What You Should Know About the Late Country Music Legend Don Williams (27 May, 1939-8 Sept 2017)

Given name: Don Williams

Date/Place of birth: May 27, 1939 in Floydada, Texas

Reared in: Portland, near Corpus Christi, on the Texas gulf coast

Marital status: Wed to Joy Bucher on 10 April, 1960

Children: Two sons, Gary and Timmy

Residences: Don and Joy’s principal residence is their home on a 100-acre tract of

land outside Nashville near Ashland City, TN. They also have a vacation home in

Hawaii.

Height/weight: 6ft 1 in – 180 lbs.

Hair/eyes: Brown/Hazel

Instrument: Guitar, which Don began playing as a teenager. He would hurry home

from school to try and pick a favourite tune he’d heard on the radio.

First public performance: When Don was three years old he sang in a local talent

contest and won first prize, an alarm clock.

First paid job in music: In 1957, while in high school, Don and a group of friends

played and sang for the opening of Billups Service Station in Taft, Texas. They were

paid a total of $25.

Other early jobs: Don worked as a bill collector, he drove a bread truck, worked in

the Texas oil fields, in furniture retailing, in a smelting plant, and for Pittsburgh Plate

Glass.

Pozo Seco singers: While living in Corpus Christi, TX, in 1964, Don formed the well-

remembered Pozo Seco Singers, a very successful trio (Lofton Cline, Susan Taylor.

and Don) who sang a variety of music from folk to pop and country Their first single,

Time, climbed into the national Top 10 and there were other chart hits by the group.

The Pozos disbanded in 1969.

Record label history: JMI Records released Don’s first solo (a single titled Don’t You

Believe) on 16 June, 1972. He signed with ABC/Dot on 17 May, 1974. The Dot

label was discontinued in late 1977 and Don continued to record for ABC. In March

of 1979, ABC was bought out by MCA Records. When he left MCA, Don signed with

Capitol 15 July, 1985. In May 1989, Don moved to RCA and in June of ’94 his

current label, American Harvest Recording Society, released Don’s first live album.

An Evening With Don Williams, a collection of 15 songs cut during a UK tour. In

August 1995, American Harvest released Borrowed Tales, and in October 1996 the

label released the album Flatlands.

Personal appearances: He has headlined a variety of prestigious venues, from the

Sporting Club in Monte Carlo to the Roxy in Los Angeles, from a sold-out Carnegie

Hall in New York to London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Motion pictures: Don co-starred with Burt Reynolds in two films, W. W & The Dixie

Dance Kings for 20th Century Fox, and Smokey & The Bandit II for Universal.

Music videos: Don Williams was the first country music artist to make a concept

music video. It was produced in 1973 in support of his third single for JMI Records

(Come Early Morning). In 1986 Don starred in a music video for the Capitol/

Nashville single Heartbeat In The Darkness. In 1995 his video Fever was released by

American Harvest Recording Society.

Leisure activities: Fishing, and tinkering with his prized `56 Chevy.