John Williams Information Continued
John Williams was born in Melbourne, Australia to an English father and an
Australian-Chinese mother. He was initially taught to play the guitar by his father. At the age
of twelve he went to Italy to study under "The Maestro", Andres Segovia. Later, he attended
the Royal College of Music in London, studying piano because the school did not have a
guitar department at the time. Upon graduation, he was offered the opportunity to create
such a department. Being such a lover of the instrument, he seized the opportunity and ran it
for the first two years. John Williams has maintained links with the College (and with
the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester) ever since.
At the invitation of producer Martin Lewis, John Williams created a highly
acclaimed classical-rock fusion duet with celebrated rock guitarist Pete Townshend of
Townshend's anthemic "Won't Get Fooled Again" for the 1979 Amnesty International benefit
show The Secret Policeman's Ball. The duet was featured on the resulting album and the
film version of the show - bringing John Williams to the broader attention of the rock
audience. The relationship with Lewis led to John Williams' classical-rock fusion
band Sky being invited to give the first-ever rock concert to be held at Westminster Abbey -
a benefit concert for Amnesty that Lewis produced in February 1981.
