fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Paul Hamilton Williams Jr.[1] (born September 19, 1940)[2][3] is an American composer, singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for writing and co-writing popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s, including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song" and "Out in the Country", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World", Tiny Tim's "Fill Your Heart" and the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days and Mondays".

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Paul Williams
Williams at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2022
Background information
Birth name	Paul Hamilton Williams Jr.
Born	(1940-09-19) September 19, 1940 (age 82) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Folk pop soft rock
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter actor writer
Years active	1964–present
Labels	A&M, Reprise, Portrait
Website	paulwilliamsofficial.com

Williams is also known for writing the score and lyrics for Bugsy Malone (1976) and his musical contributions to other films, including the Oscar-nominated song "Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie, and writing the lyrics to the #1 chart-topping song "Evergreen", the love theme from the Barbra Streisand film A Star Is Born, for which he won a Grammy for Song of the Year and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He wrote the lyrics to the opening theme for the television show The Love Boat, with music previously composed by Charles Fox, which was originally sung by Jack Jones and, later, by Dionne Warwick.[4]

Williams had a variety of high-profile acting roles, such as "Little Enos Burdette" in the action-comedy Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and the villainous Swan in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974),[5] which Williams also co-scored, receiving an Oscar nomination in the process.[6] Since 2009, Williams has been the president and chairman of the American songwriting society ASCAP.

Early life

Williams was born in Omaha, Nebraska,[7] the son of Paul Hamilton Williams, an architectural engineer, and his wife, Bertha Mae (née Burnside), a homemaker.[1]

One of his brothers was John J. Williams, a NASA rocket scientist, who participated in the Mercury and Apollo programs and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, their highest honor, in 1969.[8] His other brother was Mentor Williams, a songwriter as well who wrote Dobie Gray's 1973 hit "Drift Away".[9]

Musical career

Williams began his professional songwriting career with Biff Rose in Los Angeles. The two men first met while working together on a television comedy show. Together, they wrote the song "Fill Your Heart" which was recorded by Rose on his first album, The Thorn in Mrs. Roses Side. Soon thereafter Tiny Tim covered it as the B-side of his hit "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" (1968). David Bowie also recorded a faithful version of the song on his album Hunky Dory (1971). Rose and Williams also wrote "I'll Walk Away" (recorded by Rose on his third, eponymous album). Rose was instrumental in getting Williams his break with A&M Records which resulted in Williams working with songwriter Roger Nichols. Williams and Nichols were responsible for a number of successful pop hits from the 1970s, including several hits for Three Dog Night (the aforementioned "An Old Fashioned Love Song", as well as "The Family of Man" and "Out in the Country"), Helen Reddy ("You and Me Against the World"), and the Carpenters, most notably "Rainy Days and Mondays", "I Won't Last a Day Without You", and "We've Only Just Begun", originally a song for a Crocker National Bank television commercial featuring newlyweds, and which has since become a cover-band standard and de rigueur for weddings throughout North America.

An early collaboration with Roger Nichols, "Someday Man", was covered by the Monkees (a group for which he auditioned but was not chosen[10]) on a 1969 single, and was the first Monkees' release not published by Screen Gems.^{[citation needed]}

A frequent co-writer of Williams' was musician Kenneth Ascher. Their songs together included the popular children's favorite "Rainbow Connection", sung by Jim Henson (as Kermit the Frog) in The Muppet Movie (1979). They also wrote "You And Me Against The World", which became a Top 10 hit on Billboard for Helen Reddy in 1974.

Williams worked on the music for a number of films, including writing and singing on Phantom of the Paradise (1974) in which he also starred and earned an Oscar nomination for the music, and Bugsy Malone (1976). Williams also wrote and sang the song "Where Do I Go from Here", which was used in the end credits of the Michael Cimino-directed film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, which starred Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges. He contributed lyrics to the Cinderella Liberty song "You're So Nice to Be Around" with music by John Williams, and it earned them an Oscar nomination. Along with Ascher and Rupert Holmes, he wrote the music and lyrics to A Star Is Born (also 1976), with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. The love ballad, "Evergreen", (lyrics by Paul Williams, melody by Barbra Streisand) from the movie A Star Is Born won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Song of the Year. He has been nominated on other occasions for an Academy Award[11] and several Golden Globe Awards.[12]

In 1987 he wrote the songs performed by Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty in the film Ishtar.[13]

He wrote the music for a musical production of Happy Days that debuted in 2007 and also made a cameo appearance as an animated version of himself singing "Breathe in the Sunshine" in the hit animated series Dexter's Laboratory.[14]^{[failed verification]} He wrote and sang "What Would They Say", the theme song from the made-for-television film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), a film starring John Travolta alongside Diana Hyland.

More recently, Williams wrote music and lyrics of "Silence is Our Song" for Richard Barone's 2010 album Glow [15] and collaborated with Scissor Sisters on their second album, Ta-Dah.

In March 2012, it was announced that Williams had "written a couple of tunes" on Random Access Memories, the album of French electronic duo Daft Punk.[16] He co-wrote and sang vocals on "Touch" and co-wrote "Beyond". Williams and Nile Rodgers were the only featured artists to speak on behalf of Daft Punk at the 2014 Grammy Awards upon their receipt of the Album of the Year award for Random Access Memories. Williams told an anecdote about his work with Daft Punk: "Back when I was drinking, I would imagine things that weren't there and I'd get frightened. Then I got sober and two robots called and asked me to make an album." He also communicated a "message from the robots" to the audience: "As elegant and as classy as the Grammy has ever been is the moment when we saw those wonderful marriages and "Same Love" is fantastic. It is the height of fairness and love and the power of love for all people at any time in any combination. Captain Kirk uses the Enterprise. They sail on a ship called Generosity. They are generous in spirit ... This is a labor of love and we are all so grateful."[17]

Williams is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame,[18] and his songs have been performed by both pop and country music artists. In April 2009, Williams was elected President and Chairman of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).[19]

In September 2015, Williams, along with bass player Kasim Sulton, led a global virtual songwriting collaboration at Hookist.com.[20] The mission was to write the 1st ever crowd-sourced anthem to be performed at FacingAddiction.org's concert and rally on The National Mall on October 4, 2015, headlined by Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow and Joe Walsh among others.[21] The theme of the song was "Celebrate Recovery" and the goal was to reduce the stigma associated with addiction. Williams, Sulton and Dr. Mehmet Oz opened the show and led 10,000 people in a singalong of "Voice Of Change" at the base of the Washington Monument.[22] Sulton also led a singalong of the song on The Dr. Oz Show which quickly went viral.[23]

Film and television career

Although predominantly known for his music, Williams has also appeared in films and many television guest spots, such as the Faustian record producer Swan in Brian DePalma's film Phantom of the Paradise (1974)—a rock and roll adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, for which Williams also wrote the songs[24]—and as Virgil, the genius orangutan in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).

On February 9, 1973, Williams made a joke appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in which he sang a song in full make-up as Virgil.[25] He also played Migelito Loveless, Jr. in The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979), a reunion movie featuring the original cast of the television series The Wild Wild West. He played himself, singing a song to Felix Unger's daughter Edna, on the television series The Odd Couple in 1974. He made his film debut as Gunther Fry in the satire The Loved One (1965).

After appearing on The Muppet Show in 1976, Williams worked closely with Jim Henson's Henson Productions on The Muppet Movie, working on the soundtrack and appearing in a cameo part as the piano player in the nightclub (who had a sign on the piano saying "Don't shoot piano player") where Kermit the Frog meets Fozzie Bear. He was also the lyricist for Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.

Williams was hired by TV producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas to write title tracks for two of their ABC comedies, It Takes Two (1982–1983), on which he sang a duet with Crystal Gayle, and Condo (1983), in which Williams' theme was sung by Drake Frye. Williams also composed and performed the theme to the McLean Stevenson sitcom The McLean Stevenson Show in 1976.[26]

Williams also composed, and sang "Flying Dreams" for the animated film The Secret of NIMH.[27]

Williams has appeared in many minor roles. He provided the voice of The Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series. He appeared on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger as a radio DJ covering a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. He appeared in 2008 in an episode of Nickelodeon's children's show Yo Gabba Gabba! entitled "Weather", where he performed "Rainbow Connection". He has also appeared on Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory where he played Professor Williams in an episode entitled "Just An Old Fashioned Lab Song".

He made numerous television appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, including on The Odd Couple, Hawaii Five-O, Match Game '79, Hollywood Squares, The Love Boat,Police Woman, Fantasy Island, The Hardy Boys, The Fall Guy, The Flip Wilson Special, Gimme A Break, and The Gong Show. He has also guest-starred in the Babylon 5 episode "Acts of Sacrifice" (Season 2 Episode 12) as Taq, the aide to Correlilmurzon, an alien ambassador whose species finalizes treaties and agreements by having sex with the other signees.

