Mentor Williams
Mentor Williams | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mentor Ralph Williams |
| Born | June 11, 1946 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | November 16, 2016 (aged 70) Taos, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter |
Mentor Ralph Williams (June 11, 1946 – November 16, 2016) was an American songwriter and producer. He is best known for writing "Drift Away", a popular song first performed by Mike Berry in 1972 and popularized by Dobie Gray the following year, and has since been covered by multiple artists. He also co-wrote the chart-topping song "When We Make Love", recorded by the American country music band Alabama in 1984. He was the brother of songwriter and actor Paul Williams.
Early life
Williams was born in
His father died in a car accident in 1953, when Williams was 7 years old, after which the Williams family moved to Long Beach, California, to live with an aunt.
One of his brothers is John J. Williams, a
Career
Williams pursued a songwriting career in which he received an
Williams maintained an office at Almo-Irving, in Los Angeles, as staff writer in the late 1960s. He produced for
.He worked at
Personal life
Williams built a home overlooking Taos, New Mexico, which he shared with country music singer Lynn Anderson; the two were in a romantic relationship from the 1980s until her death in 2015.[2]
He held numerous songwriting seminars and lectures at the college level, in an attempt to help up-and-coming writers learn the craft of putting words and music together.
Williams died in 2016 of lung cancer, at age 70, at his home in Taos.[3][4]
References
- ^ "National Aeronautics and Space Administration Honor Awards". SP-4012 NASA historical data book: volume IV NASA resources 1969-1978: NASA. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ The Taos News. Archived from the originalon November 21, 2016.
- ISSN 0035-791X.
- ^ Hudetz, Mary (18 November 2016). "Mentor Williams, 'Drift Away' songwriter, dead at 70". Las Vegas Sun. Associated Press.
External links
- Mentor Williams at AllMusic
- Mentor Williams discography at Discogs
- Mentor Williams at IMDb
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