Pressure is the constant companion of any professional musician. After all, finding and keeping gigs is a non-negotiable fact of life (at least for those artists who prefer eating regularly). But imagine also being the son of one of the most revered and celebrated musical figures of the past half-century.
If that is a double whammy, you wouldn’t know it from Joseph Williams’ career. Williams, 64, is a veteran singer, whose glittering resume includes serving as the voice of the adult Simba in the beloved 1994 Disney flick, “The Lion King” (he sings two of the picture’s signature tunes, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” and “Hakuna Matata”) as well as composing for such films and TV series as “Goonies,” “Star Wars” (Episodes 1 and 2), “Felicity” and “Roswell.”
And on and off since 1986, he has served as lead singer for Toto, the seminal “Yacht Rock” band that on Aug. 1 checks into Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City along with fellow turn-of-the-1980s hitmakers, Men At Work and Christopher Cross.
He also happens to be the son of John Williams, the 23-Grammy-five-Oscar-(and 54-Oscar-nomination)-winning composer of the “Star Wars” scores and numerous others including “Jaws,” “Harry Potter,” “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park.” According to Williams, his lineage has always been something of a double-edged sword.
“I think my dad would’ve liked me to have gotten a law degree or something like that,” he laughed during a recent phone chat.
“To be perfectly honest with you, there was a period of time — and probably still is — where, in his mind, he doesn’t consider [rock] to be serious music.
“But the other side of the coin is that he has great admiration and respect for people who perform and go out and do the work of performing night after night after night, regardless of what the content is. He’s very impressed with all of that.”
“So, he’s always been incredibly supportive and never really applied any kind of pressure to do what he does. And he has great respect for all kinds of music. People may not know…that he started out as a jazz musician; he didn’t start out doing concertos and symphonies and that kind of stuff,” he continued. “He started out doing jazz, so he gets it. With the amount of touring [Toto has] done in the last 15 years around the planet, he has tremendous respect for what we do.”
Not-so-incidentally, Williams’ show-business pedigree extends beyond his paternally donated genes. His late mother Barbara Ruick — from whom he claimed he got his passion for performing — was an in-demand actor on radio and in the early days of television (she also appeared in such film musicals as “The Band Wagon” and “Carousel.” And her parents, Melville Ruick and Lurlene Tuttle, were likewise well-known and prolific actors (Tuttle has almost 200 IMDB credits stretching across a half-century).
But let’s face it, if you are a musician, it’s difficult to conjure a better mentor and sounding board than Williams’ 93-year-old father. So, is there any advice his dad has provided that stands as especially significant?
“I think the main one is to always be trying to improve upon what you do and what you’re doing; you can always be better,” said Williams. “It’s about constantly leaning into trying to improve on what you’re doing and never resting on your laurels. And always having humility about what you’re doing, and being willing to look at it and say, ‘Hey, I can make that better.’ That’s really the biggest lesson from him.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Do the VooDoo at Harrah’s
Eden Lounge at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City has been reinvented as VooDoo Lounge.
Located between the Concert Venue and the escalator to the second-floor dining level, VooDoo is inspired, according to a press release, “by the excitement of [New Orleans’] Bourbon Street and the allure of its spellbinding history.”
In addition to its Nawlins theme and emphasis on adult beverages thereof (for those who prefer it, the ever-popular — and ever-pricey — bottle service is offered), VooDoo Lounge boasts an eclectic live-music menu, which property Senior Vice President and General Manager Gregg Klein (who attended the recent grand opening resplendent in a purple-and-black blazer) describe as running the gamut from “jazz and swing to high-energy cover bands.”
The interior boasts dark wood and stone-inspired plank flooring, plush black seating with gold accents and blue-and-gold details. There’s also a geometric-patterned accent wall and a color-splashed mural.
All-in-all, it’s a nice (voo) do-over, and Harrah’s deserves extra credit for bringing back a taste of the Big Easy to the local gambling-den landscape: Our town hasn’t seen such a motif in a casino since Showboat surrendered its gaming license in August 2014.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
