Dave Williams (musician)

Biography

He grew up in Princeton, Texas living with his parents Charles Edward and Jo-Ann Williams.

In 1999, he joined Drowning Pool, who had formed in 1996 and had previously performed as an instrumental three-piece. The band released their debut album with Williams, Sinner, in 2001. Williams soon gained recognition for his performances with the band; his nickname "Stage" came from Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, who gave it to him because of his known stage personality.

However, on August 14, 2002, Williams was found dead in Drowning Pool's tour bus in Manassas, Virginia. An autopsy established that he had died from heart failure caused by cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease), which went undiagnosed until his death.

A public funeral was held in Plano, Texas, on August 18, 2002 at 10:00 am. A DVD titled Sinema which chronicles his life, has since been released. His lifelong dream was to buy his parents a house; the sales from Sinema fulfilled his dream posthumously.

Williams's microphone was given to Cristian Machado from Ill Nino. The band Memento dedicated their set to Williams on the Ozzfest 2003 stage.

Williams was ranked in the Top 100 metal vocalists of all time by Hit Parader at #82.

The Dallas, Texas music community honored Williams and his legacy with a multi-venue music festival named "Stage Fest." Stage Fest was held in downtown Dallas' Deep Ellum district on August 14, 2007, the fifth anniversary of his death, and played in seven Deep Ellum venues including Club Dada, The Curtain Club, The Lizard Lounge, The Darkside Lounge, Red Blood Club, Reno's Chop Shop, and Tomcat's.

On August 14, 2012, the 10th anniversary of his death, Drowning Pool released a ballad titled "In Memory Of..." dedicated to him.

Re-released 13th anniversary of Sinner album contains never before released footage of Dave Williams and his bandmates speaking about meaning of the songs on Sinner album and more.

The footage of Dave Williams while he was in Fugly (one of his previous bands) surfaced on the internet. It was the band Dave Williams mentioned in 13th anniversary Sinner release, while naming all the bands he was in before Drowning Pool.