Rick Williams, who died peacefully on July 11 at his Lookout Mountain, Ga., home after a brief illness, was one of Chattanooga's most popular singers with bands such as Overland, Cowjazz and The Sherman Williams Band.

Williams was born in 1949 in Ft. Campbell, Ky. His parents, Lorene Browder Williams Tatum and James Lincoln Williams, moved the family, including siblings Shirley and Harry, to Tampa, FL, when he was a child.

He grew up across the street from his grandmother Emma Morgan Browder and a host of aunts and uncles. Music was a big part of the Williams family, with Lorene accompanying her children singing Gospel hymns at church events, revivals and concerts. It was at one of these events he met a young Elvis Presley.

Encouraged by his mother, Williams pursued music at Jackson Heights Elementary and Franklin Jr. High School where he learned to play the timpani.

Many years later, he would state that playing Beethoven's “Ode to Joy” as a young guest percussionist with the Tampa Philharmonic at Panorama, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, was one of the greatest thrills of his musical career.

Following his mother's marriage to Floyd Tatum in 1963, the family moved to Buford, GA. Rick attended Buford High School where his natural baseball and basketball talents were honed. He graduated from Buford in 1967.

He attended Lee College (now University) in Cleveland, TN, and was part of the Vikings team that won the inaugural National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) men's basketball national championship in 1968. Lee friends refer to him as "Lime" Ricky to this day.

Rick left Lee to pursue a career in music as a touring musician. On Halloween, 1975, he, Randy Clark and Keith Sherman rehearsed for the first time, and formed Overland Express.

The group became one of Chattanooga's most successful and enduring bands. Locally, Overland drew packed houses at Yesterday's and later the Brass Register in the '70s and '80s and later with reunion shows, as well.

Like so many others, Clark says he was immediately drawn to Williams' voice and his harmonies with Sherman.

“They just knocked me out,” Clark said.

Clark said Overland Express and later simply Overland was a mixture of voices and talents.

“The whole was greater than the sum of its parts, or whatever that expression is. They were good enough to hide my inadequacies.”

During their career, the band was a fan favorite around the country, making regular visits to places like Milwaukee and the annual Summerfest festival there. They shared stages with such acts as The Allman Brothers, opening five shows for them, as well as Carl Perkins, Wet Willie, Jerry Reed, Emmy Lou Harris, Frigid Pink, The Guess Who, Steppenwolf, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Asleep At The Wheel, Henry Paul Band, Grand Funk, Alabama, Pure Prairie League, Doug Kershaw, Little Feat, and Charlie Daniels twice.

Former bandmates remember Williams for his vocal range, quick wit and easy-going style.

Drummer David Pierce was a fan and, when Williams called to ask if he wanted to join an electrified new version of the group, Pierce jumped at the chance.

“That was all I ever wanted to do, and I got to do that with them for two and a half years,” he said.

“I couldn't get to Hixson fast enough.”

The group at the time consisted of Williams, Pierce, Sherman and Clark.

Pierce said the group traveled the country and “we had a ball and never had a cross word. Ricky and I were the only Southerners, but we never fought or nothing.”

He said Williams had an amazing capacity for remembering the names of the many people they would see upon return visits to towns they visited on the road. However, they were most popular in their home town.

“We had Chattanooga sewed up,” he said.

Yesterdays co-owner Tim Hennen said he and his brothers, Jimmy, Johnny, Mike and Denny, and sister, Mary, all held Williams in high standing.

“We all love Rick.”

Joe “Dixie” Fuller and Williams became roommates in 1977 or '78. He said Williams was “always just Rick. I love him.”

He said whenever they were together, there was laughter and that Williams always had something good to talk about. Even when the two caught COVID.

“We both bucked it for a long time because neither of us would leave the house. He wouldn't come off the mountain. We got the vaccine and everything.”

Eventually, Williams needed new tires for his truck and asked Fuller to pick him up. They went to a local restaurant and sat outside. Both tested positive a few days later. It simply became another Rick story.

