Lamar Williams

Lamar Williams (January 14, 1949 – January 21, 1983) was an American musician best known for serving as the bassist of the Allman Brothers Band (1972–1976) and Sea Level (1976–1980).

Williams was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in nearby Handsboro, Mississippi. He also spent time in Newton, Mississippi. A self-taught musician, he was attracted to the bass lines in songs and so sought to master that instrument. Beginning at age 14 he played with Deep South, a gospel music group that his father sang with.

Around 1965, he met drummer Jai Johanny Johanson (later to be known as Jaimoe) in high school and began playing in bands with him. They played in a number of groups along the Gulf Coast, the most known of which was George Woods' Sounds of Soul with whom Williams played from 1965 to 1967. Williams was influenced by bassists from James Jamerson in R&B to Stanley Clarke in jazz, and in turn Williams' R&B playing helped Jaimoe gain a better understanding of how to play the bass drum and where to place the beat.

In 1968, Williams was drafted into the United States Army. Initially he was assigned to a Special Services band, which performed for Army basic training recruits, for non-commissioned officers' clubs, and for local townspeople. They played material from many different genres, including country and western and ragtime. Williams later reflected that it had been an interesting time musically and that, "I think it's important to have perspectives on different types of music and not let yourself get into a rut by playing only one style. I like to keep track of all of it."

Williams was then shipped overseas to South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. He was opposed to this war in particular and was a pacifist who was opposed to killing in general. According to Willie Perkins, the Allmans' road manager, "one day when his unit took a column left, Lamar took a column right into the countryside." According to author Scott Freeman, who wrote a history of the Allman Brothers Band, Williams related that he went AWOL as soon as he arrived at an airbase in South Vietnam, running between two barracks and into the jungle. He wandered around the countryside for several months, occasionally joining a new unit and giving a story that he had become separated from his previous unit. Williams' story continued that he was arrested at one point but got free, and then after that, several black members of the Military Police let him know whenever the MPs were getting close to finding him again.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia.