Vanessa L. Williams

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For other persons named Vanessa Williams, see Vanessa Williams (disambiguation).
Vanessa Williams
Background information
Birth name Vanessa Lynn Williams
Born March 18, 1963 (age 44)
Origin Chappaqua, New York, Flag of United States United States
Genre(s) Pop, R&B, Jazz, Dance, Adult Contemporary
Occupation(s) Singer, Songwriter, Actress
Years active 1983-Present
Label(s) WING / Mercury (1987-1995)
Mercury (1996-1999)
Lava / Atlantic (2004-2005)
Concord (2006-)
Website Official Site

Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is a Grammy and Tony Award nominated American R&B/Pop/theatrical singer and actress. In 1983, Williams made history when she became the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America. Having served almost a year, her reign as Miss America came to an end when she was pressured to resign her title in scandal. However, she has since gone on to become one of the most successful Miss Americas ever and is lauded as one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment today, having conquered the music charts, Broadway, music videos, television and motion pictures. Becoming the 2,331st star on the celebrated Hollywood Walk of Fame (2007), she can be seen playing the conniving over-the-top magazine creative director Wilhelmina Slater on the hit ABC comedy 'Ugly Betty.'

Contents

[edit] Early life

Williams was born in Millwood, New York; she and her brother grew up in a middle-class suburban area. Prophetically, her parents put "Here she is: Miss America" on her birth announcement. [Entertainment Tonight, December 11 2005] Her parents, Milton and Helen Williams, were both music teachers.

She studied piano and French horn growing up, but was most interested in singing. She received a scholarship and attended Syracuse University as a theater arts major, but chose to discontinue her college education to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

[edit] Miss America

Williams began competing in beauty pageants in the early 1980s; she was interested in pursuing an entertainment career, as well as the scholarships pageants bestowed on winners.

[edit] Titleholder

Williams won Miss New York in 1983, and went to the Miss America national pageant in Atlantic City. She was crowned Miss America 1984 on September 17, 1983, making her the first ever African-American Miss America. Prior to the final night of competition, Williams won both the Preliminary Talent and Swimsuit Competitions from earlier in the week.

[edit] Controversy and resignation

Controversy erupted in the summer of 1984 when it was discovered that Williams had posed nude in photographs that would subsequently appear in Penthouse. Williams worked for New York photographer Tom Chiapel in the summer of 1982 as a secretary and makeup artist. During her tenure with the studio, Tom would coerce Williams to pose nude saying the photos would be used for artistic purposes and that she along with another female model would be silhouetted and not identifiable. Betrayed by his trust, she was readily identifiable in the set with the other woman. Two other sets taken were of solo nudity in black and white and the other a relatively tame full color solo session.

Ten months into an exemplary reign as Miss America, she received an anonymous phone call stating that the photos she thought had been destroyed would be published in Penthouse magazine.

Days later, Penthouse announced that they would be publishing the photos in their September 1984 issue, without her consent. Penthouse magazine paid the photographer to publish them and they appeared in the same issue that had a 16-year-old with the stage name Traci Lords as the centerfold. After her claims of being tricked, duped, and taken advantage, Penthouse published unconfirmed facsimiles of what was identified as her model releases. Penthouse earned an unprecedented $4 million from that issue alone.

Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy, turned them down first. Later Hefner would explain why in People Weekly. "Vanessa Williams is a beautiful woman. There was never any question of our interest in the photos. But they clearly weren't authorized and because they would be the source of considerable embarrassment to her, we decided not to publish them. We were also mindful that she was the first black Miss America."

After several days of media frenzy and sponsors threatening to pull out of the upcoming 1985 pageant, Williams felt pressured by Miss America Pageant officials to resign within 72 hours and did so in a press conference on July 23, 1984. The crown was passed on to Suzette Charles (making her the second African-American Miss America). At the time, some believed Williams' reputation would never recover while others who called the untimely scandal (only 7 weeks left in her reign) a "high tech lynching," blamed the Miss America Organization for not standing by her.

Although she resigned from fulfilling the duties of a current Miss America, she was allowed to keep the bejeweled crown and scholarship money and is officially recognized by the Miss America Organization today as Miss America 1984a.

[edit] Music career

[edit] The Right Stuff

Vanessa Williams' debut album.
Vanessa Williams' debut album.

After time out of the spotlight, Williams secured a record deal, and released her debut album, The Right Stuff in 1988. The first single, "The Right Stuff," was successful on the R&B charts and the third single, "Dreamin'", was a chart success becoming Williams' first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and her first number one single in the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album reached gold status and earned her three Grammy Award nominations, including one for Best New Artist.

[edit] The Comfort Zone

Her sophomore album "The Comfort Zone" became the biggest success in her music career. The lead single "Running Back to You" became another chart topper for her, reaching the top position of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in October 5, 1991. Other singles included "The Comfort Zone", "Just for Tonight", "Work to Do" and the club hit "Freedom Dance (Get Free!).

Vanessa Williams' second album.
Vanessa Williams' second album.

However, the most successful single of the album and still her biggest hit to date is "Save the Best for Last", which became across-the-board hit in the spring 1992, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and reaching #1 on charts in countries all over the world, including Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada and in the top 5 in Japan and the United Kingdom. The album went three times platinum and earned her four Grammy Award nominations.

In addition to Vanessa Williams' first two albums, her most notable chart successes have included the songs "Love Is", "The Sweetest Days", "Colors of the Wind", and "Oh How The Years Go By". In total, Williams has sold six million records and received fifteen Grammy Award nominations.

In early 2007, Vanessa announced she had signed with jazz label Concord Records. An album, which will be her 9th, is expected later this year and will be a mix of old jazz standards as well as new ballads/Brazilian bossa nova as well.

[edit] Acting career

While she pursued her career in music, Williams also cultivated a parallel career as an actress.

[edit] Television

Williams' first television appearance was on an episode of The Love Boat, playing herself. She subsequently made guest appearances on a number of shows, including T.J. Hooker, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, LateLine, Ally McBeal and Boomtown.

In early 2006 she starred in the short lived UPN drama South Beach. She is currently appearing as Wilhelmina Slater on the new ABC comedy Ugly Betty, produced by Salma Hayek.

She also had many appearances in television movies and miniseries, including Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer and The Jacksons: An American Dream. She played the nymph Calypso in the 1997 Hallmark Entertainment miniseries The Odyssey, starring Armand Assante. In 2001, Williams starred in the Lifetime cable movie about the life of Henriette DeLille, The Courage to Love.

[edit] Film roles

Williams was prominently featured in Soul Food, for which she won the Best Actress award at the NAACP Image Awards.

Other films include:

[edit] Theatrical roles

Williams has appeared in several Broadway theatre productions, including major roles in Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994 for which she received excellent reviews and her Tony Award nominated performance as the Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods in 2002. Other notable theatrical productions include starring in One Man Band, Checkmates, Encore Presents: St. Louis Woman, and Carmen Jones at the Kennedy Center.

[edit] Other media appearances

She has also appeared in a number of advertisements for Radio Shack, starting in 2001. Recently, Williams has become a spokesmodel for Proactiv Solution. Williams for the past several years has endorsed L'oreal cosmetics.

[edit] Personal life

Born to Milton and Helen Williams. Has a younger brother, actor Chris Williams. Her father Milton Williams died in January 2006 at the age of 70.[1]

[edit] Marriage/Children

Williams has been married and divorced twice.

  • Her first marriage to her then-manager Ramon Hervey II was from 2-Jan-1987-1997.
  • She married again to NBA basketball star Rick Fox from 26 Sept 1999-2005.

She is the mother of four children:

  • Melanie Lynne Hervey (born 1987)
  • Jillian Kristin Hervey (born 1989)
  • Devin Hervey (born 1993), and
  • Sasha Gabriella Fox (born 1 May 2000), with Fox.

[edit] Divorce from Fox

After The National Enquirer published pictures of Fox kissing another woman in mid-2004, Fox's representatives announced that the couple had been "headed toward divorce" for over a year.[2] A few months later on August 10 2004, Fox filed for divorce.[3] During some press interviews, Williams cast some doubt on the divorce status,[4] but while visiting the Howard Stern radio show on March 23, 2005, she said that while she and Fox were intimate with each other briefly during the 2004 holidays, a reconciliation was unlikely.[5]

In early 2006, Williams began dating 29-year-old actor Rob Mack, whom she met on the set of her show South Beach.[6] She's currently single.

