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BIOGRAPHY
Milan Williams was a founding member of one of Motown's most successful acts of the 1970s and early '80s, the funk/R&B/pop sextet, the Commodores. The group, which hailed from Alabama, consisted of other members that completed them as a unit: guitarist Thomas McClary; trumpeter William King; bassist Ronald LaPread; alto saxophonist/pianist/lead vocalist Lionel Richie and drummer/percussionist/lead vocalist Walter (Clyde) Orange.
Born in Okolona, Mississippi on Easter Sunday, March 28, 1948 (hence earning him the nickname “Bunny”), Milan’s first musical influence came from his older brother Earl, and played in local bands around town and in school. He developed into quite a piano player, one that everyone wanted to be in their band.
Milan was an electrical engineering major at Tuskegee Institute (now University) in Alabama in 1967 when he became well known for his amazing skills as a keyboardist in a campus funk band called the Jays. The 18 year old Milan's reputation as an excellent musician spread around so well, he began to be in demand by other groups. Amongst these other groups was fellow Tuskegee student Thomas McClary, who founded a rival college band named the Mystics "to meet girls". McClary's band included King and Richie, eventually "stole" Milan away from the Jays to play in their band. LaPread and Orange were recruited after two of the other musicians were drafted for Vietnam, and the Commodores were officially born.
There is a well-known story as to how the group received their name: After being frustrated because they could not think of what to call themselves, William King took a dictionary, was blindfolded and after flipping the pages, whatever word his finger landed on was what they would decide to call their group. King's finger landed on the word "commodore". King would always laugh and say that it's a good thing that his finger didn't land on the word "commode", which was on the same page.
After playing small clubs and college campuses around Alabama and Georgia, the group decided to strike out for New York City, where they were eventually discovered around 1970 by Suzanne dePasse, who at the time was an assistant to Motown founder and CEO Berry Gordy, Jr. She recruited the Commodores to be the opening act for the Jackson 5, who had just sky-rocketed to fame a year before. By them touring with the J-5, it led to a recording contract with Motown Records in 1971. However, it would be three years before they would get their first hit with a funky, keyboard-driven instrumental that Milan composed that was initially called "The Ram". Gordy didn't like the name of the song, so he retitled it "Machine Gun". It went on to become a huge hit on the R&B and pop charts in 1974.
"Machine Gun" went on to open the door for more successful hits for the Commodores: "I Feel Sanctified", "Slippery When Wet", "This Is Your Life", "Sweet Love", "Fancy Dancer", "Just To Be Close To You", "Brick House", "Zoom" and "Easy". Milan's skills as an arranger, composer and musician were evident all over smash hit Commodores albums with tunes such as "Mary Mary", "Patch It Up", "Rapid Fire", "Quick Draw", "X-Rated Movie", "Wonderland" and "Old Fashioned Love". However, with the release of the monster hit "Three Times A Lady" in 1978, the focus of the group shifted from being pretty much equal to Lionel Richie, who had written the song. Tunes that the other Commodores wrote weren't given as much attention by the media, Motown, and the public as the ones composed by Richie. The group crossed over from being a strong funk/R&B outfit to a pop act, and that was a disappointment to many of their fans who had been there with them in the very beginning.
Eventually with all the attention that Richie was receiving, he departed from the group for a shot at solo fame in late 1982. His loss was nothing short of devastating to the group, but they vowed to continue. The hits weren't as frequent, but Milan composed a beautiful ballad called "Only You" that was a hit on the Adult Contemporary charts. The Commodores were a quintet until Thomas McClary decided to leave the following year for a solo career. The guys recruited former Heatwave member J.D. Nicholas to handle the Richie songs in their concerts, and he officially became a Commodore in 1984.The Commodores scored a chart-topping hit in early 1985 with "Nightshift", a tribute to the late Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Even with all of the hits they had with Lionel as their lead vocalist, "Nightshift" ended up being their biggest hit, and a Grammy winner in 1985. In 1986, the group left Motown for Polydor Records, where they had a Number 2 R&B hit, "Goin' To The Bank". By this time, though, Ronald LaPread had made his exit from the group, so now they were down to a quartet. Minor hits followed, but none of them had the impact of their earlier material. In 1989, they left Polydor. That same year, Milan was next to depart from the group after a disagreement with the other members about a tour in South Africa.
After Milan’s departure from the group in 1989, he continued to be active in the music industry, taking on more of a low-key role as a composer, producer and starting his own music publishing company. Now he was also able to spend more time doing the things he loved the most: spending time with family, golfing, flying and of course, creating more music.
Milan Bonnett Williams was a man who always believed in being fair and giving people the benefit of the doubt. He didn't believe in holding grudges. He also understood that no matter how bad off you might think you are, there is always someone out there who wishes they were in your shoes – because they have it a lot worse than you do. It is with this humble attitude that Milan faced his fight with leukemia, which he succumbed to on July 9, 2006. His family members, friends and loved ones all miss him dearly. Sail on, Captain Quickdraw…