How Liverpool's Premier League win gave musician a new lease of life
Comments
News
Updated 12:06, 17 May 2025
Paul Williams has worked in the music industry for many years
Paul Williams has worked in the music industry for many years
(Image: Supplied)
A musician told how he endured a series of heartbreaking events before being given a new lease of life. Paul Williams, 56, from Walton, worked in the music industry for many years both as a musician in bands and as a producer. But things haven’t always been easy for Paul due to a series of tragic events which all took place within five years, including two heart attacks and the deaths of close family members.
Speaking to the ECHO, Paul said: ”I was in a band for about 15 years. We managed to get to number one in Europe and I think number three in the world on a site called mp3.com. It was like a pay-per-click site back when nobody had computers. None of us had a computer, none of us had a mobile phone. The bass player's brother set everything up for us. Sony ended up approaching us.
However, personal circumstances affecting a band member led to it “falling apart”. Paul left the music industry but in 2016 his life took a dramatic twist. He said: “In 2016 I had my first heart attack. In 2017, I lost my mum. In 2019, I had my second heart attack. In 2022, my partner's mother who used to live with us died. Then in 2023, my dad passed, so it's been quite a bad few years for me.
“Each time I've got on my feet, the rug's been pulled from under me. I had a second heart attack and that's when I decided to go back into music. I set a record label up and got a couple of acts who’d been on the charts. Then my dad became ill and I had to look after him. I just shut everything down.
“I closed my socials and everything so nobody could contact me about the music. For the next three years I did nothing and I had no intention of picking music back up. I was thinking, I’m not doing it, this is the time to relax.”
But a conversation with a fellow Liverpool fan Dave Johnson changed his mind. Dave has a large following on social media and asked him if he would be interested in doing a song to mark Liverpool’s impending league title victory.
He said: “Dave had mentioned the chances of Liverpool winning the league. And he basically said to me, do you reckon we’d be able to do a song? I pushed back a little bit at first. I said, I don't want to get pulled into this. But I went home and I thought about the situation and the size of Liverpool’s fan base and everything.
“I was like, this could actually work if they actually win the league. So I got back in contact with him and started working on it about four months ago.”
Paul wanted to donate the proceeds from the song to a Liverpool charity. He ended up being put in touch with Peter Scarfe from the HillsboroughSurvivor Support Alliance which supports anyone affected by the events that took place at Hillsborough on April 15, 1989.
Due to a request from the families the song, called We Are The Mighty Reds, will focus on Liverpool’s title win, not the disaster. He said: “The Hillsborough Survivor Support Alliance got back to me and said they'd love to get involved with it because they're solely reliant on donations from people. They don't get any government funding so we decided to link up with them."
Peter Scarfe and Jay Ali, directors of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance
Peter Scarfe and Jay Ali, directors of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance
The music video features appearances from celebrities including John McArdle (Brookside, Emmerdale), Tina Malone (Brookside, Shameless), Thomas Lang (musician), George Wilson (Grange Hill, Brookside), Pauline Daniels (comedian, Brookside, Bread, The Street), Frank Prendergast MBE (former Lord Mayor of Liverpool), Alexandra Pigg (Brookside), Roy Basnett (Radio City), Billy and Lesley Butler and Cathy Tyson (Band of Gold, Mona Lisa).
The song will be released later this month ahead of a full album called Red Noise later this year. Proceeds of both will go towards the organisation.
Lesley and Billy Butler are supporting the song
Lesley and Billy Butler are supporting the song(Image: Supplied)
Paul said the project has given him a new lease of life. He said: “I feel like I've got something to live for while I'm doing this. I've been getting up really early, whereas normally I feel like I'm full of fatigue because of the medication I have to take now. One of my cousins is a lifelong Liverpool fan. He said, your dad would be proud of you.
“On the back of the cover, there's a section to people who have passed. This song is dedicated to all survivors around the globe. We just hope people will try and create a double for Liverpool. They've won the league, so it would be great if we got to number one as well with the song.”
We Are the Mighty Reds has just been released for pre-order ahead of its official release on May 20. You can find out more here.