A Nashville music legend passed away unexpectedly while on vacation in Florida.
Kim Williams, 68, died Thursday afternoon. He had been battling a host of health issues since a work-place explosion burned more than 90% of his body back in the early 1970s.
That injury, however, brought him to Nashville where he met a then unknown Garth Brooks. He helped Brooks write one his earliest hits, "Papa Loved Mama." Soon after that success, Brooks introduced Williams to Kent Blazy.
Williams was not that impressed, at first.
"Garth came back to me and said, 'I played this song for Kim Williams, and he hated the song, but he liked one line in it and he wants to write it," Blazy said.
So the trio began working together, writing hit after hit, including "Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)." The three wrote the song in Blazy's home where he was dealing with a cockroach problem.
"Kim said, 'Don't worry about it. When Garth and I wrote "Papa Loved Mama," there were termites and cockroaches climbing all over my apartment. That was a number one record, so this is going to be," Blazy remembered.
Williams was right. The song was a success, but Blazy said Williams wasn't passionate about only being successful
"He was totally focused on writing songs," Blazy said. "He did his homework. He called it fishing for hooks."
The most successful song Williams wrote was "Three Wooden Crosses," for Randy Travis.
"It was special to us, and something that meant something to the world too," Williams said in an interview with News Channel 5 in April 2015.
Williams is also credited with writing songs for Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Clay Walker and Reba McEntire.
Funeral arrangements have not been set.
