1) John Towner Willi… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least five artists with this name;
1) John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. With a career spanning over six decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable, and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history, including those of the Star Wars series, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones series, the first two Home Alone films, Hook, the first two Jurassic Park films, Schindler's List, and the first three Harry Potter films. He has a very distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism and atonal music with complex orchestration. The classical music critic Marcus Paus argues that Williams' "satisfying way of embodying complex dissonances and avant-garde techniques within a larger tonal framework" makes him "one of the great composers of any century".
Williams has been associated with director Steven Spielberg since 1974, composing music for all but three of his feature films. Other works by Williams include theme music for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, "The Mission" theme used by NBC News and Seven News in Australia, the television series Lost in Space and Land of the Giants, and the incidental music for the first season of Gilligan's Island. Williams has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments. He served as the Boston Pops's principal conductor from 1980 to 1993, and is currently the orchestra's laureate conductor.
Williams has won 24 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 51 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams's score to 1977's Star Wars as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to Star Wars was additionally preserved by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl's Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2016. Williams composed the score for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office (adjusted for inflation).
John Towner Williams was born on February 8, 1932 in Floral Park, New York, to Esther (nรฉe Towner) and Johnny Williams, a jazz percussionist who played with the Raymond Scott Quintet. Williams has said of his lineage, "My father was a Maine manโwe were very close. My mother was from Boston. My father's parents ran a department store in Bangor, Maine, and my mother's father was a cabinetmaker. [...] People with those roots are not inclined to be lazy."
Williams married Barbara Ruick, an American actress and singer, in 1956. Together they had three children: Jennifer (b. 1956), Mark Towner Williams (b. 1958), and Joseph (b. 1960), who is the lead singer of Toto. The two remained married until her death in 1974. In 1980, Williams married Samantha Winslow, a photographer.
2) John Christopher Williams is a classical guitar player.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, on 24 April 1941, to an English father (Len Williams) and an Australian-Chinese mother, Williams was taught initially by his father. At the age of twelve he went to Italy to study under "The Maestro," Andrรฉs Segovia. Later, he attended the Royal College of Music in London, studying piano because the school did not have a guitar department at the time. Upon graduation, he was offered the opportunity to create such a department. He seized the opportunity and ran it for the first two years. Williams has maintained links with the College (and with the Northern College in Manchester) ever since.
Williams is best known as a classical guitarist, but has explored many different musical traditions. He has collaborated with Julian Bream and Paco Peรฑa and was a member of the fusion group Sky. He is also a composer and arranger.
Williams has commissioned guitar concertos from composers such as Stephen Dodgson, Andrรฉ Previn, Patrick Gowers, Richard Harvey, and Steve Gray. He has also worked with composers from his native Australia, including Phillip Houghton, Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards (composer), and Nigel Westlake, to produce guitar works that capture the spirit of his homeland.
He enjoyed a worldwide hit single with his recording of Cavatina by Stanley Myers, used as the theme tune to the Oscar-winning film The Deer Hunter (1979). The piece had originally been written for piano, for another film ten years earlier, The Walking Stick (1970) but re-written for guitar and expanded by Myers at Williams' invitation. In 1973, Cleo Laine wrote lyrics and recorded the song "He Was Beautiful" accompanied by John Williams. A year later, it was a top-five UK hit single for Iris Williams (no relation).
At the invitation of producer Martin Lewis he created a highly acclaimed classical-rock fusion duet with celebrated rock guitarist Pete Townshend of Townshend's anthemic "Won't Get Fooled Again" for the 1979 Amnesty International benefit show The Secret Policeman's Ball. The duet was featured on the resulting album and the film version of the show โ bringing Williams to the broader attention of the rock audience.
The relationship with Lewis led to Williams' classical-rock fusion band Sky being invited to give the first-ever rock concert to be held at Westminster Abbey โ a benefit concert for Amnesty that Lewis produced in February 1981.
He is visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Williams and his artist wife Kathy Panama reside in London and Australia.
3) John Williams
John Williams is internationally regarded as one of the foremost players of Irish music today. With five All-Ireland titles to his credit, John is the only American-born competitor ever to win first place in the "senior concertina" category. His additional talents on flute, button accordion, bodhran, and piano distinguish him as a much sought after multi-instrumentalist in the acoustic scene around the world.
Born and raised on the Southwest Side of Chicago, John spent his summers during college on the Southwest coast of Ireland in his fatherโs village of Doolin, Co. Clare. Like Chicago, Doolin became a major musical crossroads for John and countless other local and international musicians to meet and exchange music. Gigging every night in the pubs of Doolin and Lisdoonvarna soon led to performances in Galway, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Paris, Britanny, Zurich, and New York City (bio http://www.johnwilliamsmusic.com/bio.htm).
