Andre Williams started his music career 50 years ago and has wrote songs for/managed/produced/recorded for names like: Ike & Tina Turner, The Contours, Stevie Wonder, Edwin Starr, Parliament, Funkadelic... In more recent times (last decade) Andre has been responsible for four great albums: Silky, Red Dirt (with The Sadies as backing band), The Black Godfather (with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and others), and the soulful Aphrodisiac (with The Diplomats of Sold Sound). The last six months have not gone too well for 71 year old soul legend Andre Williams. After settling into a senior housing building in Joliet, IL, he was quickly evicted after an arrest for drug possession. Andre then moved into a Motel 6 nearby and was preparing for a 2 week tour of France. He’d been feeling tired and worn out and was missing his bottom teeth. This made eating very difficult, so he was subsisting on Bacardi, cigarettes and soup. The promoters in France had insisted that Andre provide a letter from his doctor to prove he was fit to do a grueling 2 week winter tour of France. Andre went to his doctor and during the exam, he collapsed on the floor and was quickly rushed to the hospital. He had a seizure and his body was basically shutting down due to the diagnosis of pneumonia, alcohol poisoning and heart problems. Andre then spent the next six weeks in the hospital, some of that time on life support after his heart stopped briefly. Somehow- Andre pulled through. He went through a brief rehab program, got his prescriptions filled and gathered his strength. He found an apartment on Chicago's South Side and felt ready to get back to work. A true survivor, Andre returned to the stage May 4 at Beat Kitchen in Chicago to perform for the first time in months backed by The Diplomats of Solid Sound. This same group backed Andre on his latest release "Aphrodisiac" (available on Munster´s Vampisoul label). Andre has also recorded two new songs, with Chicago´s Goldstars as backing band, which will be available worldwide on a Munster Records 7" vinyl single. And, he will be back on tour again, starting with a West Coast tour in June (SEATTLE, PORTLAND, SAN FRANCISCO, JAMESTOWN, LOS ANGELES, & LONG BEACH).