In October 1980, Williams was host of the Mickey Mouse Club 25th Anniversary Special on NBC-TV. He stated that he tried out for the show in early 1955 and was turned down. He was a frequent guest and performer on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He also appears as the man making the phone call at the beginning of the music video for Hank Williams Jr.'s song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". In 2014, he appeared on Community[28] as an illegal textbook dealer who declines to purchase a batch of misprinted chemistry textbooks.[29] Williams appeared in the 2017 film Baby Driver as the Butcher, an arms dealer.

He portrayed the character of Little Enos Burdette in Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). He has a recurring role as a former lawyer and information source in 2018's season 2 and 2019's season 3 of Goliath.

Personal life

Williams has been married three times. He has two children, Sarah and Cole Williams (born 1981), from his first marriage (1971) to Kate Clinton.^{[citation needed]} In 1993 he married Hilda Keenan Wynn,[30] daughter of actor Keenan Wynn. His third wife is writer Mariana Williams.[31]

An experienced skydiver, Williams completed over 100 jumps in the 1970s.

In September 2011, director Stephen Kessler's documentary Paul Williams Still Alive premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Williams struggled with alcohol and substance abuse during the 1970s and 1980s.[32] Sober since 1990, Williams has been active in the field of recovery from addictions and became a Certified Drug Rehabilitation Counselor through UCLA. In 2014, he co-authored Gratitude and Trust: Recovery is Not Just for Addicts, with Tracey Jackson.[33]

Songwriting

Notable songs

• "Love Dance", (Williams provided the lyrics. Written with Ivan Lins and Victor Martins, it was recorded by Ivan Lins, Barbra Streisand, and Sarah Vaughan, among others. It is considered a jazz standard.)[34][35][36][37]
• "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)", (#1 hit for Barbra Streisand - Billboard Hot 100)[38]
• "I Won't Last a Day Without You", (#1 hit for Carpenters - Billboard Adult Contemporary)[39]
• "Rainy Days and Mondays", (#1 hit for Carpenters - Billboard Adult Contemporary)[40]
• "We've Only Just Begun" (#1 hit for Carpenters - Billboard Adult Contemporary)[41]
• "The Family of Man" (US #12 & Canadian #5 hit for Three Dog Night)
• "An Old Fashioned Love Song" (#4 hit for Three Dog Night)
• "Out in the Country" (#15 hit for Three Dog Night)
• "Talk It Over in the Morning" (Canadian #1 hit for Anne Murray)
• "You and Me Against the World" (US Easy Listening #1 hit for Helen Reddy)
• "Rainbow Connection" (Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated song, Entered into the US Library of Congress Archive, #25 hit for Kermit the Frog - Billboard Hot 100)
• "Flying Dreams" (from The Secret of NIMH soundtrack)
• "Let Me Be the One" (#18 U.S R&B chart hit for The Carpenters and Al Wilson)
• "Someday Man" (The Monkees – 1969 – "B" Side of "Listen to the Band" single)
• "Touch" (Daft Punk – 2013 – Random Access Memories)
• "You're Gone" (US Country #4 hit for Diamond Rio)

Notable recordings

• "The Family of Man" (from A Little Bit of Love [1974])
• "Out in the Country" (from Life Goes On [1972])

Scores

Films

• Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
• Bugsy Malone (1976)
• Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977)
• Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
• The End (1978)
• The Muppet Movie (1979)
• The Night They Saved Christmas (1984)
• Ishtar (1987)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
• The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)

Theatre

• Bugsy Malone (1997)
• Happy Days (2007)
• Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (2008)

Notable songs written for film soundtracks

• "Where Do I Go From Here" (composed and performed by Williams for Thunderbolt and Lightfoot) (1974)
• "Evergreen (Love Song from A Star Is Born)" (lyrics written by Williams, Academy and Golden Globe winner for Best Original Song) (1976)
• "What Would They Say?" (for The Boy in the Plastic Bubble starring John Travolta and Diana Hyland) (1976)
• "Rainbow Connection" (co-composed by Williams for The Muppet Movie, 2020 National Recording Registry inductee[42]) (1979)
• "Flying Dreams" (co-composed with Jerry Goldsmith and performed by Williams for The Secret of N.I.M.H) (1982)
• "When Love is Gone" (co-composed by Williams for The Muppet Christmas Carol) (1992)
• "If We Could Remember" (co-composed with Jerry Goldsmith for The Sum of All Fears) (2002)
• "Still Alive" (composed and performed by Williams for Paul Williams Still Alive) (2011)
• "I Love You Too Much" and "The Apology Song" (co-composed with Gustavo Santaolalla for The Book of Life) (2014)
• "Time and Tide" (composed by Paul Williams and performed by Dale Menten for Lifeguard) (1976)

