Jillian Hervey

Jillian Hervey (born 1989) is an American singer, dancer and member of the group Lion Babe. She is the daughter of Ramon Hervey II and singer, actress and former Miss America Vanessa Williams.

In addition to parents Hervey and Williams, Jillian Hervey is the niece of actor Chris Williams and the great-great-great-granddaughter of William A. Feilds, a former slave who was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives during Reconstruction; the latter connection was uncovered when the television show Who Do You Think You Are? traced the family's genealogy.

Hervey was raised Roman Catholic.

Hervey grew up in Chappaqua, New York, dividing time between the homes of her parents who divorced when she was eight. She has remarked on her experience of being, in her words, “the only black girl, ever, in any capacity” growing up, as well as her awareness of the harassment her mother faced after she was the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America. Hervey told the Telegraph, "Even when I was a child, I knew...When my mom would go on her tours, and she was in Alabama and there were snipers on rooftops trying to kill her, or people would send her envelopes with pubic hair inside."

Hervey took up guitar at age 11 and studied dance at the New School, where she also became interested in performance art. During her time at the New School, Hervey began working with eventual Lion Babe collaborator Lucas Goodman. The two had met years earlier at a party, and Hervey reached out to him when a dance assignment at school required original music.

In 2000, Hervey appeared in the Lifetime television movie The Courage to Love. The film was an historical drama starring Hervey's mother Vanessa Williams as Henriette Delille, a free woman of color who was born into a prominent New Orleans family in 1813.

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