Williams, Vanessa

VANESSA WILLIAMS

Born: Millwood, New York, 18 March 1963

Genre: R&B, Pop

Best-selling album since 1990: The Comfort Zone (1991)

Hit songs since 1990: "Save the Best for Last," "Running Back to You"

Few pop singers have triumphed over scandal more successfully than Vanessa Williams. In 1984, when the publication of a nude photo layout resulted in her forced resignation as the first African-American Miss America, few would have predicted that Williams would go on to become one of the most popular recording artists of the 1990s. Blessed with a supple, attractive voice, Williams brought class and elegance to 1990s pop with songs such as "Save the Best for Last." By the end of the decade, she had proven herself a gifted all-around entertainer, finding success on Broadway and in Hollywood movies.

Williams's life was steeped in music from an early age. Both of her parents were music teachers, and as a teenager growing up in a small suburb of New York City she performed in local musical theater on a steady basis. In 1981 she won a scholarship to study theater arts at Syracuse University and, soon after, began entering beauty pageants. In 1984 Williams made history as the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America. Unfortunately, she abdicated the throne after nude photographs of her were published in Penthouse magazine. The lesbian theme of the photos, taken long before she won the pageant, further stirred the controversy. Never lacking confidence, Williams moved past the experience, working with her publicist husband Ramon Hervey to establish a singing career. By 1988 she had signed with Mercury Records' Wing subsidiary and released her first album, The Right Stuff. The album contains the hit single "Dreamin'," a mellow song that highlights the creamy contours of her voice.

In 1991 Williams released a follow-up album, The Comfort Zone, and became a pop star on the basis of its smash hit, "Save the Best for Last." The song's opening lines were a ubiquitous presence on radio stations worldwide: "Sometimes the snow comes down in June / Sometimes the sun goes round the moon." Fitting in perfectly with the laid-back, adult contemporary style prevalent in early 1990s pop, the song was more restrained than the music of Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey, but it benefited from a catchy melody and heavily orchestrated arrangement. A number one pop hit, "Save the Best for Last" pushed sales of The Comfort Zone album over the 2 million mark. The song qualified as plush, if unchallenging, pop music, but elsewhere on the album Williams proved she could handle tougher, up-tempo rhythm-and-blues songs with ease. Of particular note is Williams's version of "Work to Do," a song originally recorded by the R&B group the Isley Brothers in 1972. If lines such as "you might as well get used to me coming home a little late" sound callous in the original version, Williams transforms them into a proud assertion of female independence.

Williams's intelligence as an artist was solidified on her next release, The Sweetest Days (1994). Overall The Sweetest Days is a more ambitious, well-rounded album than Williams's previous releases. "Betcha Never," written by the top producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, is a seductive R&B song that highlights the appealing lower part of Williams's vocal range. With its surging midtempo rhythm and acoustic guitar part, the song is similar in style and spirit to Babyface's contemporaneous work with singer Toni Braxton. "The Way That You Love" is an assertive, smooth dance number, while the jazzy "Ellamental" offers tribute to the legendary vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. One of the album's standout tracks is "Higher Ground," a gentle, inspirational ballad that bears the influence of country and folk music through its plaintive guitar and minimalist production. The lyrics reflect Williams's own personal journey and triumph: "I have walked too long in darkness . . . Blindly clutching fists of diamonds / That I found were only stones." Williams imbues the song with passion and dignity, proving her skills as an interpretive stylist of depth.

By this time Williams was branching into other areas of the entertainment industry with successful results. In 1994 she took over for the Broadway star Chita Rivera in the hit musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. Her performance as a glamorous movie star radiated vitality and a genuine command of stagecraft. Williams, drawing on her early musical theater training, adapted to the rigors of performing eight shows a week with no vocal strain. In 1996 she received her first major role in Hollywood, co-starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action film Eraser. Although she released another album, Next, in 1997, she focused primarily on acting in the years that followed, appearing in the films Soul Food (1997), Dance with Me (1998), and Shaft (2000). In 2002 she returned to Broadway in the musical Into the Woods, a performance that inspired New York Post critic Clive Barnes to proclaim her "a born Broadway star." By now Williams was divorced from Ramon Hervey and had married Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Rick Fox, with whom she had a child, her fourth, in 2000.

With her classic beauty and ample singing talent, Vanessa Williams proved she had the skill and courage to overcome setbacks that would have discouraged lesser performers. As a recording artist she combined a solid pop sensibility with the intelligence of a vocal stylist, recording pleasant-sounding hits alongside material that was both personal and challenging.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

The Right Stuff (Wing, 1988); The Comfort Zone (Wing, 1991); The Sweetest Days (Wing, 1995); Star Bright (Mercury, 1996); Next (Mercury, 1997).

SELECTIVE FILMOGRAPHY:

Eraser (1996); Soul Food (1997); Dance with Me (1998); Shaft (2000).

david freeland