Willie Williams (William Peter Charles Williams) is a video director, stage and lighting designer for concerts, theatre, & multimedia projects. He is best known for his groundbreaking work with the rock band U2, and is recognized as one of the leading artists in this field.[1]
He was born in 1959 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and raised in Sheffield, England, son of Robert Woodman Williams, a singer & medical practitioner who was an early pioneer in the then fledgling field of physiotherapy and who also sang with South Yorkshire Opera. Williams excelled at mathematics and science in school and planned to study physics at University College, London. The advent of punk rock caused him enter the music scene instead, and he began doing lights for various bands such as Writz, Deaf School and Stiff Little Fingers. Hearing U2's album Boy and determined to work with them, he contacted U2's manager Paul McGuinness and got the job.
Willie Williams has been responsible for the design of all of U2's tours from 1982 onward, most famously the extravagant, bewildering Zoo TV Tour (1992–93), but also the far more minimalist War Tour (1982–83) and Unforgettable Fire Tour (1984–85), as well as the Joshua Tree Tour (1987), Lovetown Tour (1989–90), PopMart Tour (1997–98), Elevation Tour (2001), Vertigo Tour (2005–06) and U2 360° Tour (2009–11). He has also worked with musical artists such as R.E.M.,[2][3] David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Darren Hayes [4] and George Michael.[5]
He has exhibited his own kinetic light sculptures in several art galleries.[6] The sculptures, entitled "Lumia Domestica", create kaleidoscopic projections in the tradition of Nicolas Schoffer and Thomas Wilfred by refracting light through household glassware. Other public works include the creation of lighting installations at London's Southbank Centre and within Canterbury Cathedral; "SkyChurch", a multimedia performance space at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, and a permanent exhibit at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum.
Williams has designed for the legendary Montreal-based dance company La La La Human Steps. Other collaborations have been with Laurie Anderson, Marianne Faithfull and the Kronos Quartet, most notably on Sun Rings, a joint effort with NASA that combines the string quartet's music with video and audio material collected by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft.[7]
Theatre shows Williams has worked on include We Will Rock You, Little Britain Live, French and Saunders Still Alive, Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters, The Fast Show Live, Barbarella and Pam Ann.