Mentor Williams

Mentor Williams is an American songwriter and producer. He is best known for writing "Drift Away", a middle-of-the-road playlist classic performed by Dobie Gray in 1973. He is the brother of songwriter Paul Williams.

He has received an award from ASCAP for his 30 years of songwriting, and has earned 17 writer awards.

Williams maintained an office at Almo-Irving, in Los Angeles, as staff writer in the late 1960s. He produced for A&M, MCA, RSO and Columbia Records, commuting between Los Angeles, Nashville, and London. He worked at The Record Plant with Paul McCartney and Kenney Jones and at Apple Studios in London with Stealers Wheel and Gerry Rafferty. He produced Kim Carnes, John Stewart, Paul Williams (Mentor's brother), and Dobie Gray, among others. Mentor was a post-production, re-mix engineer for The Muppet Movie, which won a Grammy Award and an Academy Award. He also worked on the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid soundtrack.

Williams built a home overlooking Taos, New Mexico, which he shared with country music singer Lynn Anderson; the two were in a long-term relationship from the 1980s until her death in 2015. He holds numerous songwriting seminars and lectures at the college level, in an attempt to help up-and-coming writers learn the craft of putting words and music together. He finds inspiration for his music in the New Mexico mountains, riding horses, and from his brothers, Paul Williams, Songwriter's Hall of Fame inductee, and the late John Williams, a former NASA engineer who was awarded their highest honour, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, in 1969.

Drift Away

"Drift Away" is a song written by Mentor Williams and originally recorded by John Henry Kurtz on his 1972 album Reunion. In 1973 the song became Dobie Gray's biggest hit, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and certified gold by the RIAA. It was the final pop hit for Decca Records in the United States.

A new version by Uncle Kracker, with Gray, became a major hit in 2003.

Chart performance (Dobie Gray)

Covers

"Drift Away" has been covered by many bands and vocalists around the world. Versions include those of Allan Clarke, Roy Orbison, Ike and Tina Turner, Humble Pie, Mud, Rod Stewart, Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles, Neville Brothers, Michael Bolton, Jim Hollis, Christian Kane, The Rolling Stones, The Nylons, Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen, Judson Spence, and John Kay. Folk singer Tom Rush recorded the song on his album What I Know, released in 2009. There is an unreleased 1974 recording of this song by The Rolling Stones. This version features all of the members of the then-current lineup of the Stones with the exception of Keith Richards and the addition of keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. The Heptones recorded a reggae version which is included on many compilation CDs. Street Corner Symphony also sang a version of this song as their swan song on the season 2 finale of the NBC series, The Sing-Off; that version is arranged by Deke Sharon.Bon Jovi usually played the song live in 1987: a version was recorded as part of a Westwood One radio live series concert. Dolly Parton and Anne Murray performed the song together in 1976 on Parton's variety show Dolly!, though they sang the lyrics of the Felts version ("I want to get lost in your country song").

Dobie Gray

Dobie Gray (born Lawrence Darrow Brown; July 26, 1940 – December 6, 2011) was an American singer and songwriter, whose musical career spanned soul, country, pop, and musical theater. His hit records included "The 'In' Crowd" in 1965 and "Drift Away", which was one of the biggest hits of 1973, sold over one million copies, and remains a staple of radio airplay.

Life and career

He was born near Houston, Texas, by his own account in Simonton although some sources suggest the nearby town of Brookshire. His birth name was most likely Lawrence Darrow Brown, who is listed in Fort Bend County birth records as being born in 1940 to Jane P. Spencel and Jethro Clifton Brown. Other sources suggest he may have been born Leonard Victor Ainsworth, a name he used on some early recordings.

His family sharecropped. He discovered gospel music through his grandfather, a Baptist minister. In the early 1960s he moved to Los Angeles, intending to pursue an acting career while also singing to make money. He recorded for several local labels under the names Leonard Ainsworth, Larry Curtis, and Larry Dennis, before Sonny Bono directed him toward the small independent Stripe Records. They suggested that he record under the name "Dobie Gray", an allusion to the then-popular sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

Williams

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Away

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See also