Vocalist Lenny Williams joined Tower Of Power in 1972 after releasing singles as a solo artist on Fantasy, Galaxy, and Atco Records. His first release with the band was their self-titled, third album, which went Gold.

After two albums with the group, Williams returned to his solo career — releasing albums in through the end of the 1970s on Warner Bros. Motown, ABC and MCA Records. Material from those albums became a hotbed for sampling decades later by Kanye West, Mobb Deep, Scarface, Young Jeezy, and others.

In 1986, Williams was recruited by award winning producer Preston Glass to sing lead vocals on a track by jazz artist Kenny G. The track, “Don’t Make Me Wait For Love,” hit #15 on the Pop charts, and the album, Duotones, went on to sell over five million copies in the US.

Lenny would reconnect with Duotones Producer Producer Glass (Stacy Lattisaw & Johnny Gill, Jermaine Stewart, George Benson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stanley Jordan) in 1994 for a new album, Chill.

The album contains originals from Williams, Glass, and other Duotones contributors, as well as covers of hits by Daryl Hall & John Oates (“Sara Smile”) and McFadden & Whitehead (“Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”).

Chill returns after being out of print on CD for 30 years. Featuring fresh remastering and updated artwork including new liner notes from Producer and journalist Kevin L. Goins, there has never been a better time to just Chill.

1. Chill
2. Baby, You Caught My Eye
3. Sara Smile
4. Driftin’
5. Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now
6. It Could Have Been You
7. Has Anybody Seen My Heart
8. Baby Take It Off
9. No One’s Ever Loved Me
10. Sentimental
11. I Do
12. There’s No Hiding Place

Although Lenny Williams has had a long solo career, he is still best-known for his three years as the lead singer of Tower of Power, one of the top funk/soul bands of the ’70s. But Williams was pursuing a solo career before joining Tower of Power, and he resumed his solo career after leaving that famous Oakland outfit in 1975.

Born in Little Rock, AR, on February 6th, 1945, Williams was only a child when he started singing in church (the place where so many great R&B singers got their start). Williams, who moved to Oakland, CA, when he was 14, planned to become a Christian minister but ended up changing his mind and decided to pursue a career as a secular R&B singer.

In 1969, Williams signed with Fantasy and recorded his first single, Lisa’s Gone, a soul ballad that was far from a big hit, but did receive some airplay in the Bay Area. After providing a second single for Fantasy, Williams was signed to Atlantic by Jerry Wexler and recorded a version of the Thom Bell/Linda Creed gem People Make the World Go Round.

Williams’ version might have been a hit, had it not been for the Stylistics, that is. Unfortunately for Williams, the Stylistics’ famous version of People Make the World Go Round came out as a single and soared to the top of the charts before Atlantic had a chance to release Williams’ version!

Oh, and for the record, Michael Jackson also recorded the tune in the early ’70s, although not with the same set of lyrics that the Stylistics embraced. But that setback was hardly the end of Williams’ career, for in 1972, he was hired as the new lead singer of Tower of Power. Because the band’s previous lead singer, Rick Stevens (best-known for his soaring performance on the hit ballad You’re Still a Young Man) had recently been convicted of murder, a replacement was needed, and Williams was definitely the man for the job.

Williams’ three years with Tower of Power established him as a big name in soul and funk and he became famous for his lead vocals on major hits like What Is Hip?, Don’t Change Horses (In the Middle of a Stream), This Time It’s Real and the ballad So Very Hard to Go.

But while Tower of Power was a big break for Williams, he only stuck around for three years for in 1975, the Bay Area resident left the band and became a full-time solo artist. His first few solo albums (recorded for Motown) didn’t do much, but his solo career took off in a big way when he recorded Choosing You for ABC. That 1977 release (which contains the major hit Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ooh!) almost went gold in the U.S.

Williams next solo effort, Spark of Love (also on ABC), became his first gold solo album and boasted the hit ballad Cause I Love You. After providing a few albums for MCA, Williams recorded for the independent Rocshire label in 1983 and 1984; when that company folded, he was deprived of a $50,000 dollar advance he said he was owed. Disgusted with music industry, Williams considered giving up singing and devoted a lot of his time to real estate investments.

As for the Chill album, in general, given this is indeed a review for it, well, it opens on the smooth Chill and the groovy R&B vibe of Baby, You Caught My Eye and then we get a lush rendition of Hall & Oates’ Sara Smile, a laid low Driftin’ and a funktastic Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now (featuring Lonnel Williams) and the beautiful ballad It Could Have Been You.

This tremendously effective album continues onward with the smoothly romantic Has Anybody Seen My Heart and the gentle R&B flow within Baby Take It Off, and they are in turn followed by the dutiful piano ballad No One’s Ever Loved Me, the low slung finger-snapper Sentimental, the album rounding out on the steadfast I Do, closing on the dance floor groove of There’s No Hiding Place.

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