Former Chicago vocalist Bill Champlin and Joseph Williams, widely known as Toto’s renowned lead singer, team up with Nordic AOR producer/ace guitarist Peter Freistedt to form the super-project Champlin Williams Freistedt (CWF), making a long-awaited appearance on the Billboard Live stage.

Joseph Williams, son of film-music maestro John Williams, joined Toto in 1986 and served as Toto’s third lead vocalist through 1988. After taking part in Toto’s 2010 reunion to fan frenzy, he continued to work with the band, and last year he visited Japan on Toto’s Japan tour celebrating the band’s 45th anniversary since debut.

Bill Champlin joined Chicago in 1982 after stints with psychedelic rock band Sons of Champlin and two solo albums produced by David Foster, and remained Chicago’s vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist/songwriter for nearly 28 years until his departure in 2009. As a songwriter, he has earned Grammy Awards as a co-writer on songs such as “After the Love Has Gone” (Earth, Wind & Fire) in both the 1970s and 1980s.

Sweden-born Peter Freistedt, who leads CWF, is a generation younger than Bill and Joseph, yet since childhood has shown boundless respect and fascination for the 1980s West Coast sound, crafting a perfect contemporary AOR sound as a guitarist/songwriter/producer. In 2011, he released work with Joseph Williams under the name Joseph Williams & Peter Freistedt. With Champlin contributing as a guest on that project, the three of them released their first album in 2015 under the Champlin Williams Freistedt name, followed by a second album in 2020. They are truly a dream team, and you can revel in their sublime harmonies to your heart’s content.