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ANDRE WILLIAMS


paul secor

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ANDRE...Greasy, funky, zany...he's definitely his own category. Detroit cat.

His older records are pretty hard to find. I don't know if there is a legit release or just boots or bootish type deals. The one's Paul mentions are just great. He's self produced and also had a parallel career had a producer. He produced Maurice Williams' STAY. I think he also produced for Motown but left because he was ripped off . Imagine that.

What was the name of his group? The Five Dollars?

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ANDRE...Greasy, funky, zany...he's definitely his own category.  Detroit cat.

Harold_Z's words are a pretty good nutshell description of Andre Williams. If I were to add anything, it would be - a genius of r&b.

A few details about Andre Williams:

He recorded for Fortune Records, a Detroit independent, from the mid 50's til the early 60's.

His vocal group was the Five Dollars, also known as the Don Juans when they backed him on his solo records. The Five Dollars made some great records, including a couple of wordless vocal recordings, "So Strange" and "Harmony of Love", with falsetto work by Little Eddie Hurt.

Andre Williams' biggest hit (I believe) was "Bacon Fat." I remember reading somewhere that it was leased to Epic Records when it became successful.

"Jail Bait" is his classic. It's a record which no mere description can do justice to. I put it in a class with Screamin" Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You."

Andre Williams' Fortune recordings, both solo and with the Five Dollars, are available on Regency RR-118 (Mr. Rhythm) and Regency RR-114 (Motor City Doo-Wops Vol. 3 - The Five Dollars). My guess is that they're bootlegs. I got my copies from Norton Records norton records

Regency CD's are still available from them. They also carry a couple of Cd's featuring his 60's soul/funk recordings and several CD's of his recent recordings. I haven't heard those, so I can't comment on them.

If you like great 50's r&b, and if you have a taste for the bizarre - Andre Williams has both of these covered in spades. Check him out.

Edited by paul secor
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  • 16 years later...

Yes no doubt he was relevant and he was an original. I remember catching him at a live gig in a local club a shade over 20 years ago. Went to see him on the strength of his rcordings he had done back in the day ("Bacon Fat") etc. It was an impressive gig by someone who in other settings would have been considered a sort of "elder statesman of R&B" and play it safe but he certainly put everything into his show. He sure was "nuts" (not in a negative but rather in an energetic sense). I have a hunch at least one local club gig promoter (who is heavily into booking subculture acts in the 60s style garage rock vein) will mourn him even more than most everybody else "just" remembering him from attending his gigs. He again booked Andre Williams on several occasions in the years since but somehow I never made it to any of the later gigs. RIP.

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