Elton John has been a superstar for more than 50 years, and the person who got him started in the music business was in Mount Airy this week to discuss how it all happened.
“I was fortunate to meet so many people at such a young age,” Ray Williams told an enthusiastic audience of about 80 people Tuesday during a Rotary Club luncheon meeting at Cross Creek Country Club.
Williams, speaking in a thick British accent, was describing his work as a music producer and publisher in the 1960s while still in his late teens and early 20s, whose contacts form a Who’s Who list of the recording industry at that time.
He began as a press agent for such legendary performers as Cream, The Kinks and Sonny and Cher, before moving up to head the A&R (Artist and Repertoire division) for Liberty Records.
That position, also known as talent scout, involved discovering and developing artistic assets of musicians and songwriters, which is how Elton John entered the picture.
Williams and the man known for hit songs including “Rocket Man” would launch a professional relationship that included Williams serving as John’s manager through his first five albums.
Williams, now 76, told the Rotary Club of Mount Airy audience how he had taken out an advertisement in a music-industry magazine in June 1967 proclaiming “Liberty wants talent” — seeking composers, singers and musicians.
It led to his discovery of John that same year, and also of Bernie Taupin, a songwriter who would become a major contributor to the musical legacy of the British superstar, with Williams introducing the pair.
Williams, who now lives in Sanford, recalled that Taupin considered himself a poet who thought his words could be put to music.
“But I don’t know how to go about it,” the lyricist confided to him, and the result was a collaboration — by Williams connecting the dots — that has left an indelible mark on music history.
“They got together,” he said of that pivotal moment linking John and Taupin.
Elton John became hugely popular, first in Europe and later in America beginning around 1970.
Though he and Williams eventually parted ways, the latter has stayed in touch with John and remained a key figure in music and movies.
This has included serving as music supervisor of “The Last Emperor,” an Oscar winner for best picture, among other projects.
“Proud” to be here
Ray Williams, who constantly wore a smile at this week’s Rotary gathering, began his remarks by saying how “very proud” he was to visit Mount Airy and talk to local residents.
“I always wanted to come here ever since I watched ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’” said the special guest, who was treated to a Mayberry Squad Cars tour by driver Norm Schultz right after the meeting.
How did Ray Williams find his way to Mount Airy?
This was a result of the vast networking among Rotary clubs which involved local member Van Lankford, who also recently has served as district governor for the organization.
Lankford detailed a site visit to New Bern in February to prepare for a conference and a conversation he had with David Spivey, president of the Jonesboro Rotary Club in Sanford, who happened to name-drop Williams.
“You’ve got to meet this guy — he knows Elton John,” Spivey advised Lankford, with arrangements subsequently made for the former UK resident to visit Mount Airy.
That club connection had included Williams previously speaking to other groups.
“Ray has made the circuit — he has visited a lot of Rotary clubs,” said Spivey’s wife Carolyn, who was among those accompanying Williams to Mount Airy.
Question-and-answer
The local audience, filled with a number of hardcore music fans who have attended Elton John concerts or seen “Rocketman,” a movie about him, had many questions for Ray Williams.
“How in the world did you land in Sanford?” one man shouted from the back of the room.
Williams explained how, after many years in England, he decided to move to America in 2008.
He was offered a job in Atlanta, which posed a dilemma.
“I didn’t want to live in Atlanta,” Williams said.
He happened to know a man in Chapel Hill who suggested that Williams reside there, which he did, commuting to Atlanta for the next four years.
Williams, who has a wife and daughter, lived in Chapel Hill for more than a dozen years altogether before relocating to Sanford and making the acquaintance of Rotary President Spivey and others.
Local member Ann Vaughn asked Williams about any brushes he’d had with British royalty, given that Sir Elton John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998.
While not having the opportunity to rub elbows with the queen, “I did meet Charles and Di,” Williams responded in reference to the present King Charles and his former wife when they were together.
This was at the Cannes Film Festival, where many dignitaries gather.
Williams also was asked this week to name his favorite Elton John song of all time, which he coudn’t answer at first.
But he finally settled on “Your Song,” John’s first hit single that was big in the U.S. in early 1971.
“What I like is the way he’s reinvented himself,” Williams said of the former associate who remains a giant in his field.
In later years, Williams has produced and supervised movie soundtracks and now runs his own music publishing/production company in addition to other involvements, according to bio information.
During his interaction with local Rotary members, it was established that Ray Williams is a kind of superstar in his own right, with Vaughn suggesting there had been an oversight on the queen’s part.
“She should have knighted you,” Vaughn told Williams.
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