Born in Lexington, Mississippi in the late ‘30’s, Lee Shot Williams spent much of his younger days in the Delta Blues area as well as around the Memphis music scene, always in the company of budding musicians. He picked up the nickname 'Shot' from his mother, who said he always tried to dress like a 'big shot'!  Moving to Detroit in 1954 and on to Chicago in 1958, he was fortunate enough to get to hang out with the likes of Blues greats Little Smokey Smothers (who was actually Lee Shot's cousin and ironically passed away five days before Lee), Howlin’ Wolf and Magic Sam. He eventually joined Magic Sam’s band and began honing his chops as a singer.  Sam and his troubadours reigned as the kings of Chicago’s West Side Blues movement in the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s.

Williams kicked off a long string of solo singles recording in 1962 that would go on for years on the Foxy, King/Federal, Palos, Gamma, Shama and Tchula labels, among others. His 1964 recording of Welcome To The Club was a regional hit in the Chicago and surrounding area that was later covered by Little Milton on the Chess label. (Many years later, Milton would refer to Lee Shot in an interview as a Soul ‘icon’). Another tune that became a hit regionally, I Like Your Style, was released in 1969. Lee Shot also began touring the country for several years as part of different bands featuring Earl Hooker, Little Milton and Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland.

Lee Shot dropped his first album, Country Disco, in 1977. After returning to the Memphis area, he cut an album in the ‘80’s (I Like Your Style) that was a culmination of many of his singles from the various labels over the years. The Black Magic label was impressed enough with Lee’s vocals to back him on an album release with a band. The result was 12 tracks on Cold Shot, released in 1995 – it was voted Best Blues Album of the Year by the Living Blues poll of magazine readers. The album also was significant by the fact that it marked the beginning of Lee Shot’s entry into the Southern Soul arena. Shortly thereafter, he signed on with the Memphis based Ecko Records label for what would end up being a 12 year run. Williams’ first effort on the label, Hot Shot, was released in 1996.

Lee Shot would ultimately release a total of 7 albums on Ecko and become one of the most popular performers on the circuit.  Several of his singles from these albums became Southern Soul (and some Beach) hits including I’ll Take The Risk, Somebody’s After My Freak, Juke Joint Slide, She Made A Freak Out Of Me, Get Down Tonight, Cheatin’ Is A Risk, It’s Your Party  and Secret Love Affair. In fact, Lee Shot was so successful that after he left the label, Ecko released The Best Of Lee Shot Williams, as a tribute to the contributions of his 12 years there. Meanwhile, he moved over to Carlsbad, California’s CDS Records in 2008, recording and releasing Shot From The Soul, which may have been the crowning point in his career to date. Country Woman, It’s Friday (Time To Get Paid), Two Steps Forward and Wrong Bed are all singles from the CD that made a run up the Southern Soul charts. He followed that monumental release with I'm The Man For The Job in early 2010, spawning the hits 753-LOVE, Got A Good Woman and Yesterday I Fell In Love. What was to be his last album, The First Rule Of Cheating, was released on CDS in late 2010. Lee Shot passed away on November 25, 2011. He was one of the great personalities that will be sorely missed in the world of Southern Soul and Blues.