Willie Ray Waller, 61, of Los Angeles, California sadly passed away on October 13, 2022 after a long difficult battle with cancer.

Willie was predeceased by his father, Willie C Waller. He is survived by five loving children; Sirius, Layla, Kamila, Tai and Sha'vonn; his devoted mother, Peggy Herring, four siblings; Ken Waller, Van Waller, Sandrea Crichlow and Kirk Waller; and a host of relatives, friends and artists .

Willie was a soft spoken, powerful, thoughtful man. He batttled his illness like he lived his life, with a determination to push, fight and succeed. He initially defied the odds, teaching himself to walk again when medical professionals said he would not. He ate, drank and slept remedies, traditional and non-traditional, so that he could be healthy again. His earthly body eventually succumed to the illness and we believe that both his body and soul are now free. 

Willie attended Mt. Eden High School in Hayward, California. Anyone who knew Willie or Will or Willi Mac, knew that he was an immensely talented and passionate artist, creator and lover of all things musical. He was a musician, vocalist and producer (Please see his "Musical Bio below).

MUSICAL BIO - By Jimi Chopmaster J

1991 When I first met Will it was like someone out of a movie, wearing his trademark trench coat, Gheri curl hairstyle the mysterious wanderer bearing gifts unknown and unseen.

Willi being the low key silent type introvert, versus my bodacious outspoken extrovert personality, he was the perfect Ying to my Yang. From our very first recording session 3 hours in,  it developed into what would be a 32-year creative collaboration of minds, hearts and souls.    As I've worked and developed a lot of talented folks with everyone from Humpty Hump to do Tupac Shakur to Dave Hollister and many others, and feel more than qualified to state Willi was a true genius. 

Will could and would do everything from compose a song, programming into the sequencer into the computer, utilize the computer to manipulate the composition,  mix and master and edit the recordings, as well as perform the maintenance and repair every piece of equipment in the recording studio.  I do mean every piece from $500 keyboard to the $500,000 SSL console. Quincy Jones can't do that. 

With all that said he was an even better person human being with the compassion love understanding & grace that made Will more like big brother that could & would always help resolve issues. Eventually with all my making light of life and our situations, Will eventually would chime in on the jokes. So now not with just his musical talent and technical ingenuity & Willi's personality, shining ever so brightly we had a winning combination. Man, do I miss our brother Will. Will and I have shared the stage and Studio with some of the biggest names in the music business including but not limited to George Clinton, David Hollister, Tupac Shakur, Rick James, Morris Day and The Time,  Mick Fleetwood, Charlie Wilson & Dr. Timothy Leary. Yeah, that's right, touring countries like Japan Southeast & Asia the Netherlands and here, stateside performing on the TV show Soul Train as well as performing at the popular AIDS dance-athon the Cancer Walk and countless others boy do I miss Our brother Will!! I shall remain inspired by the times and the influence Will has had on me. And complete the works and take to market the art we created and collaborated on as to be able to share in with his family of beautiful children Sha'vonn, Tai, Lailah, Camilla & Sirius which are the creations Willi is most proud of.

Love & Respect

VIDEO TRIBUTE: https://youtu.be/UySFTNCI4mk

See more photos and artwork on his Instagram: willi__mac

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