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Cliff Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cliff Williams | |
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| Born | December 14, 1949 (age 57) Romford, England |
| Genre(s) | Hard Rock |
| Affiliation(s) | AC/DC |
| Label(s) | EMI |
| Years active | 1977 - Present |
| Official site | www.acdcrocks.com |
Cliff Williams (Born on December 14, 1949 in Romford, England) is the bassist for the Australian hard rock band, AC/DC. He moved with his family to Liverpool when he was nine, where he spent the first two working years of his life as an engineer before joining his first band, Home.
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In 1970, Cliff Williams began with his first band, Home, with singer Mick Stubbs, guitarist Laurie Wisefield, keyboardist Clive John and drummer Mick Cook. By 1970 the group's progressive brand rock music earned them a deal with Epic Records and a debut LP was released the following year under the title Pause For A Hoarse Horse. In November 1971 Home supported Led Zeppelin at the Wembley Empire Pool on the second of Led Zeppelin's Electric Magic concerts which featured circus acts as well as rock bands.
In 1972, Jim Anderson replaced Clive John on keyboards and Home released a self-titled album, going on to have their one and only hit with Dreamer in November 1972, which peaked at #41 in the UK album charts. Their next album, The Alchemist followed in 1973, but did not gain much success. However, when British folk singer-songwriter Al Stewart suggested Home back him on his first American tour in March 1974, Mick Stubbs left the group. The others became the 'Al Stewart Band'. The Al Stewart band did not last long, and Cliff Williams was next to leave the group, forming 'Bandit' in 1974.
Bandit quickly got a deal with Arista Records and released a self-titled album in 1977. Joining Cliff in this line-up was vocalist Jim Diamond (who went on to success as a solo artist) and drummer Graham Broad (who was later to join Buck's Fizz).
However, Bandit never gained much success, therefore Cliff had no hesitation when he was asked to join AC/DC in 1977. At that time, AC/DC was in need of a bassist after the departure of Mark Evans during the Let There Be Rock tour. Cliff joined the band and helped record AC/DC's fifth album, Powerage, the following year.
Cliff's current choice of instrument is a 4-string Music Man Stingray bass guitar, though he has used other basses during his career, including a series of Fender P-basses, a Fender Jazz bass, a Gibson Thunderbird and a Steinberger, the latter of which he used on the band's 1983 Flick Of The Switch tour. He used a Gibson Ebony SG Reissue Bass in the Fly On The Wall videos.