Billy Paul was born on December 1, 1934 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA as Paul Williams. He was married to Blanche. He died on April 24, 2016 in Blackwood, New Jersey, USA.
He had a #1 R&B hit with "Me and Mrs. Jones" for Philadelphia International Records in 1972.
After "Me and Mrs. Jones" made him a star, radio stations refused to play his more socially conscious follow-up song, "Am I Black Enough for You".
His manager suggested that he change his name to Billy Paul to avoid confusion with songwriter Paul Williams and other musicians with the same name.
He was drafted into the military in his early 20s. He was on the same base in Germany with 埃尔维斯·普雷斯利 and Gary Crosby, 平·克劳斯贝's son.
He performed with such jazz stars as Charlie Parker and Dinah Washington, and was featured on a handful of singles while still in his teens.
He had six consecutive UK Top 40 singles between 1973 and 1977. One of them, his version of 保罗·麦卡特尼's song "Let 'Em In", was also used for the British television commercials for the People's Postcode Lottery.
Friends with Candi Staton.