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Biography
For|other persons named Wendy Williams|Wendy Williams (disambiguation)Infobox musical artist| name = Wendy O. Williams| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Wendy Orlean Williams| birth_date = Birth date|1949|5|28|mf=y|birth_place = Webster, New York | origin = Webster, New York , United States|USA | death_date = death date and age|1998|4|6|1949|5|28|mf=y|death_place = Storrs, Connecticut | genre = Punk rock , heavy metal music|heavy metal | occupation = Singer| associated_acts = Plasmatics | image = Wendy O. Williams.jpg| years_active = 1978–1988| First_album =| Latest_album =| Notable_albums =| Notable_songs =| label = Wendy Orlean Williams (May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998), better known as Wendy O. Williams , was the lead singer for the American punk rock|punk band the Plasmatics , as well as a solo artist. Her stage theatrics included blowing up equipment, near nudity and chainsaw|chain-sawing guitar s.
Dubbed "The Queen of Shock Rock," Williams was widely considered the most controversial and radical female singer of her day. http://www.modernatomic.com/plasmatics/wendysdead.html Wendy O. Williams' Death. Modernatomic.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-30. She often sported a Mohawk hairstyle|Mohawk haircut . Williams was nominated in 1985 for a Grammy in the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance|Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category during the height of her popularity as a solo artist.
Biography
Refimprove section|date=April 2011
Early life
Williams was born in Webster, New York . Early on, she was destined to be in the music industry, as she studied clarinet at the Eastman School of Music. She even appeared on the "Howdy Doody Show" as a member of the "Peanut Gallery". She attended R.L. Thomas (public) High School in Webster at least partway through the tenth grade, but apparently left school before graduating. At the age of 16, she hitchhiked her way to Colorado where she earned money selling crocheted string bikinis.cite book|last=Petrucelli|first=Alan W.|title=Morbid Curiosity : The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous|year=2009|publisher=Penguin Group|location=New York|isbn=978-0-399-53527-7|url= http://books.google.com/books? id=r7csXXH7S9UC& lpg=PT137& dq=crocheted%20string%20bikini%20wendy%20williams& pg=PT137#v=onepage& q& f=false|edition=1st ed.cite book|first=edited by Liz Thomson|title=New Women in Rock|year=1982|publisher=Omnibus|location=London|isbn=978-0-7119-0055-4 She headed for Florida and then to Europe , where she worked as a macrobiotic cook in London and then as a dancer with a gypsy dance troupe.cite book|title=Plasmatics: Your Heart In Your Mouth& #33; (The First Four years)|last=Star|first=Butch|coauthors=Edouard Dauphin, Kruger|year=1982|publisher=Raging Rhino Entertainment|location=United States of America|page= 8 In 1976 she arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City where she saw an ad in Show Business Magazine that lay open on the bus station floor. It was a casting call for radical anti-artist and Yale MFA graduate Rod Swenson 's experimental "Captain Kink's Theatre". She replied to the ad and there was immediate chemistry between Swenson, known as Captain Kink, and Williams, which began a 22-year relationship that would see her launched as lead singer of the punk/metal rock group the Plasmatics some two years later.
With the Plasmatics
In January 1981, Milwaukee, Wisconsin|Milwaukee police arrested her for simulating sex on stage. Also charged with battery to an officer and obscene conduct, she was later cleared. Later that same year in Cleveland, Ohio , Williams was acquitted of an obscenity charge for simulating sex on stage wearing only shaving cream (she subsequently covered her nipples with electrical tape to avoid arrest). http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/plasmatics-wendy-o-williams-and-the-plasmatics-the-dvd-ten-years-of-revolut/ Plasmatics: Wendy O. Williams and The Plasmatics: The DVD - Ten Years of Revolutionary Rock and Roll < PopMatters. Popmatters.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-30. Then, in November, an Illinois judge sentenced her to one year supervision and fined her $35 for roughing up a freelance photographer who had attempted to take her picture as she jogged along the Chicago lakefront.
