Researching Paul Williams

Williams is also known for writing the score and lyrics for Bugsy Malone (1976) and his musical contributions to other films, including the Oscar-nominated song "Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie, and writing the lyrics to the #1 chart-topping song "Evergreen", the love theme from the Barbra Streisand film A Star Is Born, for which he won a Grammy for Song of the Year and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He wrote the lyrics to the opening theme for the television show The Love Boat, with music previously composed by Charles Fox, which was originally sung by Jack Jones and, later, by Dionne Warwick.

Williams had a variety of high-profile acting roles, such as "Little Enos Burdette" in the action-comedy Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and the villainous Swan in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974), which Williams also co-scored, receiving an Oscar nomination in the process. Since 2009, Williams has been the president and chairman of the American songwriting society ASCAP.

His TV credits include Dirty Money and the self-regarding title Paul Williams Investigates—The Battle for the Gas Fields.

In 2011 he joined the Irish Sun, where he is employed as "Investigations Editor", after the closure of the Irish News of the World.

He previously worked for the Sunday World tabloid newspaper; he moved to the Irish News of the World in 2010 before it was caught up in the News International phone hacking scandal and shut down.

Williams' love of ska and 2 Tone started in 1980, when he sneaked out of his parents' home in York, and travelled to nearby Bridlington, where he saw The Specials perform live when he was 13 years old. This event had a long-lasting and profound effect on him. Throughout the late 1980s, Williams was a regular event creator. In the 1990s, he created, wrote and distributed his own quarterly ska and 2 Tone fanzine 'Street Feeling' (1994-1998) . In 1995, Williams wrote You're Wondering Now - A History of The Specials (ST Publishing). It received a few reviews in the media, including three stars from Q magazine, and was used to compile the band history section on the official Specials website. The book is now a collectors' item. He has contributed to many television programmes in the UK, and appeared as contributor on Sky TVs Trailblazers of 2Tone programme, which was narrated by Noddy Holder. He is working on a Specials docudrama for TV with Sugar Films as creative consultant.

Williams is also often consulted by media outlets including TV companies, such as VH1 (satellite) and Channel 4 (UK terrestrial TV). He has been featured on BBC Radio 4's celebration of 2-Tone music, "Fashion Music", and was interviewed by BBC Radio Coventry, for which he contributed rare Specials tracks to the programme. His work can now be seen online, as the co-administrator for the Specials fansite and as the administrator for Roddy "Radiation" Byers' My Space profile. He designed and maintained the Ska Splash website, which was a ska festival that took place in Skegness in 2008. Williams has also promoted a handful of ska nights in his hometown of York at The Junction pub, under the banner of "YorkSka Promotions".

In 2013, he became lead vocalist with a North East ska band called The Skapones. The band went from strength to strength and, as of 2020, have released eight singles and a debut album, Cradle To Grave, with a follow up "Northern Gods" underway. The band have toured the UK, Ireland, Europe and the US in 2019, which was made into a two hour documentary.