Shaun Williams (DJ)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Shaun Williams is a DJ and jazz dancer from Birmingham, United Kingdom. He helped shape the UK's jazz fusion and electro music scenes. He gained fame with the electro track Warrior Groove, released with DSM. Mark "Snowboy" Cotgrove described him as an A-rated dancer and a people's champion, and one of the early jazz dance pioneers.

The late 1970s brought a surge in jazz-funk and jazz fusion across the UK, with all-day events drawing thousands to venues like Birmingham's Hummingbird, Locarno (later the Powerhouse), and Rock City in Nottingham. Williams started in a Birmingham group of jazz dancers but soon moved to the turntables. He became known as an innovative, experimental DJ who refused to be stuck in one style.

He was a staple on the Midlands scene from 1979 to 1985, representing Birmingham alongside other top DJs. Monday nights in Birmingham became a welcoming space for youngsters from all backgrounds to dance and express themselves. The nights grew into some of the country’s most cutting-edge jazz fusion events, attracting dancers from across the UK to watch Williams and to challenge the Midlands’ best.

After his all-dayer popularity, Williams and fellow Birmingham DJ Dave Till started a long-running jazz fusion night at Rum Runner. Till left a couple of years later, but Williams kept the residency until Rum Runner closed in 1983. The venue is known for Duran Duran rehearsing upstairs, while Williams played jazz fusion, funk and soul to a predominantly black audience on Monday nights.

As electro gained momentum in the early to mid-1980s, Williams built a reputation as a scratcher. He appeared on the all-dayer circuit and on Sunday nights at Faces International in Birmingham. He teamed up with Danny Poku (later D Mob) to co-write and scratch on DSM’s Warrior Groove, released on Elite Records in 1985 and re-released the same year on 10 Records, Virgin’s subsidiary. It was later included on the Attica Blues Present Drum Major Instinct compilation on X:treme Records in 2001.