The creative talent behind the hugely successful musical outreach programmes

‘Planet Sound Community Arts’, “the Unity Foundation” and “Madula”, William

Sherratt assigns much of the credit for his singular approach to the composition

and playing music to his mixed race background.

Born to a white English father and Filipino mother, the performer who would

develop an international reputation as under the stage persona “Mr Will” first

picked up a guitar at the age of eight, already understanding that there was a

world of music beyond MTV and Radio 1.

By his early teens, and while his peers were aping the trends of modern rock

music, Mr Will’s imagination had already long since been captured by the

challenges of what he calls “the timeless precision” of classical guitar and the

“random precision” of playing modern Jazz.

He explained: “The concept of different cultures blending to create something

new was literally brought home to me because I saw it every day with my

parents, and this will always be part of my style of music and approach to

performances. Growing up, I absorbed all sorts of music, and it didn’t really occur

to me that this was Western or this was African or Eastern, good music was good

music and it could be composed, performed and enjoyed everywhere and

anywhere.”

After studying for over a decade with such varied teachers as legendary

Congoloese guitarist Lokassa Y Mbongo in Boston, fingerstyle legends Tuck

Andress and Martin Taylor and West African artists in Mali and Guinea and

Gambia, Mr Will’s eclectic and playful approach to composition and

performance was complete.

Many reviewers have remarked on Mr Will’s technique of using his thumb and all

four fingers strum his guitars, the result of which is, in the words of one reviewer,

“an affect which made you think you were listening to several instruments, and

not all of them guitar”. Yet Mr Will’s commitment to innovation and

experimentation goes much deeper than simply how he chooses to strike six or 12

strings.

Mr Will has travelled the world and performed at a variety of events and venues

including WOMAD,Lattitude, DrumCamp UK, Newcastle Jazz Festival, Lancaster

Jazz festival in addition to international performances including Senegal,

Gambia, Philippines & headlining on the Bayimba Festival, Uganda.In 2012 he set up the

Mr.Will Music band having composed & produced the album

“Mga Kanta Ng Puso”. In 2016 Mr Will became guitarist & musical director of the

Seby Ntege Band and produced the album “Five Notes” that toured throughout

2018. The “five notes” album featured two songs written by Mr.Will, with the track

“Sing for the Moment” being played by BBC Radio 3 as track of the week.