The Wrldfms Tony Williams
Antony Von Williams, known professionally as the WRLDFMS Tony Williams, is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Williams is the first-cousin of American rapper Kanye West and has contributed vocals or songwriting to most of his albums, beginning with The College Dropout (2004).[2][3][4]
The WRLDFMS Tony Williams
Antony Von Williams[1]
- Penafire
- the World Famous Tony Williams
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
- Singer
- songwriter
- record producer
2003–present
- GOOD
- The High Society
- Uncle Pete's Parade
David Bullock (2020–present)
Early life[edit]
Williams grew up an only child in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Both his mother and father had musical backgrounds, and Williams was given his first instrument, a saxophone, at the age of eight. He grew up singing in youth choirs at church and played in the marching band through his tenth grade year of high school. Williams love for music continued throughout his early adulthood as he went on to form several bands that ranged in style from funk, rock, alternative, and Christian alternative, and took on the role as lead vocalist.
Musical career[edit]
Songwriter[edit]
Williams' name appears on Kanye West's albums as Tony "Penafire" Williams which is the pseudonym he uses when crediting himself as a writer. He was a co-writer of two songs on The College Dropout, the Grammy Award winning 2004 album, following which Williams was invited to write for all of West's subsequent albums.
On the 2005 MTV documentary, Composing History The Making of Late Registration, he was featured producing vocals for Brandy on the song "Bring Me Down", which he co-wrote. During that documentary, West described Williams as being "a great writer with a cutting edge voice."