78 RPM)
This recording taken from the 1994 CD "Texas Music Volume One:Postwar Blues Combos"
Lester Williams (June 24, 1920 – November 13, 1990) was an American Texas blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his songs, "Winter Time Blues" and "I Can't Lose with the Stuff I Use". His main influence was T-Bone Walker.
Williams released several singles in the 1950s, but remained a stalwart of the Houston blues circuit for decades. His recording career lasted from 1949 to 1956.
Williams was born in Groveton, Texas, United States, although when he was a young boy his family relocated to Houston. After serving in World War II, Williams sang at Houston's Eldorado Ballroom, but quit and enrolled at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, to study piano and voice. He did not graduate, and returned to Houston where he taught himself to play guitar and started to write songs. Walker's influence inspired Williams, who said to himself "I could learn to play guitar and pull in some of that money that T-Bone made". Having formed his own group in 1949, he wrote "Winter Time Blues", which came from his own life experience of his wife and daughter travelling to Los Angeles for the summer, and leaving Williams to contemplate the winter alone. The song's lyrics included the lines "Winter without your baby, you might as well be dead".
He signed a recording contract with Macy's Recordings, and Steve Poncio produced "Winter Time Blues" which was a regional hit. His next few releases did not fare well commercially and, by 1951, Williams had moved to Specialty Records. His first disc for them was his biggest success, "I Can't Lose with the Stuff I Use" (1952). His notability rose to the extent that he appeared in February 1953 on a Carnegie Hall, New York bill, which also included Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine and Nat King ColeThe song "I Can't Lose with the Stuff I Use" was covered a decade later by B.B. King.
His success was short-lived as subsequent releases did not sell but, by 1954, Williams started to perform on a regular basis on Houston's radio station, KLVL, and began a constant touring regime across the South. Further single releases appeared on both Duke and Imperial, the latter in 1956.
For the ensuing decades, Williams continued to perform around Houston and beyond, and he undertook a tour of Europe in 1986.
Williams died in November 1990, in Houston, at the age of 70.
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