Maurice Williams, Singer and Songwriter Behind Doo-Wop Hit 'Stay,' Dies at 86

Mar. 15, 2025

Maurice Williams ca. 1970.Photo:Courtesy Everett

Courtesy Everett

Maurice Williams, the singer and songwriter best known for his seminal 1960 doo-wop hit “Stay,” died on Aug. 6. He was 86.

“This young lady I was goin’ with, dating, she was over to my house this particular night and her brother was supposed to pick her up at 10 o’clock that evening,” he recalled. “So he came and I said, ‘Well, you could stay a little longer.’ And she said, ‘No, I gotta go.’ I said, ‘Your daddy don’t mind, your mama don’t mind.’ And she said, ‘No, I gotta go.’ So they left. And the next morning I got up and wrote the song ‘Stay.’”

Williams said he called the late Henry Gaston down to sing the song’s falsetto parts, and the song was ultimately a chart-topping hit.

“Just to be on the charts… It didn’t have to make No. 1. But when they hit the Top 10, oh man, I said, ‘Wow, that’s it,’” Williams said. “And then it went on up to No. 1… I said, ‘OK, that’s cool.’ We were superstars.”

The star first began singing at age 6 at his local church, and formed his first group, The Royal Charms, when he was in high school. Though the group found local success, Williams headed to Nashville in search of a record deal, and managed to woo executives with the song “Little Darlin,’” which he first recorded in 1957 with the Gladiolas.

Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs pose for a group studio portrait in 1960.Gilles Petard/Redferns

Gilles Petard/Redferns

Two years later, the group rebranded as Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, and they went on to have additional hits such as “May I.”

Emily toldQCity Metrothat she and Williams met through a mutual friend when they were teenagers — and that at first, she “wasn’t that impressed with the music and stuff.”

“I guess he liked the way I carried myself and the way I thought,” she told the outlet. “I wasn’t running after him because he was a musician.”

The outlet reported that Williams worked for many years in ministry, and still sang in the choir at a local church.

“What am I going to miss about him? Oh, everything,” Emily said.

source: people.com