James Williamson

James Robert Williamson (born October 29, 1949) is an American guitarist, songwriter, record producer and electronics engineer. He was a member of the proto-punk rock band the Stooges, notably on the album Raw Power and in the reformed Stooges from 2009 to 2016. Between his stints in music, Williamson worked in Silicon Valley developing computer chips. Most recently he has continued as a solo artist.

Williamson was born in Castroville, Texas in 1949. His father died while he was young and he moved to San Antonio, Texas around the age of five. He began playing guitar in the 7th grade, while his family were living in Lawton, Oklahoma:

When Williamson was in the ninth grade in Detroit, he formed his first rock band, The Chosen Few, with schoolmate and future SRC vocalist Scott Richardson. They performed cover versions of the Rolling Stones' songs and others. Ron Asheton would go on to become the bassist in one of The Chosen Few's later line-ups. Despite this connection, the two were barely acquainted at the time, with Asheton recalling that "the first time I played with them, that was the last time James played with them. They met for the first time during a holiday break when Williamson attended a frat party gig where Asheton was playing … Iggy was also there that night and so Williamson met both people that night and remained in touch afterward." As a guitarist, Asheton went on to form the Stooges with his brother Scott (drums), bassist Dave Alexander and Iggy Pop. Williamson also spent some time in a juvenile home after his stepfather had told him to cut his hair and Williamson refused. In the first half of 1966, Williamson was sent to a boarding school in a small town eighty miles north of New York City. While there, Williamson helped form and played lead guitar in the Coba Seas. During that time, the Coba Seas taped a rehearsal session, resulting in the first recordings of Williamson.

After graduating from high school in 1969, Williamson travelled to New York to keep in touch with the Stooges, who were recording their debut album with former Velvet Underground multi-instrumentalist John Cale.

By late 1970, Williamson was invited to join the Stooges as a second guitarist. He performed his first gig with the band on December 5, 1970. The band were by then struggling with drug problems and a lack of commercial success; despite the injection of Williamson's musicianship, the Stooges couldn't overcome their difficulties. According to Williamson, "I got hepatitis and moved back to Detroit and basically the band completely dissolved." Many of the demo recordings made during this period were belatedly issued as vinyl singles or EPs, including the proto-punk tracks "I Got A Right" and "Gimme Some Skin".

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.