Maurice Williams, the singer-songwriter best known for his seminal 1960 doo-wop hit “Stay,” died on August 6. He was 86 years old.
Williams’ death was announced by the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2010, and former Zodiacs member Ron Henderson said The New York Times the musician died in the hospital.
Williams’ signature hit, which lasted just 1 minute and 32 seconds, was the shortest No. 1 song to top Billboard charts, and has been covered numerous times by artists such as The Hollies, The Four Seasons, Jackson Browne and Cyndi Lauper. The song is also famous for its appearance in the hit 1987 film Dirty dancing.
Williams told in 2015 Charlotte Observer that the song was inspired by a girl he dated when he was a teenager growing up in Lancaster, SC
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“That young lady I was going out with was at my place that night and her brother was supposed to pick her up at 10 o’clock that night,” he recalled. “He came and I said, ‘Well, you could stay a little longer.’ And she said, ‘No, I have to go.’ I said, ‘Your dad doesn’t mind, your mom doesn’t mind.’ And she said, ‘No, I have to go.’ So they left. And the next morning I got up and wrote the song ‘Stay’.”
Williams said he invited the late Henry Gaston to sing the falsetto parts of the song, and the song ultimately became a chart-topping hit.
“Just to be ranked … It didn’t have to be No. 1. But when they got to the top 10, oh man, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s it,'” Williams said. “And then it went to No. 1…I said, ‘OK, that’s cool.’ We were superstars.”
The star first started singing at the age of 6 in his local church, and formed his first group, The Royal Charms, when he was in high school. Although the group achieved local success, Williams headed to Nashville in search of a record deal and managed to win over executives with the song “Little Darlin’,” which he first recorded in 1957 with the Gladiolas.
Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs pose for a group studio portrait in 1960.
Gilles Petard/Redferns
Two years later, the group changed their name to Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, and went on to have additional hits such as “May I.”
Williams is survived by his wife, Emily, with whom he lived in Charlotte, NC
Emily told QCity Metro that she and Williams met through a mutual friend when they were teenagers – and that at first she “wasn’t that impressed with the music and stuff.”
“I guess he liked the way I carried myself and the way I thought,” she told the magazine. “I didn’t run after him because he was a musician.”
The media reported that Williams had worked in ministry for many years and still sang in the choir at a local church.
“What will I miss about him? Oh, everything,” Emily said.
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Source: HIS Education