Vesta Williams
| Vesta Williams | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mary Vesta Williams |
| Born |
December 1, 1957 Coshocton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | September 22, 2011 (aged 53) El Segundo, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer–songwriter, actress |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1985–2011 |
| Labels |
A&M PolyGram |
| Associated acts | Teena Marie, Deniece Williams, Al Jarreau, CeCe Peniston, George Duke, Phyllis Hyman, James Ingram, Angela Bofill, Luther Vandross, Chaka Khan, El Debarge, Gladys Knight |
| Website | vestawilliams |
Mary Vesta Williams (December 1, 1957 – September 22, 2011) was an American singer–songwriter, who performed across genres such as pop, jazz, adult contemporary and R&B. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was simply known as Vesta beginning in the 1990s. She was known for her four–octave vocal range. She once sang The Star Spangled Banner for the Los Angeles Lakers game opener using all four of those octaves. Although Williams never had any albums certified gold nor any Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, she scored six Top 10 hits on the United States Billboard R&B chart from the mid–1980s to the early–1990s which included "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" (1986), "Sweet Sweet Love" (1988), "Special" (1993), and her 1989 R&B hit and signature song, "Congratulations".
Born in Coshocton, Ohio, United States, Williams' father was a disc jockey. Her family moved from Ohio to Los Angeles in the 1960s. While there, Williams and her three sisters, Margaret, Marte and Marlena, appeared on the television show Jack and Jill as "The Williams Sisters". Later, she returned to Ohio but decided to go back to Los Angeles in order to launch a solo career. Former Fifth Dimension member Ron Townson put Williams in his band Wild Honey. Following that stint, Williams found work as a backup singer, working with artists such as Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Sting, Stephanie Mills, Anita Baker and Gordon Lightfoot. Williams sang on the original version of Joe Sample's "The Survivor", and met producer David Crawford while working with his group Klique. After doing session work, she landed a recording contract with A&M Records and her debut album, Vesta, was released in 1986. The album featured her first Top 10 R&B hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", which became her only UK hit and performed modestly on the US R&B charts.
...
Wikipedia