Christopher Williams Unsung Episode Airs 3/8/2020: Notable appearances: Cassandra Mills, Al B. Sure, Timmy Gatlin, Vivian Chew
No matter how much industry people LOVE the industry if you have been in it for a minute (10 or more years) no doubt you have seen some very interesting things. Some of the most talented people had short careers and some of the least talented people became legends. Who knew?
Back when I was working at Urban Network in the early 90s, I remember Christopher Williams hanging out a few times up there with one of the employees.
He seemed like a nice guy and any comparison to any of his hit-making contemporaries of the day (early 90s) were quickly eliminated when Christoper took the mic and sang. He was simply too good for his era. Had he come along 20 or 30 years earlier he would have probably been more successful and fit in with the myriad of the super talented singers from the 70s.
He really did sound like Teddy Pendergrass and it was odd because of the way he looked. Someone with a voice like that was most likely talented but unusually hideous and very hard on the eyes. So Chris was an anomaly that was hard to understand and probably to market.
This segment takes you back to his humble beginnings in NY and I was not aware that he was related to Jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald. I had heard references to Chris destroying someone’s office in the industry back in the day but I never knew who it was or why. The special not only details what happened but also who it happened to.
Great to see Casandra Mills and Timmy Gatling in the series, two contacts I’ve always greatly respected. Mills offers up how she tried to help Chris re-establish his career after the melee.
Chris should have definitely had a longer career but it must have been hard to market him during the New Jack Swing era that was mostly fast-paced dance music instead of heart-wrenching ballads which would have been better suited his voice.
Even he admits that “Talk to Myself” his first single was a complete rip of Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative” they even had him dancing like Bobby and it was just not him. I also didn’t realize how huge the padded shoulders were back then.
There is nothing in the segment that is shocking but it’s very informative and it’s a great thing that Chris has been able to reinvent himself. He’s done several plays and he still performs at various venues. Enjoy.
He was definitely before his time. I will always love Christopher Williams for his music and passion for singing great ballads. He will remain a mainstay from today and onward.
Definitely shed some light on what happened to his career, but I was disappointed that his personal life, children, and life after Halle and Stacy was left out.