Paul Williams (songwriter)

For other people with the same name, see Paul Williams.

Paul Williams
Williams at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2022
Williams at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2022
Background information
Birth namePaul Hamilton Williams Jr.
Born (1940-09-19) September 19, 1940 (age 84)
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
OriginLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
  • actor
  • writer
Years active1964–present
LabelsA&M, Reprise, Portrait
Websitepaulwilliamsofficial.com

Paul Hamilton Williams Jr.[1] (born September 19, 1940)[1][2] is an American composer, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for writing and co-writing popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s, including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song" and "Out in the Country", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World", Biff Rose's "Fill Your Heart", and the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days and Mondays". He also wrote "Cried Like a Baby" for teen idol Bobby Sherman.

Williams is also known for writing the score and lyrics for Bugsy Malone (1976) and his musical contributions to other films, including the Oscar-nominated song "Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie, and writing the lyrics to the #1 chart-topping song "Evergreen", the love theme from the Barbra Streisand film A Star Is Born, for which he won a Grammy for Song of the Year and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He wrote the lyrics to the opening theme for the television show The Love Boat, with music previously composed by Charles Fox, which was originally sung by Jack Jones and, later, by Dionne Warwick.[3]

Williams has had a variety of high-profile acting roles, such as Little Enos Burdette in the action-comedy Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and the villainous Swan in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974),[4] which Williams also co-scored, receiving an Oscar nomination in the process.[5] Since 2009, Williams has been the president and chairman of the American songwriting society ASCAP.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference filmr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ankeny, Jason (September 19, 1940). "Paul Williams biography". Allmusic.com. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  3. ^ Daly, Sean (August 23, 2016). "9 surprising facts about the 'Love Boat'". Fox News.
  4. ^ Staskiewicz, Keith (June 28, 2017). "Edgar Wright & Paul Williams In Conversation: Their Friendship, Working on 'Baby Driver' & Funeral Songs". Billboard.
  5. ^ "The 47th Academy Awards 1975". Oscars.org. October 6, 2014.