“He has always been just Rick, that guy that I just love.”

Tommy Lifsey replaced Pierce on drums and also has fond memories of the road and the many shows they played.

“I remember we were playing Yesterdays and Rick was singing 'Desperado' with his eyes closed and a roach crawled up on his microphone waving his antennae at him,” he said.

Another night, Lifsey was sporting an eye patch because of a scratched eye. During a break the rest of the band fashioned their own eye patches out of napkins and tape.

“Yesterdays had that long skinny stage and I was in the corner. I looked over and... It was hilarious.”

Michael Welch first heard the trio performing in the basement of the Read House in the mid-'70s.

“I thought I was listening to Crosby, Stills and Nash and I wanted to be a part of that. That's what I was into.”

He said Williams came from a gospel background, but he could sing jazz, R&B, rock and and anything else thrown his way.

Welch became the group's sound man and eventually joined as a third guitarist and vocalist in 1977.

Overland was a Southern Rock band that mixed in the right amount of California country and European blues a la Van Morrison. Williams was the bridge that could make it all work.

Welch remembered that at one point Fuller convinced the band to break with type and do a version of the then-popular Devo song “Whip It” as a surprise for its audience.

“We were a Southern band so everyone expected 'Whipping Post' (by the Allman Brothers). We bought these green flower pots and marched out single file real robotic like and did 'Whip It.' We did it here and in Milwaukee and both places went nuts when it was over.”

Overland released two albums of original songs, “Taking You There” and "Prisoner of the Streets.”

Bob Courter replaced Lifsey and remembers that Williams had bought a big cowboy hat and it kept getting crushed in the van so he bought a rack that allowed him to store it on the ceiling.

“Whoever was sitting behind the hat couldn’t see out of the van,” he said.

Bob's brother Mike Courter joined in the '80s on bass, which allowed Williams to focus on singing.

“Rick was the popular one. Easy going and somehow hilarious.

“He could sing those high notes cuz he was up there where they live.”

Tracy Sesler Moyers was the only female in the group and she said Williams immediately became not only a big brother to her, but a beautiful singing partner.

“When I joined, I was somewhat lost,” she said.

“I was so green, but from the beginning Rick took me under his wing. To the very end he called me 'Lil Sis' or just 'Sis.'

“A lot of that had to do with the music because our harmonies fit together so well.”

Her first song with the band, however, was a solo of “The Rose,” in front a huge crowd in Milwaukee.

“They told me I was going to sing the first song and I was singing solo.”

She said the band provided her with some amazing opportunities and is a huge part of the person she is today.

“I don't know how to describe how lucky and happy I was to have that experience.”

“I loved Rick as a brother and always will.”

Kim Forester, one fourth of the popular country vocal group The Forester Sisters, met Williams first as a fan of Overland and remembers going to the Brass Register as an 18-year-old to hear them perform.

“Then I became a friend and later he became like a brother to me.

“Getting to sing with him and Keith was so special. It was like singing with my sisters where we just had this unpsoken thing.”

She said she always marveled at Williams was always “just so approachable to everyone. He was always so polite to everyone. And, of course, he couldn't hide because he was so tall, so it always amazed me how nice he always was.”

Tony Allen worked with Williams at Raines Brothers, where Williams the carpenter was a project manager. Before that, Allen was a big fan of Williams, the musician.

“I was a 17-year-old kid sneaking into Yesterdays. I'm 68 now."

Allen said Williams was always an old soul, but he echoed what Pierce said earlier about Williams and his personality.

“I think he wanted to be an old man a long time ago, but I never heard a cross word from Rick.

“If you had a problem with Rick Williams, it was your fault.”

A Celebration of Life concert/jam for Rick, featuring Overland Express with Special Guests will be held on Sunday, Aug. 2, from 2-5 p.m. at Songbirds, 206 Main St. All are welcome and are asked to consider donating non-perishable items to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank or Hamilton County Humane Educational Society.