World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Willie Williams

Artist. Reggae, roots, dancehall

Active
1960s-present
Sunrise
June 15, 1953, St. Ann, Jamaica
Also known as
Armagideon Man, Willi Williams, Soul Sounds

Willie Williams is a roots singer, songwriter and producer known as the "Armagideon Man" for his Studio One hit "Armagideon Time."

He grew up in Trench Town and Greenwich Town, and his friend Bob Andy took him to Studio One, where he voiced his first record, "Calling." He learned it had been released only when Leroy Sibbles of the Heptones told him. In 1974 he moved to Canada, where he did much of his best work independently on his own labels, Soul Sound and later Drum Street, among it Messenger Man (1980).

He also recorded for Yabby You, and was part of Coxsone Dodd's late Studio One revival. When Michigan & Smiley's "Nice Up the Dance" revived the Studio One "Real Rock" riddim in 1979 and 1980, Williams's "Armagideon Time," on the same riddim track, quickly followed and struck a chord with punk rockers in Britain; the Clash covered it in 1979. Bradley, less impressed, counts it among records that could have come out five years earlier. In the 1990s Jah Shaka produced an album with him using the Firehouse Crew, and he was among the veteran roots singers who made comebacks on British labels.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Stephanie Lyew, "Willie Williams Stays True to His Calling," Jamaica Gleaner, May 3, 2020, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20200503/willie-williams-stays-true-his-calling.
  2. Lyew, "Willie Williams Stays True."
  3. Lyew, "Willie Williams Stays True." Howard Campbell, "Willie 'Armagideon Time' Williams Making His Contributions in Spreading Reggae in Canada," reposted by Clinton Lindsay, February 1, 2015, https://clintonlindsay.com/2015/02/01/willie-armagideon-time-williams-making-his-contributions-in-spreading-reggae-in-canada, which dates "Armagideon Time" to 1977 and says Jackie Mittoo arranged it.
  4. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 164; Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 224, 349, 366.
  5. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 261, 262; Lyew, "Willie Williams Stays True."
  6. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 492.
  7. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 409, 422.

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