Who the heck is Susan Williams, anyway???

Susan got her start singing professionally over twenty years ago, when she was approached by her church organist in Urbana, Illinois about auditioning for a variety band that he had.  She became the lead singer for his band, “Celebration,” quickly learning to do everything from old standards from the 1930’s and ‘40’s to country and current pop music. 

She found out very quickly that musicians viewed singers who didn’t play instruments as “second-class citizens.”  So with encouragement from the keyboard player (who was running the bass line with his left hand), Susan bought a bass and began taking bass lessons.  Within three months, she officially became a “first-class citizen,” playing bass at their gigs, as well as singing. 

Over the years, Susan has performed in a number of bands in central and northern Illinois, as well as in upstate New York.  She was known for quite some time as a country singer, playing in country bands and performing as part of the house band at the Country Spirit Opry in Decatur, IL in the late ‘80’s.  The country trend continued throughout most of the ‘90’s in upstate New York, where she became locally known as the new Patsy Cline. 

When she returned to Illinois in 1997, she felt she needed to branch back out to other types of music, missing the variety she had come to enjoy in her first band.  She formed the band, “Susan Williams and the Midnight Rider Band,” and began to add classic rock from the ‘70’s to the repertoire.  The variety was well-received by the fans, and slowly but surely she began to be known as a more diverse singer, drawing from the likes of Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, Grace Slick, Bonnie Raitt, and other great female artists. 

Susan noticed that as she was getting “chronologically more mature” (we never use the term “older”), her voice was deepening and becoming much more raspy.  People began to comment a lot about the “bluesy” quality of her voice.  During this same time period,  she was getting turned onto and drawn into the musical addiction commonly known as “the blues.” 

A move to the Chicago area just deepened her addiction, as she now had the opportunity to go out and listen and play any night of the week! The more she sang the blues, the more she wanted to!  Her repertoire had now grown to include Koko Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn and countless others. 

She has made guest appearances at Buddy Guy’s “Legends”, the House of Blues, B.L.U.E.S. Chicago, and played several gigs at The Hard Rock Café in Chicago.  She previously co-hosted a blues jam at Carter's Place in Lockport with Pauline York every other week for a number of years.  She has also been featured in a number of newspaper articles in central and northern Illinois.

Susan is also currently the lead singer for her band in the central Illinois area, which is known for the diverse nature of its musical repertoire.  On any given night, you could hear her belt out Patsy Cline, followed by Koko Taylor, followed by Janis Joplin!