Mentor Ralph Williams was an American songwriter and producer.
13 Facts About Mentor Williams
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Mentor Williams is best known for writing "Drift Away", a popular song first performed by Mike Berry in 1972 and popularized by Dobie Gray the following year, and has since been covered by multiple artists.
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Mentor Williams co-wrote the chart-topping song "When We Make Love", recorded by the American country music band Alabama in 1984.
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Mentor Williams was the brother of songwriter and actor Paul Williams.
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Mentor Williams's father died in a car accident in 1953, when Williams was 7 years old, after which the Williams family moved to Long Beach, California, to live with an aunt.
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Mentor Williams pursued a songwriting career in which he received an ASCAP award for his 30 years of songwriting, and won 17 other writing awards.
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Mentor Williams maintained an office at Almo-Irving, in Los Angeles, as staff writer in the late 1960s.
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Mentor Williams worked at The Record Plant with Paul McCartney and Kenney Jones and at Apple Studios in London with Stealers Wheel and Gerry Rafferty.
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Mentor Williams produced albums for his brother, as well as for Kim Carnes, John Stewart, and Dobie Gray for who he wrote the standard "Drift Away", among others.
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Mentor Williams produced five songs by the Textones, one of which appeared on their album Through the Canyon.
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Mentor Williams built a home overlooking Taos, New Mexico, which he shared with country music singer Lynn Anderson; the two were in a romantic relationship from the 1980s until her death in 2015.
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Mentor Williams held 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.
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Mentor Williams died in 2016 of lung cancer, at age 70, at his home in Taos.