Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American
singer-songwriter and
actress. Williams made history on September 17, 1983 when she became the first woman of
African American descent to be crowned
Miss America. Williams' reign as Miss America came to an abrupt end when scandal led to her subsequent resignation of the title. Williams rebounded by launching a career as an entertainer, earning
Grammy,
Emmy, and
Tony award nominations.
She is also well-known for her outspoken support of
gay rights, having won the
Human Rights Campaign "Ally for Equality" award in 2008.
Early life
Williams was born in
Tarrytown, New York, the daughter of music teachers Helen and Milton Augustine Williams Jr.
[Vanessa L. Williams Biography (1963-)][AN APPRECIATION; Remembering Milton Williams, A Mentor to Music Students - New York Times] Williams and her younger brother Chris, who is also an actor, grew up in the predominantly white [[middle-class] suburban area of
Millwood, New York. Prophetically, her parents put "Here she is: Miss America" on her birth announcement.
[Entertainment Tonight interview. December 11, 2005.]
Education
Williams studied
piano and
French horn growing up, but was most interested in singing. She received a
scholarship and attended
Syracuse University as a
Theatre Arts major from 1981 to 1983. She discontinued her education at Syracuse during her sophomore year to fulfill her duties as
Miss America, and then subsequently left the university to focus on her entertainment career. Twenty-five years later she graduated from Syracuse by earning her remaining college credits through her
life experience with two long running Broadway shows and a Tony Award nomination under her belt. Williams delivered the convocation address on May 10, 2008, with 480 other students in the
College of Visual and Performing Arts. She stated:
"It's been 25 years since I was a student here. It just brought home what my message was, which is cherish the moment; these days are irreplaceable and are the beginning of the rest of your life".[capitalnews9.com, Vanessa Williams graduates from SU][gmanews.tv, Vanessa Williams receives diploma after 25 years]
Pageants and Miss America title
Williams began competing in
beauty pageants in the early 1980s. 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. Williams' reign as Miss America was not without its challenges and controversies. For the first time in pageant history, a reigning Miss America was the target of death threats and angry racist hate mail.
[pbs.org]
Ten months into her reign as Miss America, she received an anonymous phone call stating that nude photos of her taken by a photographer prior to her pageant days had surfaced. Williams believed the photographs were private and had been destroyed; she claims she never signed a release permitting the photos to be used.
[time.com]
The genesis of the photos dated back to 1982, when she worked as an assistant and makeup artist for
Mount Kisco, New York photographer
Tom Chiapel. According to Williams, Chiapel advised her that he wanted to try a "new concept of silhouettes with two models." He photographed Williams and another woman in several nude poses. The photographs depicted mild overtones of simulated
lesbian sex, which was quite controversial for its time.
[{(({cite news |author= Tom Chiapel |title= Here she comes, Miss America|work= Pictorial |publisher= Penthouse |id=]
Hugh Hefner, the publisher of
Playboy, was initially offered the photos, but turned them down. 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." Days later,
Bob Guccione, the publisher of
Penthouse, announced that his magazine would publish the photos in their September 1984 issue, and paid Chiapel for the rights to them without Williams' consent. According to the
PBS documentary
Miss America, the Vanessa Williams issue of
Penthouse would ultimately bring Guccione a $14 million windfall.
After 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, and did so in a press conference on July 23, 1984. The title subsequently went to first-runner up, African-Italian
Suzette Charles. In early September 1984, Vanessa filed an unheralded $500 million lawsuit against Chiapel and Guccione. According to a Williams family representative, she eventually dropped the suit to avoid further legal battles choosing to move on with her life. Vanessa is quoted as saying "the best revenge is success."
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 1984" and
Suzette Charles as "Miss America 1984b."
Williams' controversial reign as Miss America is referenced in the musical
Smile, which chronicles the fictitious Young American Miss pageant of 1985.
Music career
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", found major success on the R&B Chart while the second single "
(He's Got) The Look" found similar success on the R&B charts. The third single, "Dreamin'", was a pop hit becoming Williams' first top 10 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #8, and her first number one single on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album reached
gold status in the US and earned her three
Grammy Award nominations, including one for
Best New Artist.
Her second album
The Comfort Zone became the biggest success in her music career. The lead single
Running Back to You reached top twenty on the Hot 100, and the top position of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart on October 5, 1991. Other singles included "
The Comfort Zone" (#2 R&B), "
Just for Tonight" (#26 Pop), "Work To Do" and the club-only hit "Freedom Dance (Get Free!)". The most successful single from the album, as well as her biggest hit to date is "
Save the Best for Last". The song was #1 in the United States for five weeks, as well as #1 in Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada and was in the top 5 in Japan and the United Kingdom. The album sold 2.2 million copies in the US at its time of release and has since been certified three times platinum in the United States by the
RIAA, gold in Canada by the
CRIA, and platinum in the United Kingdom by the
BPI.
The Comfort Zone earned Williams five
Grammy Award nominations.