She currently resides in Chappaqua, New York.

[edit] Name change

Known for most of her career as Vanessa Williams, she ran into name conflict with actress Vanessa A. Williams who was already using the name as her stage name. Screen Actors Guild rules prohibit duplicate naming, so this Williams generally appears as Vanessa L. Williams in acting credits, but is free to use Vanessa Williams in her music career. In the 2000s, a gospel singer Vanessa R. Williams began recording under the name Vanessa Williams as well, making three contemporaneous and similarly aged African-American performers with the same name. Since 2006, however, in the opening credits for Ugly Betty, she is listed once again as simply Vanessa Williams.

[edit] Works

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album cover Album information
The Right Stuff
  • Released: June 6, 1988
  • Label: WING / Mercury
  • Chart Peak: US Pop #38, R&B #18
  • RIAA Certification: Gold
  • Singles: "The Right Stuff", "Dreamin'", "(He's Got) The Look", "Darlin' I"
The Comfort Zone
  • Released: August 20, 1991
  • Label: WING / Mercury
  • Chart Peak: US Pop #17, R&B #1, UK #24
  • RIAA Certification: 3x Platinum
  • Singles: "Running Back To You", "The Comfort Zone", "Save The Best For Last", "Just For Tonight", "Work To Do", "What Will I Tell My Heart"
The Sweetest Days
  • Released: December 6, 1994
  • Label: WING / Mercury
  • Chart Peak: US Pop #57, R&B #25
  • RIAA Certification: Platinum
  • Singles: "The Sweetest Days", "The Way That You Love", "You Can't Run"
Star Bright
Next
  • Released: August 26, 1997
  • Label: Mercury
  • Chart Peak: US Pop #53, R&B #28
  • RIAA Certification: N/A (U.S. Sales: 280,000)
  • Singles: "Happiness", "Who Were You Thinkin' 'Bout?", "Oh How The Years Go By", "First Thing On Your Mind"
Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years
The Christmas Collection: The Best Of
The Millennuim Collection: The Best Of
Love Songs
Silver & Gold
  • Released: October 12, 2004
  • Label: Lava / Atlantic
  • Chart Peak: US Pop #120, R&B #46, Gospel #2
  • RIAA Certification: N/A (U.S. Sales: 100,000)
  • Singles: "Silver And Gold", "Merry Christmas, Darling"
Everlasting Love

[edit] Singles

Year Title Album UK US US R&B
1988 "The Right Stuff" The Right Stuff 62 44 4
1988 "(He's Got) The Look" The Right Stuff - - 10
1989 "Dreamin'" The Right Stuff 74 8 1
1989 "Darlin I" The Right Stuff - 88 10
1991 "Running Back to You" The Comfort Zone - 18 1
1991 "The Comfort Zone" The Comfort Zone - 62 2
1992 "Save the Best For Last" The Comfort Zone 3 1 1
1992 "Just for Tonight" The Comfort Zone - 26 11
1992 "Work to Do" The Comfort Zone - 52 3
1993 "Love Is" (with Brian McKnight) Beverly Hills 90210 Soundtrack - 3 55
1994 "The Sweetest Days" The Sweetest Days 41 18 40
1994 "The Way That You Love" The Sweetest Days 52 67 23
1995 "Colors of the Wind" Pocahontas Soundtrack 21 4 53
1995 "You Can't Run" The Sweetest Days - - 40
1996 "Where Do We Go From Here? (from the film "Eraser")" Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years - 71 90
1997 "Happiness" Next - - 33
1997 "Oh How The Years Go By" Next - - -

[edit] Filmography

Upcoming:

  • My Brother (2007)
  • Somebody Like You (2007)

