Our August Alumnus of the Month is Professor Jez Willis – one half of the electronic music duo ‘Utah Staints’, who had a string of chart-topping singles in the 1990s. While they headlined at Solfest, Mrs Gregory presented Jez with a WHS gold Scallopian badge on behalf of the school.
Jez left William Howard in the 1980s and went onto Leeds University to study Maths, however, he left after a year as his music had started to become successful (before Utah Saints). He returned to university in 2016 as a mature student, completing an MA, and is now a Professor of Music Industry and Production at Leeds Conservatoire.
Most of his time has been spent as a professional musician, and Jez DJs most weekends while making music during the week. His latest music works have included a mix for BBC 6Music, re-writing the bedtime song for Cbeebies, music for a game called Final Vendetta and music for a Ridley Scott trailer on HBO.
Jez has some fond memories of his time at William Howard School, and they include an English teacher, Mr Foxon, who used to sit cross-legged on his desk and read to the class. At the time he didn’t understand the point, but looking back, it taught him the great power and importance of choosing the right words to communicate in the most effective way, something that has come in handy in his line of work. He also remembers Mr Warnes, one of the Music teachers, who lent him the school amplifiers and speakers so that he could DJ the school disco (in the main hall) when he was 15. Mr Phillips was just starting his teaching career when he taught Jez Physics. Jez remembers, “All the students liked him and his teaching style”. (A mention goes to Jez’s Dad too, who also taught Physics at William Howard).
Jez confessed, “Being honest, my memories of school are not all good – school can be stressful sometimes for lots of reasons, but even the stressful parts can be turned into positives in later life. I made some lifelong friends in the Sixth Form, who I still see regularly”.
His message to current students would be: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself – we all learn differently and at different paces – your time will come. Whatever exam or test results you get, there is always a way to get to where you would like to be – don’t put too many barriers in your own way. And finally, keep being creative – what the world needs more than anything is ideas, don’t ever think yours aren’t good enough.
Jez also had a message for staff: “Don’t underestimate the power and influence you have in the privileged position of teaching young, impressionable people. I still carry a lot of the lessons I learned in my formative years at William Howard School!”