Ulysses Kae Williams (February 4, 1921 – December 29, 1987) was an American DJ,

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

owner and producer, known as one of the earliest local

deejay A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile DJ ...

s to play the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. Born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, USA, he started in radio around 1945 and worked for numerous area stations, including WSSJ, WDAS,

WHAT (AM) WHAT (1340 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by VM Broadcasting. It airs a Spanish-language contemporary hit radio format. It was one of the first radio stations in ...

, and WCAM. At the same time, he worked for the ''

Philadelphia Tribune ''The Philadelphia Tribune'' is the oldest continuously published African-American newspaper in the United States. The paper began in 1884 when Christopher J. Perry published its first copy. Throughout its history, ''The Philadelphia Tribune ...

'', from 1945 to 1948 as theatrical and night club critic. Williams managed several local acts, including Lee Andrews & the Hearts, and

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called ...

(from 1954–1957). In the mid-1950s, Kae reached what would be eventually the high point of his career, when the group he was managing, The Silhouettes, had a huge pop hit with " Get a Job". The track sold several million copies in the USA and abroad and topped the pop charts. Williams also managed a group called

The Sensations The Sensations were an American doo-wop group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group formed in 1954 under the name the Cavaliers, soon after changing to the Sensations. The group scored two hits on the US R&B chart in 1956 with the Atco Reco ...

, which sold close to a million with the pop tune " Let Me In".Jay Warner, ''American Singing Groups: A History from 1940 to Today'' (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2006):287. Kae Williams inspired many youngsters, black and white, to go into radio and music. Williams died on December 29, 1987, in Philadelphia. His second son, Ulysses Kae, Jr., (1956–2008), was a record producer, whose ''Catch Me I'm Falling'' by the group Pretty Poison climbed the charts on its release.

Awards

* BMD Publishers Award (1957) for ''Get a Job'' * Mary DEE Award for outstanding community service and broadcasting (1978) * Lifetime Achievement Award (1989) (presented to his son, Kae Williams Jr.) * Chairman of the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers

References

External links

Kae Williams Sr Page

Listing of Songs credited to Williams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ulysses Kae 1921 births 1987 deaths American radio DJs Radio personalities from Philadelphia

Awards

References

Further reading

External links