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Label	US Chart[43]	AUS Charts[44]
196?	Words and Music by Paul Williams	Big Seven Music Corp.		-
1970	Someday Man	Reprise		-
1971	Just an Old Fashioned Love Song	A&M	141	22
1972	Life Goes On	A&M	159	-
1974	Here Comes Inspiration	A&M	165	-
1974	A Little Bit of Love	A&M	95	-
1975	Ordinary Fool	A&M	146	-
1979	A Little on the Windy Side	Portrait		90
1981	...And Crazy for Loving You	PalD		-
1997	Back to Love Again	Pioneer		-
2005	I'm Going Back There Someday	AIX		-

Soundtracks

Year	Title	Label	AUS Charts[44]	Notes
1974	Phantom of the Paradise	A&M	94
1976	Bugsy Malone	Polydor
1976	A Star Is Born	Columbia		Motion Picture Soundtrack; with Kenny Ascher
1977	One on One: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Warner Bros.		Lyrics by Williams, music by Charles Fox; performed by Seals and Crofts
1979	The Muppet Movie: Original Soundtrack Recording	Atlantic		By Williams and Kenny Ascher
1982	The Secret of NIMH: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	MCA		Williams performs the song "Flying Dreams"
1987	Ishtar			Lyrics by Williams
1992	The Muppet Christmas Carol	Walt Disney Records

Compilations

Year	Title	Label	Chart	Notes
1974	The Best of Paul Williams	A&M
1977	Classics	A&M	155
1988	Paul Williams	Pickwick
2004	Evergreens: The Best of the A&M Years	Hip-O Select

Other releases

• The Holy Mackerel (with The Holy Mackerel) (1969)
• We've Only Just Begun (by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams) (2001)
• Random Access Memories (Daft Punk) (Williams features on two tracks) (2013)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	The Loved One	Gunther Fry	credited as Paul H. Williams
1966	The Chase	Seymour
1970	Watermelon Man	Employment Office Clerk	credited as Paul H. Williams
1973	Battle for the Planet of the Apes	Virgil
1974	Phantom of the Paradise	Swan
1977	Smokey and the Bandit Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown	Enos "Little Enos" Burdette Songs (uncredited)
1978	The Cheap Detective	Boy
1979	The Muppet Movie	El Sleezo Pianist
1979	Stone Cold Dead	Julius Kurtz
1980	Smokey and the Bandit II	Enos "Little Enos" Burdette
1982	The Secret of NIMH	The Balladeer (voice)	Uncredited
1983	Smokey and the Bandit Part 3	Enos "Little Enos" Burdette
1984	The Night They Saved Christmas	Ed
1989	Old Gringo	Cinematographer
1990	Solar Crisis	Freddy The Bomb (voice)
1991	The Doors	Warhol PR
1994	Police Rescue	Paul Skelton
1994	A Million to Juan	Jenkins
1995	Headless Body in Topless Bar	Carl Levin
2002	The Rules of Attraction	Duty Doctor
2004	The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement	Lord Harmony
2007	Georgia Rule	Mr. Wells
2010	Valentine's Day	Romeo Midnight (voice)
2011	Paul Williams Still Alive	Himself
2012	The Ghastly Love of Johnny X	Cousin Quilty
2017	Baby Driver	"The Butcher"
2020	Superman: Red Son	Brainiac (voice)

Television

List of live-action performances on television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970–1982	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Himself
1973–1975	The Midnight Special	Host
1974	The Odd Couple	Himself
1974	Baretta	Sandy
1975	When Things Were Rotten	Guy de Maupassant
1976	Good Heavens	Henry Clyde
1976	The McLean Stevenson Show	Himself
1976	The Muppet Show	Himself	Episode 108 Also voiced two Muppet likenesses of himself
1977	The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries	Allison Troy
1977	Police Woman	Willy Jaques
1977	The Brady Bunch Hour	Himself
1977	The Donny & Marie Show	Himself
1977	The Captain and Tennille Show	Himself
1978–1982	The Love Boat	Various
1979	Hawaii Five-O	Tim Powers / Stringer
1979	The Mary Tyler Moore Hour	Himself
1979	The Wild Wild West Revisited	Dr. Miguelito Loveless, Jr.	TV movie
1979–1980	Match Game	Himself
1980–1982	Fantasy Island	Various
1981	B. J. and the Bear	Dante Defoe
1981–1982	The Fall Guy	Various
1982	Rooster	Rooster Steele	TV movie
1985	Silver Spoons	Al Butler
1984	The Night They Saved Christmas	Ed	TV movie
1987	Frog	Gus	TV movie
1987	Gimme a Break!	Captain Jerk
1989	227	Stan	Episode: "Play It Again, Stan"
1988	The Munsters Today	Skinner
1990	The Trials of Rosie O'Neill	Sven Ingerson
1991	She-Wolf of London	Harvey the Troll
1993	Hart to Hart Returns	Duke
1994	Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die	Duke
1994	Picket Fences	Benjamin Weedon
1995	Babylon 5	Taq	Episode: "Acts of Sacrifice"
1995	Walker, Texas Ranger	Tumbleweed Tom
1996	Boston Common	Father Rooney
1997	Perversions of Science	Dr. Mueller
1997	Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show	Mahoney the Giant
1998	The Bold and the Beautiful	Bailey Masterson
2000	Star Trek: Voyager	Koru
2008	A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa	The Head Elf
2008	Yo Gabba Gabba!	Performer
2011	Late Night with Jimmy Fallon	Himself
2012	The View	Himself
2013–2017	Fast N' Loud	Himself
2014	Community	Britta's Contact	Episode: "VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing"
2018–2019	Goliath	James "JT" Reginald III[45]

