Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• The Carpenters
• Chubby Checker
• Roy Milton
• Ernie Harper
• Gene Phillips
• Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
• Walter Brown

Born:

Jul 13, 1915 in Lewisburg, TN

Died:

Sep 14, 2002 in New York, NY

Genres:

Jazz Music, R&B and Soul Music

Decades Active:

1940's|1950's|1960's

Artistic Quality

Low

Cultural Impact

Low

Popularity

Low

Ratings Guide

Saxophonist and bandleader Paul Williams scored one of the first big hits of the RB era in 1949 with "The Hucklebuck," an adaption of Charlie Parker's "Now's The Time." The song topped the RB charts for 14 weeks in 1949, and was one of three Top 10 and five other Top 20 RB instrumental hits that Williams scored for Savoy in 1948 and 1949. He played with Clarence Dorsey in 1946 and then made his recording debut with King Porter in 1947 for Paradise before forming his own band late that year. Saxophonists Noble "Thin Man" Watts and Wild Bill Moore, trumpeter Phil Guilbeau, and vocalists Danny Cobb, Jimmy Brown, Joan Shaw, and Connie Allen were among Williams' band members. He was later part of Atlantic Records' house band in the '60s and directed the Lloyd Price and James Brown orchestras until 1964. After leaving the music business temporarily, Williams opened a booking agency in New York in 1968. Other Top 10 hits were "35-30" in 1948 and "Walkin' Around" in 1949.

- Ron Wynn, All Music Guide