The Sweetest Days, her third album, was released in 1994 to rave reviews. The Sweetest Days saw Williams branch out and sample other styles of music that included jazz, hip-hop, rock, and Latin-themed recordings such as "Betcha Never" and "You Can't Run", both written and produced by
Babyface. Other singles from the album included the Adult Contemporary and Dance hit "The Way That You Love" and the title track "The Sweetest Days". The album was certified
platinum in the US by the
RIAA and earned her two
Grammy Award nominations.
Other albums include two Christmas albums,
Star Bright released in 1996 and
Silver and Gold in 2004;
Next in 1997, and
Everlasting Love in 2005, along with a greatest hits compilation released in 1998 and a host of other compilations released over the years.
Notable chart performances from subsequent albums, motion picture and television soundtracks have included the songs "
Love Is", "
Colors of the Wind", "
Where Do We Go From Here", and "
Oh How the Years Go By". In total, Williams has sold over six million records and received fifteen Grammy Award nominations.
In 2007, it was announced that Williams had signed with
Concord Records. A new album, which will be her eighth, is expected in 2008 and will feature old standards as well as some new material. Williams herself describes the new project as "sassy".
[Ask Billboard]
Acting career
Theatrical roles
Williams parlayed her ascendant music career into a theatrical role when she was cast in the
Broadway production of
Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994. She was also featured in the
Tony-nominated and
Drama Desk Award nominated performance as the Witch in
Stephen Sondheim's
Into the Woods in a revival of the show in 2002, which included songs revised for her.
Other notable theatrical roles include her performances in
Carmen Jones at the
Kennedy Center, the off-Broadway productions of
One Man Band and
Checkmates, and the
New York City Center's
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert,
St. Louis Woman.
Feature film roles
Williams has appeared in several feature films. Her most prominent role was in the film
Soul Food (
1997), for which she won the
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. Williams appeared in the 1991 cult classic film
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. She also co-starred with
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie
Eraser and opposite
Chayanne in
Dance with Me.
In 2007, Williams returned to the big screen starring in two independent motion pictures. The first being
My Brother, for which she won Best Actress honors at the
Harlem International Film Festival, the
African-American Women in Cinema Film Festival and at the
Santa Barbara African Heritage Film Festival, and the second being
And Then Came Love. In 2009, she will star alongside
Miley Cyrus in
Hannah Montana: The Movie.
[Production On 'Hannah Montana: The Movie' Is Underway - Entertainment Tonight News Story - WJXT Jacksonville]
Television
Williams' first television appearance was on a 1984 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,
MADtv,
Ally McBeal and
Boomtown.
She has 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. She appeared as the
Ebenezer Scrooge character in an update of the
Charles Dickens story "
A Christmas Carol" called "A Diva's Christmas Carol". In 2001, Williams starred in the
Lifetime cable movie about the life of
Henriette DeLille,
The Courage to Love. In early 2006 she starred in the short lived
UPN drama
South Beach.
In 2007, Williams received considerable media attention for her comic/villainess role as former magazine creative director turned editor-in-chief
Wilhelmina Slater in the
ABC comedy series
Ugly Betty, produced by
Salma Hayek. Her performance on the series resulted in a nomination for outstanding supporting actress at the
59th Primetime Emmy Awards. She also provides the voice for the main character on the
PBS Kids version of
Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies. In 2008, she was again nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for
Ugly Betty.
Other media appearances
Williams has appeared in advertisements for
RadioShack. She is a spokesmodel for
Proactiv Solution, and was the first African American spokesmodel for
L'Oréal cosmetics in the late 1990s. Her other media appearances include endorsing
Crest Rejuvenating Effects Toothpaste, appearing on
Who Wants to be a Millionaire in 2000 as a contestant, endorsing
Disneyland and
Universal Studios in a VisitCalifornia advert for the UK and Ireland 2008, and hosting the 6th Annual 2008
TV Land Awards show.
Name conflict
Vanessa L. Williams is most often referenced and publicly recognized simply as "Vanessa Williams". There is, however, occasional confusion with similarly-named actress
Vanessa A. Williams, who first came to national notice in 1992, when she appeared in the first season of
Melrose Place.
It is reported that Williams (VLW) first became aware of Vanessa A. Williams (VAW) in the 1980s when her
New York University registrar told her that another, similarly aged girl with the same name and from the same state had applied.
[B. Hobson, Louis. Vanessa dancing up a storm, Canoe.ca. August 16, 1998.][Vanessa Williams: Boomtown's New Bombshell!. TV Guide. September 2, 2003.] When VLW appeared as
Miss America in a
Macy's Day Parade, VAW accidentally received her check for the appearance (which she returned).
