Maurice Williams is one of the most extraordinarily durable figures in the history of classic rhythm-and-blues and rock 'n roll. His hit, "Stay," became one of the classic singles in the history of rock 'n roll and R&B.
Maurice Williams is one of the most extraordinarily durable figures in the history of classic rhythm-and-blues and rock 'n roll. "Stay," became one of the classic singles in the history of rock 'n roll and r&b-a No. 1 mega-hit upon its release in 1960 on Al Silver's Herald label, and a popular favorite for decades since, revived in 1987 with its prominent use in the movie Dirty Dancing. Williams has remained active as a performer and, periodically, as a recording artist and songwriter, ever since.
Williams had sung in church, but his interest lay more in popular music, and in 1953, he and his friends were ready to form a group that they called the Royal Charms. They played school events and talent shows, winning several and acquiring a local following, before they finally got a paying gig at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post. The year they'd started out, 1953, Williams had also written two songs that were to have a pivotal effect on his life and career, and the group's history: "Little Darling" and "Stay."
Maurice Williams has led various incarnations of the Zodiacs on oldies tours, primarily on the Beach Music circuit on the U.S. East Coast. In the wake of mega-hit movie Dirty Dancing, which yielded sales of another fifteen million copies of "Stay," he re-emerged as a recording artist on the Ripete label, based in Columbia, S.C., which specializes in beach music. Ripete has since released the impossible-to-find 1965 live album on CD, as part of an excellent career anthology of Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs.
Today, Maurice Williams resides in Charlotte, NC. He is an active performer on the beach music circuit and is extremely popular wherever he performs. His latest album, Back To The Basics on EMN Records (also based in Charlotte) features new performances of his hits Stay, Little Darlin' and May I that are very much worth the price of the album alone. Maurice is an inductee of the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, and the Beach Music Hall of Fame in Myrtle Beach.
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