Ken Williams

Ken Williams, the prolific songwriter who rose from participating in his U.S. Air Force singing group in the ’60s to co-writing The Main Ingredient’s timeless 1972 R&B smash “Everybody Plays the Fool,” died June 17 in Manhasset, N.Y. He was 83. “It has been going since ’72 and it’s still going. That’s one of the classics,” he said of “Everybody Plays the Fool,” which he co-wrote with Rudy Clark and J.R. Bailey, in a 2018 interview. “It’s mind-boggling. Every time you sit back and hear it, you say, ‘Wow.’” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Before writing hundreds of songs for Peaches & Herb, Donny Hathaway, the Four Tops and many others, Williams was in an Air Force group, the Chuck-A-Lucks, stationed in Great Falls, Mt. They were su...