[edit] Television Work

[edit] Awards and recognition

  • 1983 Won Miss America
  • 1989 Nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female ("The Right Stuff").
  • 1990 Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female ("Dreamin'").
  • 1989 Won NAACP Image Award for Best New Artist.
  • 1992 Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female ("Runnin' Back to You").
  • 1993 Nominated for 3 American Music Awards for Favorite Female Artist - Pop / Rock, Favorite Female Artist - Soul / Rhythm & Blues, Favorite Album - Adult Contemporary ("The Comfort Zone").
  • 1993 Nominated for 4 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Pop Female Vocalist ("Save the Best for Last"), Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female ("The Comfort Zone").
  • 1993 Nominated for 2 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video of the Year ("Save the Best for Last") and Best Cinematography in a Video ("Running Back to You").
  • 1993 Won a Billboard Music Award for No. 1 Adult Contemporary Single ("Love Is").
  • 1993 Nominated for Grammy Award for Pop Vocal Group ("Love Is").
  • 1993 Won Playboy Magazine's - Best Female Rhythm and Blues Vocalist.
  • 1989-1993 Winner of 8 New York Music Awards including Artist of the Year in 1992.
  • 1994 Won Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance ("Kiss of the Spider Woman").
  • 1994 Won NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist.
  • 1995 Nominated for 4 Grammy Awards for Pop Female Vocalist ("Colors of the Wind"), Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female ("The Way That You Love"), Best R&B Song ("You Can't Run") Best Musical Show Album ("Kiss of the Spider Woman").
  • 1995 Won Grammy Award for Best Song written specifically for a Motion Picture or Television ("Colors of the Wind"). Given to songwriters not her.
  • 1996 Awarded the Soul Train Lady of Soul: Lena Horne Award for Career Achievement.
  • 1996 Nominated for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist for "Where Do We Go From Here" from the motion picture, "Eraser"
  • 1996 Nominated for Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Action ("Eraser").
  • 1997 Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album ("Star Bright").
  • 1997 Nominated for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album - ("Next").
  • 1997 Nominated for NAACP Image Award for Best Actress - Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special ("The Odyssey").
  • 1997 Won NAACP Image Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture ("Soul Food").
  • 1997 Nominated for Online Television Academy Awards for Best Guest Actress - Syndicated Series ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine").
  • 1997 Nominated for Black Film Awards for Best Actress - Motion Picture ("Soul Food").
  • 1999 Nominated for A.L.M.A. Award for Best Song from A Movie - "You Are My Home" from the motion picture, "Dance With Me".
  • 2000 Nominated for Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Action ("Shaft").
  • 2000 Nominated for NAACP Image Award- Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture - ("Light It Up").
  • 2001 Nominated for Drama League Award for Most Distinguished Performance ("Into the Woods").
  • 2001 Nominated for NAACP Image Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture ("Shaft").
  • 2002 Won Satellite Awards for Best Actress - Miniseries or Movie ("Keep the Faith, Baby").
  • 2002 Nominated for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress - Television Movie, Miniseries or Dramatic Special ("Keep the Faith, Baby").
  • 2002 Nominated for Black Reel Award for Network/Cable - Best Actress for ("Keep the Faith, Baby").
  • 2002 Nominated for Tony Award for Best Performance By a Leading Actress In a Musical ("Into the Woods").
  • 2002 Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album - Into The Woods (Vanessa Williams cast recording).
  • 2004 Nominated for BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Box Office Movie for Johnson Family Vacation
  • 2006 Nominated for Satellite Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television for Ugly Betty.
  • 2007 Nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Ugly Betty
  • 2007 Won NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a comedy series for Ugly Betty
  • 2007 Received a STAR on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on March 19, recognizing over 20 years in the entertainment industry.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

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Please discuss this issue on the talk page, and/or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available.
This section has been tagged since February 2007.
  1. ^ http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/13688429.htm
  2. ^ http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/fox%20denies%20another%20woman%20played%20part%20in%20williams%20split
  3. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-08-10-fox-divorce_x.htm
  4. ^ http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/vanessa%20questions%20divorce%20stories
  5. ^ http://www.marksfriggin.com/news05/3-21.htm#wed
  6. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/380551p-322985c.html

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Debra Maffett		 Miss America
1984		 Succeeded by
Suzette Charles
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