List of voice performances on television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	The Last Halloween	Gleep	TV short
	Timeless Tales from Hallmark	Frogbrauten	Episode: "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"
1992	Fish Police		Episode: "No Way to Treat a Fillet-dy"
1992–1994	Batman: The Animated Series	The Penguin / Oswald Cobblepot	7 episodes
1992–1993	The Pirates of Dark Water	Garen	13 episodes
1993	The Legend of Prince Valiant	Grafton Commander / Brother John	2 episodes
	The Town Santa Forgot	Pomp the Elf	Christmas television special
1994–1995	Phantom 2040	Mr. Cairo	13 episodes
1995	Aaahh!!! Real Monsters	Izzith	Episode: "Where Have All the Monsters Gone?"
	The Tick	Mother of Invention	Episode: "Leonardo da Vinci and His Fightin' Genius Time Commandos!"
	Captain Planet and the Planeteers	Kujo	Episode: "Five Ring Panda-Monium"
1998	The New Batman Adventures	The Penguin / Oswald Cobblepot	4 episodes
	Dexter's Laboratory	Professor Williams	Episode: "Just an Old Fashioned Lab Song"
	Superman: The Animated Series	The Penguin / Oswald Cobblepot	Episode: "Knight Time"
2015	Adventure Time	The Hierophant	Episode: "Stakes" Parts 2, 3, and 5
2016–2018	Future-Worm!	Future Danny	2 episodes
2019	Twelve Forever	Captain Elmer	Episode: "Stranger Forever"

Legacy

The Rainbow Connection was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2020.[46]

References

Bibliography

• Skinner, Curtis (2001), Contemporary Authors Online, Detroit: Gale, ISBN 978-0-7876-3995-2
• Williams, Paul; Jackson, Tracey (2015), Gratitude and Trust: Six Affirmations That Will Change Your Life, Plume, ISBN 978-0147517968
• ASCAP (1980) The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, 4th ed., p. 545 ISBN 0-8352-1283-1 .
• Colin Larkin (ed.) (1992) The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 1st ed., p. 2698, ISBN 1-882267-04-4 .

External links

• paulwilliamsofficial.com — Paul Williams Official Website
• gratitudeandtrust.com — Paul Williams Blog on Recovery
• paulwilliamsstillalive.com – Paul Williams Still Alive – Paul Williams documentary
• paulwilliams.co.uk – Paul Williams' Music & Acting Page
• Paul Williams at IMDb
• Paul Williams at the TCM Movie Database
• Paul Williams discography at Discogs
• Jim Bennett's interview with Paul Williams
• Songfacts Interview
• Songwriters Hall of Fame Biography
• Interview with Paul Williams NAMM Oral History Library, June 12, 2013.

На других языках

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[de] Paul Williams (Songwriter)

Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. (* 19. September 1940 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA) ist ein US-amerikanischer Komponist, Musiker, Sänger, Songwriter und Schauspieler. Bekannt ist er aus den 1970er Jahren, in denen er zeitlose Lieder komponierte bzw. mitkomponierte beispielsweise für Three Dog Night An Old Fashioned Love Song, für Helen Reddy You and Me Against the World, für David Bowie Fill Your Heart oder für die Carpenters We’ve Only Just Begun und Rainy Days and Mondays.

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- [en] Paul Williams (songwriter)

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[es] Paul Williams (cantautor)

Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr.[1] (Omaha, Nebraska; 19 de septiembre de 1940) es un músico, compositor, autor, y actor estadounidense.

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