The Black Godfather has passed.

March 18, 2019 7:21 PM

Andre Williams, R&B singer, songwriter, and producer, has died at the age of 82 on March 17. Originally known for a string of often raunchy hits on various Detroit labels in the 1950's and 60's, his career was derailed in the 70's and 80's thanks to addiction. By the 90's he had cleaned up and gotten a second wind with the assistance of a variety of younger "garage rock" bands, leading to a series of albums and tours with artists as varied as The Sadies, The Dirtbombs, and Green Hornet. Blog review of a live show in Cleveland, 2010.

Jail Bait from 1957.

Bacon Fat from 1956.

Only Black Man in South Dakota from 1998. (image probably NSFW)

Detroit, Michigan from 2001.

Detroit Freep obituary

Wikipedia.

Previously on MetaFilter.

Another "previously" covering the 2008 documentary about Willams, "Agile, Mobile, Hostile."

posted by soundguy99 (8 comments total)

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posted by oceanjesse at 7:34 PM on March 18, 2019

I'll never forget hearing "Bacon Fat" on the Okeh Records boxed set 20 years ago, alongside so much other awesome R&B.

Andre Williams rules. I'll make time this week to eat some greasy chicken in his honor.
posted by heteronym at 7:47 PM on March 18, 2019

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posted by evilDoug at 8:13 PM on March 18, 2019

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posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:27 PM on March 18, 2019

Ohh, I saw him with the Sadies in Brooklyn.
posted by desuetude at 8:28 PM on March 18, 2019

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posted by ndfine at 2:57 PM on March 19, 2019

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posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:12 AM on March 20, 2019

I hadn’t heard of him before this and finally got a chance to dive deep. This is great, great stuff. I’m really curious about his book now. I’m glad he got to perform up to the end and I wish I’d known about him while he was alive. Thanks for the post.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:15 AM on March 21, 2019