Kamaal Williams was born on Henry Gilbert Williams,14 December 1989 and is a British musician and record producer.
22 Facts About Kamaal Williams
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Kamaal Williams began his career producing house and broken beat music as Henry Wu, but rose to prominence with drummer Yussef Dayes as Yussef Kamaal, releasing their only album Black Focus.
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Kamaal Williams was born as Henry Gilbert Kamaal Williams on 14 December 1989, in Peckham, South London to a Taiwanese mother and British father who both worked as architects.
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From an early age, Kamaal Williams was involved with a number of creative pursuits.
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Kamaal Williams's father introduced him to jazz with songs by Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
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Alongside an interest in jazz, Kamaal Williams developed a taste for garage and grime music.
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Around this time, Kamaal Williams began gigging regularly around London and, aged 17, started a band with Katy B alongside drummer Joshua McKenzie.
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Kamaal Williams played with the group for two years before leaving to produce his own music.
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In March 2017, shortly before the band's scheduled performance at the SXSW music festival, Yussef Kamaal Williams were refused entry to the United States after Dayes' visa was revoked in accordance with an executive immigration order implemented by the Trump administration.
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In 2018, Kamaal Williams released his debut solo album The Return under his newly established Black Focus Records label, charting in the UK at number 63.
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In 2020, Kamaal Williams released his second album Wu Hen under his Black Focus label.
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From 2011 onward, Kamaal Williams released house and broken beat music under the name Henry Wu.
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In 2015, Kamaal Williams collaborated with fellow London based producer, K15, to produce an EP entitled WU15.
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From 2017 to 2020, Kamaal Williams hosted a monthly radio show on NTS Radio as Henry Wu, playing a selection of music from his influences and associated acts in the London scene.
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Kamaal Williams released an anthology of his Henry Wu material titled Shades of Wu on 27 November 2020.
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Kamaal Williams released an EP titled Phone Call on July 14,2022.
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Kamaal Williams was initially influenced in producing hip-hop in the style of 90s boom bap.
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On his album The Return, Kamaal Williams has used a Nord Electro keyboard, a Roland Juno 106 and a Wurlitzer piano.
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Williams adopted the name Kamaal upon converting to Islam in 2011, and combined it with his father's surname.
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Henry Wu is my ethnic background, and Kamaal Williams is my spiritual background.
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Kamaal Williams has claimed in an interview that he has Asperger syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder classed as an autism spectrum disorder.
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Kamaal Williams has been accused of aggressive behaviour towards fellow musicians, in Twitter threads posted by multiple music industry professionals.