b. Leonard Charles Williams, 6th February 1945, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A.
Lenny Williams moved to Oakland with his family when he was a year old.
He grew up in a strict gospel environment.
Lenny's uncle was Bishop Charles Henderson Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ (America's leading black Pentecostal church).
At school he studied trumpet, sang in gospel groups and planned on being a minister.
He later developed a taste for secular music and entered numerous talent contests, eventually landing a record deal with Fantasy in 1968.
Here his early singles were 'Lisa's Gone' and 'Feelin' Blue' before he left Fantasy to write songs with Larry Graham.
In 1972 Jerry Wexler signed him to Atlantic Records and one single, 'People Make The World Go Around', was recorded.
Unfortunately just before it was released another version by The Stylistics came out and was an instant hit.
Lenny was soon dropped by the label.
Returning to Oakland he was invited to replace Rick Stevens as lead singer with Tower Of Power.
He recorded three albums with the group and scored with 'So Very Hard To Go', 'What Is Hip' and 'Don't Change Horses (in The Middle Of The Stream)' on Warner Brothers Records between 1972 and 1974.
Desiring a solo career again he left the group and recorded two albums for Warner Brothers and one for Motown Records before major success came his way in 1977 with 'Choosing You', including 'Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ohh', for ABC Records.
Both this and the gold-selling follow-up 'Spark Of Love' (1978), including 'You Got Me Running', were produced by Frank Wilson.
After ABC became integrated into MCA, Lenny's albums included 'Love Current' (1979), including 'If You're In Need', and 'Let's Do It Today', before he released 'Changing' for the Rockshire label (1984) and 'New Episode' (1986), including 'Ten Ways Of Loving You', for the Knobhill label (via Fantasy) in 1986.
In the early 90's he recorded for the Krush Groove label where 'Layin' In Wait' (1990) included 'Gotta Lotta Luv'.
In 2000, Lenny released 'Love Therapy' on Volt Records and followed that in 2004 with the album 'My Way' for the Thump Records imprint.
Albums:
Lenny Williams (Warner Brothers Records 1974)
Rise Sleeping Beauty (Motown Records 1975)
Choosing You (ABC Records 1977)
Spark of Love (ABC Records 1978)
Love Current (MCA Records 1979)
Let's Do It Today (MCA Records 1980)
Changing (Rockshire Records 1987)
Layin In Wait (Crush Records 1990)
Ooh Child (MCA Records 1993)
Chill (MRT Records 1995)Here's to the Lady (MCA Records 1996)
Love Therapy (Volt Records 2000)
My Way (Thump Records 2004)
It Must Be Love (LenThom Records 2007)
