Andre Williams, R&B singer and producer known as Mr. Rhythm, dies at 82

By Terence McArdle March 19 at 6:47 PM Andre Williams, an R&B singer and record producer whose talking, proto-rap style and strutting stage persona earned him the sobriquet “Mr. Rhythm,” died March 17 at a nursing home in Chicago. He was 82.Mr. Williams began his career in the 1950s, singing with doo-wop groups. But he said he soon realized he didn’t have the soaring tenor of a Clyde McPhatter or Jackie Wilson, and developed a talking blues style laced with dark, street-wise humor.

In the early 1960s, Mr. Williams met Motown record label founder Berry Gordy in a Detroit barber shop and went to work for the label as a producer and songwriter. Mr. Williams often butted heads with Gordy, and he said he was fired and rehired at least five times in four years. In later years, Mr. Williams struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. He said Ike Turner introduced him to cocaine during a stay in Los Angeles, and by the late 1980s he was working as a cook in homeless shelters.

“The teachers and truant officers said I was headed for reform school if I didn’t change my ways,” he told the magazine Blues & Rhythm, the Gospel Truth in 1998. Street-corner harmonizing with fledgling vocal groups gave the youngster something for which to strive.

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