Wolverhampton-born singer-songwriter to release new collection of songs

The Wolverhampton-born singer-songwriter has been busy since the release of Out Of Darkness two years ago. He produced the Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott’s chart-topping album N.K-Pop and also co-wrote xPropaganda’s Top 10 album The Heart is Strange.

Back home in London, he got to work on his sophomore album in the small but well-equipped recording studio at the bottom of his garden.

Once again the 10-track record features a number of collaborations and contributions from singers including Petula Clark, Claudia Brücken, Nicki Leighton-Thomas and Slicko DiCaprio as well as musicians such as Stephen Large, keyboard player with Squeeze, and violinist Jane Burgess and Ben Walker on strings.

“I wanted the album to sound like one of those Now That’s What I Call Music! albums where every track is different,” says John, who attended Woodfield Avenue School in Penn.

The music business has been John’s career and fascination since 1974, enabling him to explore every aspect of making and marketing music. He’s been a record plugger, a label manager, head of A&R, a songwriter, a producer, a recording artist and a BBC Radio 1 session producer for the likes of John Peel and Janice Long. Over the years he has signed, produced or represented a wide range of artists including Robert Plant, Brian Wilson, Simple Minds, Alison Moyet, Ocean Colour Scene, Status Quo, Van Morrison, Kenny Rogers, Charlotte Church, The Wonder Stuff and Thea Gilmore.

When lockdown happened, it seemed a natural progression to keep writing and producing in his home studio. This led, in 2021, to John releasing the highly acclaimed Out Of Darkness under the name of The John Williams Syndicate.

He was delighted by the reviews and this spurred him on to start working on a follow-up album.

“It had a fantastic response and it sold really well. I was really pleased. It didn’t sell like Ed Sheeran, my status certainly isn’t the same as that. It got some fantastic reviews. It made me happy to do a second one,” explains John.

Among the highlights of Into The Light is the radio friendly In The Morning Sun, featuring Nicki Leighton-Thomas, who also appears on You’re My Number, and the legendary Petula Clark who proves she still has that voice on Luminescent.

Dotted around the album are contributions from rapper Slicko; violinist Jane Burgess, whose style gives “My Love Is” a lovely retro-Celtic feel, and John Moore, formerly of Jesus & Mary Chain and Black Box Recorder, whose vocals are a perfect match for John Williams’ own style.

While Claudia Brücken features on So High So Low and As Long As You Are There For Me.

John says it’s impossible to pick a favourite song, explaining: “Asking what’s my favourite track on the album is like asking who is your favourite child. They’re all my babies and they all have special meaning.”

He wanted the whole album to be happy and uplifting as well as being a journey through pop history.

“I wanted it to be a beautiful work of art. It’s all about being positive and seeing freshness in things and how love conquers everything and how kindness is the key to human relationships. I’m very happy with the result and I think others will like it too,” says John, who grew up in Penn Fields and Codsall.

As with his debut, the album title is another connection to his home town, inspired by its official motto, and the record’s accompanying glossy 32-page booklet features abstract art by fellow Wulfrunian Tim Hobart.

“I feel a great affinity with the area even though I haven’t lived there since 1969. I still support Wolves and go and see them as often as I can. My computer passwords are all obscure players from the 60s,” he tells Weekend.

Out Of Darkness may have been his debut album but it wasn’t the first time some of his own music had been released. After a spell as a music journalist, he received his first opportunity to make a record when he was signed to Rak Records under the name East Side Band in 1979. The first single, Rendezvous, was a BBC Radio 1 Record of the Week and repeatedly played on the airwaves.

But unfortunately it failed to become a hit, charting just outside the top 75, and John was eventually dropped by the label. But Warner Music now owns the Rak Records back catalogue and will be releasing an album of his old East Side Band recordings later this year. “It’s essentially part of my life from 40 years ago,” says John.

He is also currently writing with xPropaganda on their follow-up to The Heart Is Strange and is also planning a third John Williams Syndicate album.

“I feel blessed to have the opportunity to do this. I still pinch myself that the boy from Codsall who used to play in bands has progressed to making music that goes into the charts,” says John.

Into The Light by The John Williams Syndicate, on Wulfrun Records, is available from July 28.