Meanwhile, the Plasmatics toured the world, having a concert in London cancelled on safety grounds, where the press dubbed them " Anarchism|anarchists ." During shooting of an appearance on NBC's Second City Television|SCTV comedy program in 1981, studio heads said they would not air Williams unless she changed out of a stage costume that revealed her nipples. Williams refused. The show's make-up artists found a compromise and painted her breasts black.
Solo career
In 1979 she appeared in Gail Palmer 's XXX-rated adult production, Candy Goes to Hollywood playing herself (though she is credited as Wendy Williams). She is featured as a performer on a parody of The Gong Show where she shoots ping pong balls across the set from her vagina. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123627/combined
Wendy recorded a duet of the country hit " Stand by Your Man " with Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead in 1982.
In 1984, she released the W.O.W. album, produced by Gene Simmons of Kiss (band)|Kiss . Kiss members Paul Stanley , Ace Frehley , Eric Carr , and Vinnie Vincent also perform on the album.
In 1985 Wendy starred in The Rocky Horror Show at the Westport Playhouse in St. Louis. The show played for over six months, but a nationwide tour fell through.
In 1986, she starred in Tom DeSimone 's indie-film Reform School Girls . Neither she nor manager Rod Swenson liked the film when it came out, but at this point the producers had heard Kommander of Kaos (her second solo album) and wanted to include 3 tracks from the album in the movie score. They approached Rod about producing the title track for the film and having Wendy sing it. The band reluctantly agreed to do it. Uncle Brian from the Broc joined Rod as co-producer and also played sax. He also appeared in the video that the film company had asked Rod to produce and direct, playing the sax and wearing a tutu.
In 1987, she starred as the part-time friend/enemy in the underground spy world to the title character on Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox 's The New Adventures of Beans Baxter . The Plasmatics' last tour was in late 1988. Williams appeared in Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog , directed by Paul S. Parco, in 1990.
In 1988, Wendy put out another solo album, this time a "thrash rap" album called Deffest& #33; and Baddest! under the name "Ultrafly and the Hometown Girls."
Wendy's last known performance of a Plasmatics song occurred due to the prompting of Joey Ramone . She performed "Masterplan" one final time with Richie Stotts , when Richie's band opened for the Ramones on New Year's Eve, 1988. http://www.glam-metal.com/richie_stotts.html glam-metal.com. glam-metal.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20080624223155/ http://www.glam-metal.com/richie_stotts.html Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Web.archive.org (2008-06-24). Retrieved on 2012-04-30.
Retirement
In 1991, Williams moved to Storrs, Connecticut , where she lived with her long-time companion and former manager, Rod Swenson, and worked as an animal rehabilitator and at a health food store in Manchester, Connecticut|Manchester .Citation needed|date=August 2011 She explained this move by saying that she "was pretty fed up dealing with people."cite news | url= http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/articles/wendyo.html | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/19981205120612/ http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/articles/wendyo.html | archivedate=1998-12-05 | title=Wendy O., We Hardly Knew You | first=Jayne | last=Keedle | accessdate=2008-12-20
Despite her reputation as a fearsome performer, Williams in her personal life was deeply devoted to the animal welfare|welfare of animals , a passion that included a vegetarian diet, working as a wildlife rehabilitator and being a natural foods activist. In one TV talk show appearance on KPIX 's The Morning Show , she accused Debbi Fields (of "Mrs. Fields" cookies) of being "no better than a heroin pusher" for using so much processed white sugar in her products. wikisource|Wendy O. Williams suicide note
Death
Williams had first attempted suicide in 1993 by hammering a knife into her chest; the knife lodged in her sternum and she changed her mind, calling Swenson to take her to hospital.Williams, Joy (1998) " http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=-5EbyHNqgkwC& pg=PA136& dq=plasmatics& hl=en& ei=oc-xS4bJPOWX4gaQicmmAg& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=5& ved=0CEYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage& q=plasmatics& f=false The Love Song of Wendy O. Williams", Spin (magazine)|SPIN , September 1998, p. 134–138, retrieved 2010-03-30 She attempted suicide again in 1997 with an overdose of ephedrine .
