Willi Williams

Willi Williams
Willi Williams performing at the 2007 Winnipeg Ska and Reggae Festival
Background information
Born	Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica
Genres	Reggae, Dub
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, producer
Years active	1960s-present
Labels	Studio One, Soul Sounds, Heartbeat, Black Star, Jah Shaka, Drum Street
Associated acts	Barry Brown, Yabby You
Website	www.williwilliams.com

Willi Williams (also Willie Williams) is a Jamaican reggae and dub musician and producer. He is known as the "Armagideon Man" after his hit, "Armagideon Time", first recorded in 1977 at Studio One in Kingston. The song was covered by The Clash as the flipside of their "London Calling" single.

Williams was born in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. He attended Trenchtown Comprehensive High School, where he was a classmate of Sly Dunbar. He first recorded at Studio One in the late 1960s, while he was still in school. In 1967 he set up the "Tripletone" sound system and in 1969 started his own record label called "Soul Sounds"; among the artists he recorded were Delroy Wilson, The Versatiles, and Rhythm Force (a pseudonym for The Wailers). He moved to Canada in 1974 and split his time between Toronto, Ontario and Kingston.

He worked with keyboardist Jackie Mittoo and producer Coxsone Dodd on "Armagideon Time", a single (and later the title track of a Studio One album) recorded over the Real Rock riddim. The song was covered by The Clash in 1979, and later featured in the film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack (is featured on the reggae radio station K-JAH Radio West but not on the soundtrack album). "Armagideon Time" is included on the four CD anthology Tougher Than Tough: The Story of Jamaican Music, which Mango Records released in 1993. The song was also sampled by The Fugees in 1996 on their track "Zealots".