Anthony Williams (musician)

Anthony "Tony" Williams (born 24 June 1931 in Port of Spain, Trinidad) is an inventor, pioneer and musician of the steel pan.

Life

Williams was born at the General Hospital of Port-of-Spain and grew up in Nepal Street in St. James. He is one of the great pioneers of the steel pan, along with Winston "Spree" Simon, Ellie Mannette and Neville Jules. Williams was part of the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra, TASPO, which visited England for the Festival of Britain in 1951.[1]

In 1953, Williams presented a soprano pan with the notes laid out in a circle of fifths. Because the instrument's surface looked like a spider's web, Williams called it the "Spider Web Pan".[2]

He was the bandleader, pan-tuner and arranger of the Pan Am North Stars and won the Panorama twice, once in 1963 and again in 1964.

Williams received the Chaconia Medal (Gold) in 1992.

He further received the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, presented by president George Maxwell Richards in 2008.[3]

Further reading

  • Felix I. R. Blake: The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan: History and Evolution. ISBN 0-9525528-0-9

Notes

  1. ↑ "Steelband 1950 - 1959".
  2. ↑ "Spiderweb". Books.google.ch. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Order of Republic". Tntisland.com. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
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