Joe Williams doing Star Search in 1983-1984

[Sundet]

Some really cool footage on Youtube from Joe Williams' appearances on Star Search back in 1983-84. While you can certainly tell that Joe has since developed his vocal style, this is still pretty impressive to say it the least. As his brother Mark says, "Joseph's a natural born singer".

Here's Joe's take on Heart to Heart by Kenny Loggins. There is some other stuff on there as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZgLQNansMU

[RonaldDupris]

I'm very curious why Joe never had a successful solo career. I thought he was a total package. He had the voice, the songwriting ability, the stage presence, the charisma, and the family connections. Yet, his solo career went absolutely nowhere.

I mean shit, his solo albums don't even have Wikipedia pages FFS, that's how unknown they are

[Sundet]

Well obviously most of his solo albums have only been released in Japan, so that would explain their obscurity. Moreover, the mid-1990s was probably not the best time to restart his solo career, which probably explains why he moved onto scoring for film & TV (i.e. Roswell) for the better part of 15 years. As for his pre-Toto days, I guess success, even in the 1980s, came down to chance and marketing. MCA didn't exactly give his first album a major push and after that it seems to have been pretty much about getting songs placed on various soundtracks (i.e. Body by Jake, Goonies and a few others) as well as doing stunts like Star Search. At one point he also did a musical in Vegas and around 1984 he also toured with Jeffrey Osborne, which might have been to secure a bit of income. I remember Joe Williams describing how he, when he auditioned for Toto, was living in a motel and was essentially broke (although I guess Joe more than many others may have had a bit of a safety net under him in financial terms).

[The_Noble_Cause]

Awesome. I still enjoy watching old concert vids online from Fahrenheit tour.

[scarab]

Fahrenheit was the only album I really got into (or tried to). It was a big change up for me from going from 80s hard rock but I really got into it. Yeah the two main hits were great but Til the End blew me away and the whole 2nd side was really good (which I think Williams sang all the leads). The album kinda had a Chicago 17 feel. (Which was great)

[The_Noble_Cause]

Fahrenheit was the only album I really got into (or tried to).

You don't dig The Seventh One?!?

[scarab]

Loved Pamela at the time but I shifted back into the 80s hard rock and sadly "hair bands" at the time.
Looking at Wiki on he could no longer sing due to drug use? any truth to that? and was fired.

Did he ever sing for them again after this?

[The_Noble_Cause]

Loved Pamela at the time but I shifted back into the 80s hard rock and sadly "hair bands" at the time.
Looking at Wiki on he could no longer sing due to drug use? any truth to that? and was fired.

Did he ever sing for them again after this?

He's been their lead singer since the band reformed in 2010.

https://youtu.be/s021m2C7-aI

https://youtu.be/zESGsOxGqUM