3) John Williams
A blues/jazz guitarist in Seattle, Washington, whose music is available at Magnatune.com (bio http://magnatune.com/artists/john_williams).
3) John Knowles Williams
An experimental/indie musician. Music is available at sweetnuthin.letsneverdie.net/Music/My_Recordings/ or www.myspace.com/JohnKWilliams.
get happy
John Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ya better chase all your cares away
Sing Hallelujah, come on get happy
Get ready for the judgment day
The sun is shining, come on get happy
The Lord is waiting to take your hand
Shout Hallelujah, come on get happy
We're heading 'cross the river
Gonna wash our sins in the tide
It's all so peaceful
On the other side
Forget your troubles and just get happy
Ya better chase all your cares away
Sing Hallelujah, c'mon get happy
Get ready for the judgment day
The sun is shining, come on get happy
The Lord is waiting to take your hand
Shout Hallelujah, come on get happy
We're going to the Promised Land
We're heading 'cross the river
Wash our sins away in the tide
It's all so peaceful
On the other side
We're heading 'cross the river
Wash our sins away in the tide
It's all so peaceful
On the other side
Forget your troubles and just get happy
Ya better chase your cares away!
Sing Hallelujah, come on get happy
Get ready for the judgment day
The lyrics of "Get Happy" by John Williams convey a message of hope, positivity, and a call to action. The song urges its listeners to let go of their worries and embrace happiness instead. The opening lines: โPack up your troubles and just get happy, Ya better chase all your cares away,โ suggest that the key to happiness lies in leaving worries behind and focusing on the brighter side of things. The line โSing Hallelujah, come on get happyโ portrays the idea of singing happiness and positivity, rather than merely feeling it. The song then goes on to encourage the listener to prepare themselves for the "judgment day," implying the need for introspection and self-improvement.
Throughout the song, nature is used as an inspirational symbol of hope and new beginnings. The lyric โThe sun is shining, come on get happy, The Lord is waiting to take your hand,โ provides a metaphorical image of a bright new day ushering in a fresh start. The river symbolically represents the divide between the past and the present, and the act of washing away the sins in the tide, portrays the need to leave behind past regrets or mistakes and move forward.
"Get Happy" is a cheerful and upbeat song that promotes positivity and hope in the face of adversity. Itโs a call for people to embrace life, let go of their worries, and welcome a brighter future with open arms.
Line by Line Meaning
Pack up your troubles and just get happy
Leave behind all your worries and be happy
Ya better chase all your cares away
You should work hard to get rid of all your worries
Sing Hallelujah, come on get happy
Express your happiness by singing and praising the Lord
Get ready for the judgment day
Prepare yourself for the final day of judgment
The sun is shining, come on get happy
The environment is perfect for happiness
The Lord is waiting to take your hand
The Lord is eagerly waiting to offer his help
Shout Hallelujah, come on get happy
Express your joy by shouting and praising the Lord
We're going to the Promised Land
We are heading towards the place of eternal happiness and peace
We're heading 'cross the river
We are crossing the river of life to reach our ultimate destination
Gonna wash our sins in the tide
We will cleanse ourselves of sin in the river
It's all so peaceful, On the other side
The other side is a place of peace and tranquility
Forget your troubles and just get happy
Abandon all your problems and find happiness
Ya better chase all your cares away
You should actively work towards eliminating all your worries
Sing Hallelujah, c'mon get happy
Sing and praise the Lord to express your happiness
Get ready for the judgment day
Prepare yourself to face the final judgment
Lyrics ยฉ S.A. MUSIC, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, MUSIC.INFO FINLAND OY, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ashley Vox
โWithout John Williams, there is no Force, dinosaurs do not walk the Earth, we do not wonder, we do not weep, we do not believe.โ - Steven Spielberg
Brometheus
Happy birthday, John Williams! You taught me to love instrumental compositions of all kinds--but your film scores were the first I ever loved and drew inspiration from. And your Olympics pieces were unforgettably magical, as well. My son is four years old, but already he can recognize your music after a few bars. He's not even seen the films tied to the music, either! It's my hope that he adopts my love of your work--and by extension, appreciates all instrumental music.
Diana Lee
Lovely
Brandon Williams
Trumpets are absolutely glorious in this. It must have been incredible live.
Catherine Black
Bless him
Edmund Schrag
Happy birthday, Maestro Williams.
Thank you for ... everything.
barfman7767
John Williams is the world's treasure.
Mark Dodson
@The Imp It really is as if we're getting to be alive at the same time as Verdi or Beethoven or Wagner. That really is how we have to think of it. It's an incredible privilege.
The Imp
He is Musical History .
Samuel Oldham
Perfect choice. I've loved this maestro's music since the '60's when he was known as jazz man Johnny T. Williams and played piano on the original "Peter Gunn" by H. Mancini. He has blessed the world with his compositions for movies and television. HAPPY 90th.