Joseph Williams

Biography

Joseph Stanley Williams (born September 1, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and film score composer, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Toto from 1986 to 1988 and again since 2010. Outside of Toto, he has worked as a composer and studio vocalist, including providing the singing voice of adult Simba in the 1994 animated film The Lion King.

Early life

Williams was born Joseph Stanley Williams on September 1, 1960, in Santa Monica, California, the son of actress Barbara Ruick and prolific film composer John Williams. He is the youngest of three children with an older brother and an older sister.

Toto

Williams was the lead vocalist for Toto during the mid- to late 1980s and was featured on the albums Fahrenheit (1986) and The Seventh One (1988) before leaving due to personal problems. He can also be heard on the album Toto XX (1998), a compilation of rare and unreleased tracks. He is featured on Toto's 2006 album, Falling in Between, sharing lead vocals with Steve Lukather on "Bottom of Your Soul". In addition to his guest spot on Falling in Between, Williams was a guest singer at several Toto concerts.
Williams rejoined Toto upon its reformation in 2010 and performed on the band's recent live albums and the 2015 studio album Toto XIV. When the group disbanded in 2019 and subsequently reformed in 2020, Williams was the only member from the previous lineup besides Lukather and touring members Warren Ham and Dominique "Xavier" Taplin to return.

Solo work as a singer

Williams released his first, self-titled solo album in 1982. After his initial tenure with Toto, he has released several more. Many of Toto's members have contributed to his solo work over the years. In 2003, he released an album called Vertigo×Vertigo2003 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Not enough hours in the night2Straight to your heart3More than enough4Never let you go5I don't want to go6I want to be wanted7China sky8Love is blind9When it doesn't matter10Sarah11Vertigo12Not enough hours in the night alternative, a project he initiated, but where he was not in full charge of the production, only recording and supplying the vocals. The second Vertigo album, Vertigo 2, was released in 2006. Williams released an album of cover songs from artists such as Elton John, Bryan Adams, Diane Warren, and Kevin Cronin in 2006 called Two of Us, featuring piano and voice only. He returned with two more voice and piano albums in 2007, Smiles and Tears, also consisting of classic hits by popular artists. His latest solo album containing original songs, This Fall, was released in November 2008.

Work as a film composer

Joseph Williams has also been busy as a composer of film and drama scores, most notably for episodes of the science fiction series Roswell, and The Lyon's Den starring Rob Lowe.
He was the writer of the original English lyrics for the songs "Lapti Nek" and "Ewok Celebration" from the original 1983 release of Return of the Jedi, which was scored and conducted by his father, John Williams. Both songs were replaced with new compositions in the 1997 Special Edition. He collaborated again with his father on the releases of The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002). In the former he helped compose Augie's Great Municipal Band which appears during the ending of the film and in the latter 2M4, an untitled composition that appears during the Dex's Diner sequence.
In 2003, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Main Title Theme Music" for the TV series Miracles. The music to the CBS miniseries Category 7: The End of the World and the TV film Momentum were composed by him.

Session work

Williams has been in demand as a session vocalist and can be heard on numerous projects by other artists, as well as on movie soundtracks. In 1985, Williams performed the theme song of the animated TV series Adventures of the Gummi Bears. He provided backing vocals on Peter Cetera's album World Falling Down and co-wrote the song "Man in Me", lead vocals for three tracks – "Walk the Wire", "History" and "When You Look in My Eyes" – to Jay Graydon's Airplay for the Planet album, subsequently touring with the band and backing vocals on Jon Anderson's In the City of Angels in 1988, most prominently on the song "Top of the World (The Glass Bead Game)". In Disney's animated feature film The Lion King, he can be heard as the singing voice of the Adult Simba, singing on the songs "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight×Can You Feel the Love Tonight29 November 2019 · Single · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Can You Feel the Love Tonight2:55". He reprised this singing role in the direct-to-video animated film Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. In 1997 and 1998 respectively, he shared vocal duties on two albums by the a cappella covers group The West Coast All Stars, the other vocalists being Bobby Kimball, Bill Champlin, and Jason Scheff, whereas Tommy Funderburk replaced Champlin on the Naturally album. He sings background vocals on Chicago's "King of Might Have Been" on the 2006 album Chicago XXX as well as on "Let's Take a Lifetime" on the 1993-recorded/2008-released album Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus. The song "What You're Missing" from the Chicago album Chicago 16 was co-written by him. He also sings backing vocals on five tracks from Steve Lukather's solo album Ever Changing Times in addition to lending his vocals to another three of Lukather's solo albums, All's Well That Ends Well, I Found the Sun Again and Bridges.

Toto albums

1986: Fahrenheit
1988: The Seventh One
1998: Toto XX (lead vocals on "Last Night" and “In A Word”)
2006: Falling in Between (co-lead vocals and background vocals on "Bottom Of Your Soul")
2015: Toto XIV
2018: Old Is New

Solo albums

1982: Joseph Williams (re-released 2002)
1996: I Am Alive
1997: 3
1999: Early Years
2003: Vertigo
2006: Two of Us
2006: Vertigo 2
2007: Smiles
2007: Tears
2008: This Fall
2021: Denizen Tenant

with CWF - Bill Champlin / Peter Friestedt / Joseph Williams

2015: CWF
2018: 10 Miles
2020: CWF 2
2023: Carrie

Guest vocals (excerpt)

1983: Lapti Nek (Urth)
1984: Which One of Us Is Me (Jay Gruska)
1985: Save the Night (The Goonies soundtrack)
1985: Sleepless Nights (Alan Gorrie)
1985: Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Theme Song Vocals)
1988: In the City of Angels (Jon Anderson)
1989: My Heart in Red (Ijiima Mari)
1990: Tatsuro Songs from L.A. (compilation)
1990: Toy Matinee (Toy Matinee)
1991: Tatsuro Songs from L.A. 2 (compilation)
1991: Fade in Love (compilation)
1992: Re-Import (compilation)
1992: Goody's (compilation)
1992: The Radical Light (Vonda Shepard)
1993: Airplay for the Planet (Jay Graydon)
1993: L.A. Cowboys / Endless Summer (compilation)
1994: Love Stories 3 (compilation)
1994: The Lion King (Original Movie Soundtrack)
1997: California Dreamin' (West Coast All Stars)
1998: Naturally (West Coast All Stars)
1999: ELT Songs from L.A. (compilation)
1999: In a Dream (Lionel's Dad)
2001: Radioactive (Ceremony Of Innocence)
2002: LA Project (Peter Friestedt)
2006: Avalon (The Richie Zito Project)
2008: LA Project II (Peter Friestedt)
2008: Holy God (Brian Doerksen)
2014: My Kind O' Lovin' (Intelligent Music Project II)
2015: Touching the Divine' (Intelligent Music Project III)
2015: CWF (Champlin, Williams, Friestedt)
2018: 10 Miles/CWF (Champlin, Williams, Friestedt)
2020: CWF II (Champlin, Williams, Friestedt)
2023: Carrie (Champlin, Williams, Friestedt)

Source music (excerpt)

1983: Return of the Jedi (lyrics for "Lapti Nek" and an unused source cue)

Film scores

The following list consists of select films for which Joseph Williams composed the score and/or songs.

Personal life

Williams is married to Amye Troyer. Together they have three daughters named Sarah, Hannah, and Emma.