In the area of acting, the two ran into name conflict when
Screen Actors Guild rules prohibited duplicate stage naming. VAW had registered the name "Vanessa Williams" first,
so as a compromise, VLW was occasionally credited as "Vanessa L. Williams" in acting credits. To compound the confusion, both actresses starred in versions of the drama
Soul Food (VLW in the film version, and VAW in its
TV series adaptation). The Screen Actors Guild eventually took the issue to
arbitration and decided that both actresses could use the professional name "Vanessa Williams".
Today the stage name "Vanessa Williams" has widely come to be solely attributable to VLW. She is credited as such in the American television series
Ugly Betty, and as owner of the internet domain name vanessawilliams.com. To differentiate, VAW is most often publicly and professionally referenced as "Vanessa A. Williams".
In a 1997 interview with
Playboy magazine, VLW claims VAW made a "catty remark" about her when VAW appeared in a
Broadway play.
[Funny Facts] A year later, VLW told Canoe.ca: "(The other Vanessa Williams) registered the name first, but I made the name famous so I have more claim to it these days".
There is also another singer named
Vanessa Williams, a gospel vocalist.
Personal life
Williams is
Catholic.
[Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Vanessa L. Williams talk about their careers after marital breakups - Cover Story | Jet | Find Articles at BNET.com] She has been married twice. Her first marriage, to her then-manager Ramon Hervey II, was from 1987 to 1997. They have three children: Melanie (born 1987), Jillian (born 1989), and Devin (born 1993).
Her second marriage was to former
NBA basketball player
Rick Fox. They married in September 1999 and have a daughter, Sasha Gabriella (born May 2000). After
The National Enquirer published pictures of Fox kissing another woman in mid-2004, Fox's representative announced that the couple had been "headed toward divorce" for over a year.
[contactmusic.com] A few months later in August 2004, Fox filed for divorce.
[usatoday.com] During some press interviews, Williams cast some doubt on the divorce status,
[contactmusic.com] but while visiting the
Howard Stern radio show in March 2005, she said that while she and Fox were intimate with each other briefly during the 2004 holidays, a reconciliation was unlikely.
[ However, Williams remains good friends with both her exes.marksfriggin.com]
In early 2006, Williams dated 29-year-old actor
Rob Mack, whom she met on the set of her show
South Beach.
[nydailynews.com]
She is currently single and resides in
Beverly Hills, California and
Chappaqua, New York.
During an interview with
Barbara Walters which aired on February 24, 2008, Williams not only admitted to using
Botox but also called it "a miracle drug, no cutting, nothing, and I love it. But I also want to act so I don't do it to freeze my face."
[The Barbara Walters Special, Interview with Vanessa L. Williams. February 24, 2008.]
Popular culture
In
The Simpsons episode "
Lisa the Beauty Queen",
Krusty the Klown informs the pageant audience that it is possible for the runner-up to inherit the crown. He says, "
And don't say it'll never happen. Because we all remember that thing that happened with what's her name. Click, click. You know", a reference to Williams' nude photographs.
In the episode "
Itchy and Scratchy Land", when driving to the amusement park, Homer turns on the radio to hear the following
"Continuing our "Sign of Evil" countdown, here's Vanessa Williams", another reference to Williams' singing career.
Williams also contributes in an album featuring English-language translations of songs from the world-popular
Japanese pop music girl group
Morning Musume. She sings a translated version of their tenth single, "
I Wish".
Digital Underground referenced Vanessa Williams in the remix version of their song "Doowutchyalike." The line goes "Vanessa Williams, ooh you're so divine, just wanna put your name in my rhyme..." They also reference her in their song "Packet Man."
Calypso singer
Mighty Sparrow wrote and recorded a song about her following her Miss America scandal entitled
Vanessa.
Discography
Filmography
Motion pictures
Television
Guest appearances
Plays and musicals
Awards and accolades
Grammy Awards history
| Year
| Category
| Track/Album
| Result
|
| 1989
| Best New Artist
| "The Right Stuff"
| Nominated
|
| Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
| "The Right Stuff"
| Nominated
|
| 1990
| Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
| "Dreamin'"
| Nominated
|
| 1992
| Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
| "Runnin' Back to You"
| Nominated
|
| 1993
| Record of the Year
| "Save the Best for Last"
| Nominated
|
| Song of the Year
| "Save the Best for Last"
| Nominated
|
| Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
| "Save the Best for Last"
| Nominated
|
| Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
| "The Comfort Zone"
| Nominated
|
| Best Group Pop Vocal Performance
| "Love Is"
| Nominated
|
| 1995
| Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
| "Colors Of The Wind"
| Nominated
|
| Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
| "The Way That You Love"
| Nominated
|
| Best R&B Song
| "You Can't Run"
| Nominated
|
| Best Musical Show Album
| "Kiss Of The Spider Woman"
| Nominated - as part of cast
|
| 1996
| Best Song written for a Motion Picture
| "Colors Of The Wind"
| Winner - awarded to the writers of the song
|
| 1997
| Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
| "Star Bright"
| Nominated
|
| 2002
| Best Musical Show Album
| "Into The Woods"
| Nominated - as part of cast
|
Other awards/nominations
See also