Williams died at age 48 on April 6, 1998 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area near her home. While some argued that rather than compromise her art, she committed suicide , Swenson reportedly described her as "despondent" at the time of her death. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-6381324.html This is what she is said to have written http://home.bway.net/skid/obituaries.html http://www.bway.net/~skid/obituaries.html. Home.bway.net. Retrieved on 2012-04-30. in a suicide note regarding her decision:
cquote|I don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society should have. For me, much of the world makes no sense, but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a place where there is no self, only calm. Gene Simmons , Joey Ramone , and many others issued statements on her achievement at the time of her death. On Motörhead 's 1999 live album Everything Louder Than Everyone Else , before the song " No Class ", Motörhead vocalist Lemmy said that he wanted to dedicate this song officially to her. http://www.roughedge.com/features/lemmy.htm Lemmy Describes Everything Louder. Roughedge.com (2002-08-27). Retrieved on 2012-04-30.
A memorial was held at CBGB on May 18. http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/250105/19980519/williams_wendy_1_.jhtml Wendy O. Williams : Memorial For Plasmatics' Wendy O. Williams Held At CBGB's - Rhapsody Music Downloads. VH1.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-30. Several of Wendy's former Plasmatics co-members ( Chosei Funahara , Richie Stotts , Wes Beech, Stu Deutsch, Jean Beauvoir and possibly TC Tolliver) played a six-song set with four of them handling the vocals. http://home.bway.net/skid/epulse.html http://www.bway.net/~skid/epulse.html. Home.bway.net. Retrieved on 2012-04-30.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100431/ Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog as "Butch" (1990)
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (A Nightmare on Beans' Street) as "Machine Gun Woman" (1987)
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (Beans' First Adventure: Part 1) as "Conju" (1987)
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (Beans' First Adventure: Part 2) as "Conju" (1987)
Reform School Girls as "Charlie Chambliss" (1986)
Second City Television|SCTV (I'm Taking My Own Head...) as herself (1981)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078727/ 800 Fantasy Lane (uncredited) "Girl playing tennis" (1979)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123627/ Candy Goes to Hollywood as herself (1979)
Soundtrack
Legend of Billie Jean performing http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089470/soundtrack "It's My Life" (1985)
Self
VH-1 Where Are They Now? (Girls, Girls, Girls) (2002)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123627/ Candy Goes to Hollywood (1979)
Archival footage
Video on Trial (TV episode 2.8) (2006)
100 Most Metal Moments (2004)
http://www.amazon.com/Bump-N-Grind-Wendy-Williams/dp/B000EBP014/ Wendy O. Williams Live (Embassy Video, VHS 1985; Cherry Red, DVD 2006)
References
Reflist
External links
IMDb name|0931926
http://wendyowilliams.hyves.nl/ Hyves fan site
Find a Grave|6723819
cite news | url= http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/plasmatics-wendy-o-williams-commits-suicide-19980409 | accessdate=2011-08-03 | date=9 April 1998 | publisher= Rolling Stone | title=Plasmatics' Wendy O. Williams Commits Suicide
punk Persondata |NAME= Williams, Wendy O. |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Williams, Wendy Orlean |SHORT DESCRIPTION= Singer |DATE OF BIRTH= May 28, 1949 |PLACE OF BIRTH= Webster, New York , United States of America|USA |DATE OF DEATH= April 6, 1998 |PLACE OF DEATH= Storrs, Connecticut DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Wendy O Category:1949 births Category:1998 deaths Category:American female singers Category:American punk rock singers Category:American vegetarians Category:Female punk rock singers Category:Female heavy metal singers Category:Feminist musicians Category:Musicians who committed suicide Category:Suicides by firearm in Connecticut Category:The Plasmatics members
de:Wendy O. Williams es:Wendy O. Williams fr:Wendy Orlean Williams it:Wendy O. Williams no:Wendy O. Williams pt:Wendy O. Williams ru:???????, ????? ?. fi:Wendy O. Williams sv:Wendy O. Williams
