Andy Williams

As a few of my former colleagues at Reckless Records have done, I wanted to note the incredibly sad passing of Andy Williams, who I used to work with in the shop in the 1990s.

Nobody ended up working in specialist music retail in the 1990s by accident, absolutely everybody was there because they were passionate about music and were involved in the industry in some capacity. Andy used to DJ and went on to start record labels, release his own stuff, and write for Mixmag.

I always enjoy seeing people I’m friends with grow and prosper in the careers, and he was such a sweet lovely guy – I can’t imagine I ever had a cross word with him – and it is such a bitter blow to see that he died only aged 49.

In a social media post one of my former colleagues reminded us all that Andy’s some-time recording/DJ name Yam Who? originated during our days at Reckless as a spin on his surname and a play on the Jerky Boys’ sketch Nam Hu?, which I listened to on the train yesterday and people started looking at me because I was laughing to myself so much. Honestly working in that record shop was a non-stop blast, and Andy was just one of the nicest people behind the counter you could have wished to meet. What a shock for him to die so young.

Rest well, Andy.