UB Soul Friday: Christopher Williams Talks New Single + Album
His New Hot Single "Good Enough" Is Emerging.
This weeks “UB Soul Friday” spotlight’s an artist celebrating a hot new single, after a long hiatus, Christopher Williams.
This year marks the 30th Anniversary of his last major label, album release “Not a Perfect Man.”
UB Soul Friday, spotlights artists, albums, singles and videos that left a mark in R&B and Soul music!
To celebrate the return of Christopher Williams, UB spoke to him about his new single and upcoming album.
Singer/songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur Christopher Williams was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, and is the nephew of jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald.
As a young man Christopher Williams knew what he wanted, and thus began grooming his talent.
Listening to early influences such as Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra and auntie, Ella Fitzgerald.
His debut album, 1989‘s “Adventures In Paradise,” showcased his soulful vocals and was filled with potential hits.
Enlisted for their songwriting and production talents for the project were Robert Brookins, Nick Martinelli, Timmy Gatling, Alton “Wokie” Stewart, Marc Gordan, the late great Gerald LeVert and Christopher, himself.
Michael Johnson, VP of Promotion, R&B at Reprise at the time stated that “The campaign with Chris is to make him very visual, reachable and approachable — have him speak his own case. He knows just what he wants and how he wants to contribute to the musical world. He’s got a deep appreciation of music and a sound that’s his own, which is demonstrated in the quality of the album.”
He was the type of artist with an all around appeal that girls went googoo over, and older women tried to take down! And many men fashioned themselves after the dapper vocalist.
His vocal approach was confident.
It delivered a message, explored its depth and released a fresh sound that was most identifiable and likeable.
Manager at the time Cassandra Mills stated that in terms of imaging and marketing Christopher, the design in mind was to take him to the top. “Chris has star quality. He exemplifies the kind of artist that I look for as a manager. From the fashion level to the visual side, combined with his great vocal ability, his audience demographics are vast—the teenagers, the Teddy Pendergrass audience and the AC-female appeal. We have a great foundation to build upon.”
It’s was true. At the age of 22, Christopher made his mark.
“Adventures in Paradise” was released in July of 1989 and featured the singles “Talk To Myself” and “Promises, Promises.”
Both reached the Billboard R&B Top 10 chart, and Christopher’s soulful, powerful voice made him stand out among his peers.
In 1991, he landed his first acting role portraying Kareem Akbar, appearing alongside Wesley Snipes and Ice-T in the pop culture movie hit, “New Jack City.”
His single from the soundtrack, “Dreamin’” turned gold and became a #1 single on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
In the 1990’s he had a cameo appearance in the popular police drama, New York Undercover,” performing “Stranger In My Life.”
He had another cameo in “Gunmen,” starring Christopher Lambert and Mario Van Peebles.
His sophomore album release “Changes” was released on December 29th, 1992.
Featuring the hits “All I See”, “Every Little Thing” and the Teddy Pendergrass cover “Come Go with Me.”
The album vaulted to #12 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart.
Plus “Every Little Thing U Do” broke into the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart at #7.
In 1995 the album “Changes” was followed up by “Not a Perfect Man” on Giant Records.
The album brought a new direction for Christopher Williams; his first album as sole executive producer used elements of reggae, R&B, hip-hop and country.
In 2001, after a six year hiatus the album “Real Men Do” was released on the indie label Renegade.
As Christopher’s career progressed, he continued to make strides in music and acting.
After appearing in “New Jack City,” he became increasingly interested in acting and began to focus on the performing arts in television, film and theater.
He’s starred in over thirty successful off-Broadway Gospel theatre productions during the 2000s, including “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, “A House is Not a Home”, “Men Cry in the Dark”, and “The Man He Used to Be.”
Christopher Williams played a main character in the stage play “The Clean Up Woman”, written by JD Lawrence, and played alongside actress Telma Hopkins and Jackee.
Christopher Williams also appeared in plays “Guilty Until Proven Innocent”, starring K-Ci & JoJo, and “The Man of Her Dreams”, starring Shirley Murdock and Dave Hollister.
Following a serious medical scare in 2021, due to kidney failure that resulted in a coma.
Christopher faced significant health challenges, including losing a substantial amount of weight.
Now fully recovered, he returns with renewed purpose, gratitude, and energy — and he’s ready to share his music and his story.
Christopher Williams is gearing up to release his highly anticipated new album “War and Peace.”
UB premiered the First Listen of the fire lead single “Good Enough” earlier this month. The song is creating a huge buzz around the project.
Aries from UB recently caught up with multifaceted Christopher Williams to talk about his new music.
Christopher shares what fans can expect from the new album.
Plus he shares his connection with Vincent Herbert and why he decided to do a new project now.
Christopher Williams gets candid on the industry, support of Sean Combs and more.
If that’s not enough, he also gives UB the scoop on an upcoming TV project featuring his character from “New Jack City,” Kareem Akbar.
