James Williamson (musician)

James Williamson
Williamson performing with The Stooges in Brussels at the Brussels Summer Festival in 2012.
Background information
Birth name	James Robert Williamson
Born	(1949-10-29) October 29, 1949 (age 67) Castroville, Texas, US
Genres	Protopunk, Garage rock, Hard rock, Glam rock, Punk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, Songwriter, Guitarist, Producer, Electronic engineer
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	1966–1980, 2009–present
Labels	Columbia, Bomp, Radar
Associated acts	The Stooges, Iggy Pop

James Robert Williamson (born October 29, 1949) is an American guitarist, songwriter, record producer and electronics engineer who is best known for his contributions to the proto-punk rock band The Stooges.

Williamson was born in Castroville, Texas in 1949. His father died while he was young and he moved to San Antonio, Texas around the age of five. He began playing guitar in the 7th grade, while his family were living in Lawton, Oklahoma: "One summer while visiting Texas, I wound up getting a guitar because I thought it was cool. My sister was bringing home Elvis records and so I thought, 'I gotta have a guitar.' So I talked my mom into getting me one. My uncle worked for Sears, so I ended up with an old Sears f-hole guitar with action about an inch and a half off the fret board. Anyway, when I first learned to play guitar a little bit, it was just chords and stuff, but then about a year or so later we moved to the Detroit area, and it just so happened that I moved next door to a family that all played music. The son in that family, his name was Ken Black. He played electric guitar. I remember moving to Detroit—it was the summer when Martha and the Vandellas' "Heatwave" was a smash hit record. I would spend my days hanging over in his room, listening to him play and also learning how to play barre chords and things like that. By the end of that summer, I got good enough that I ended up getting my own electric guitar, which was a Fender Jaguar."

When Williamson was in the 9th grade in Detroit, he formed his first rock 'n' roll band, The Chosen Few, with schoolmate Scott Richardson. They performed cover versions of Rolling Stones songs and others. Ron Asheton would go on to become the bassist in one of The Chosen Few's later line-ups. Despite this connection, the two were barely acquainted at the time, with Asheton recalling that "the first time I played with them, that was the last time James played with them. He was sent to the reform school." As a guitarist, Asheton went on to form The Stooges with his brother Scott (drums), bassist Dave Alexander and Iggy Pop. Williamson also spent some time in a juvenile home after his stepfather had told him to cut his hair and Williamson refused. In the first half of 1966, Williamson was sent to a boarding school in a small town eighty miles north of New York City. While there, Williamson helped form and played lead guitar in the Coba Seas. During that time, the Coba Seas taped a rehearsal session, resulting in the first recordings of Williamson's guitar prowess.