The list of musicians that Kevin T. Williams has played with,
influenced and shared his remarkable talents with is truly staggering.
He started his musical odyssey at the age of 2 in the place where
most African-American singers start, the church. Growing up in Watts,
California, Williams soaked up every musical influence that the city
could offer. Latin, African, Motown, Funk, Soul and Rock and Roll were
all in his own unique style by the time he joined his first band at the age
of 13.
His journey through the LA music scene and over 25 countries
throughout the world has been bright and exciting. He is currently going
strong with his solo career and has a long list of recordings, production
and song writing credits (including “Tell Me Why” co-written with
South African singer Jonathan Butler and produced by Earth Wind and
Fire front man Maurice White). With many CD’s recorded at his home
studio, the Soul Cottage, Williams is ready to take his” Spirit Music” to
the next level.“Higher Self’ deals with Kevin’s “pilgrimage” to Israel for a
series of shows in Tel Aviv as well as northern and southern Israel.
While there he visited Jerusalem, a life long dream and a mind-altering
event. This set of introspective songs is Williams searching for his own
spiritual and musical truth.
As far back as 1981 Williams was already a fixture on the LA
music scene. Landing the sound man job at the legendary O.N. Club in
Silver lake, the exploding mix of Ska, reggae and paisley underground
groups including THE BANGLES, THE UNTOUCHABLES and
FISHBONE inspired Williams to start his own Psychedelic reggae group
THE HOT SPOTS.
In 1985 Williams had his first taste of real Hollywood. Joining
Talk Back which was signed with A&M records, the band was featured
in the John Hughes movie Pretty in Pink. They then toured the country
for sometime before breaking up shortly in 1987.
Exhausted from 5 straight years of touring the U.S. and Canada as
lead vocalist with the seminal World Beat group The BONEDADDYS,
Kevin decided to take a break from the road and soak up the LA vibe in
the summer of 1992. He immediately walked into the now defunct
KING- KING Club in mid-town. There he was to hook up with a long
time friend, drummer WILLIE McNEIL (JUMP WITH JOEY, JOE
STRUMMER, THE HOT SPOTS,). He soon found himself in a new band
as well as the new musical direction he was looking for, Acid Jazz! THE
SOLSONICS were quickly signed to EMI/ CHRYSALIS records. The
group toured in Europe, South America and the U.S. After another well
received European tour and a new president at EMI, the band was
dropped from the label. This did nothing to dampen Williams’ love for
music but instead gave him the opportunity to start his own band with
his new vision of where he thought American music was headed. True
Soul Music. And so BUTTER FLOW was born.
During the 3 years that BUTTERFLOW played the west coast
club circuit, the funky unit played shows with CAMEO, EDDIE GRIFFIN, BLACK-EYED PEAS and COOLIO.
Kevin T. has just finished a 3-ycar stint on guitar and backing
vocals with English Beat- General Public main man Dave Wakeling.
Taking time out of the never ending road to be close to his new family,
Williams is now producing artists as diverse as rapper SMOKE to Joycelyn Wilkinson a crunchie-singer songwriter who is featured on KXLU & KPFK.Williams produced her CD "Shapeshifting".
Taking the Soul Cottage studio to a new level, Williams is doing
soundtrack and sound design for filmmakers who include the award
winning writer-director Mitch Harrah and Ray Pechce.
Recently Williams has been emersing himself in the brilliant music of both JIMI HENDRIX and BERT BACHARACH. And out of this obsession comes two new CDs. GYPSY HEART is a tribute to Kevin's long time love of JIMI and his unique brand of genius. LOST IN LAS VEGAS is his own twisted vision he's come up with a lounge freaks journey into the stratosphere, while working on several other collections ("Raw"-waiting for his daughter to be born-"The 80's suck"-songs he wrote or loved in the REAL 80's-"Family Funk" a tribute to his L.A. musical family"- "JOY" the first official Soul Cottage album is self explanatory- "Commercial" is Williams' cynical look at the pop music scene.

Upon returning from Germany for some solo dates with SOUL POWER (see soulpower.info) Williams is ready to take on new musical challenges as well as a new child expected in Sept. With roots sounds steeped in the tradition of
JAMES BROWN, STEVIE WONDER, MARVIN GAYE and CURTIS
MAYFEILD, you can bet when it comes to Kevin T. Williams the best
music is at your fingertips if you want it!