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Biography · Sports & Achievement

J. Mayo Williams

1894–1980

United States

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Biography

Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams (September 25, 1894 – January 2, 1980) was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded blues music. Some historians have claimed that Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of talented African-American musicians on recording contracts, but in fact it was a racial sobriquet from his football days, when he was a rare Black player on white college and professional teams. He was the most successful "race records" producer of his time, breaking all previous records for sales in this genre.

Sources & collection details

Wikipedia contributors — original record ↗

Black heritage reference ↗

Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-20

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