Vanessa Williams From skin scandals to song success, singer Vanessa Williams was born on March 18, 1963, in Millwood, New York . On her birth announcement, Williams’s parents had prophetically written “Here she is: Miss America.” As the daughter of two music teachers, Williams loved performing musical theater, and at age 18, received a scholarship to study at Syracuse University . She also began entering beauty pageants, representing New York in the 1983 Miss pageant. Williams won, making her the first African-American woman to ever take home the Miss America crown. The following year, when a series of nude photos which Williams had posed for years before appeared in Penthouse magazine, Williams was forced to resign as Miss America. Williams did not stay down for long. In 1986, she sang backup on George Clinton’s album R&B Skeletons in the Closet, and the following year, made her feature film debut in The Pickup Artist. Also in 1987, Williams married her manager, Ramon Harvey. This time around, Williams was gaining a positive kind of exposure, which eventually led her to land a record deal with Mercury/Polygram subsidiary label, Wing. In 1988, Williams released her debut album, The Right Stuff, featuring a mixture of poppy-dance tunes and contemporary ballads. The album was certified gold, and led to offers to appear in various made-for-TV movies. In 1991, Williams released her sophomore album, The Comfort Zone, to commercial success. Selling over two million copies, the album featured the popular ballad Save the Best for Last, landing Williams at the top of the pop charts. In 1993, Williams' duet with Brian McKnight, Love Is, received much radio-play, and was featured on the soundtrack of Beverly Hills 90210.
By the mid-90s, Williams had returned to her musical theater roots, landing the lead role in a Broadway production of Kiss of the Spider Woman and lending her voice to the cast album. Meanwhile, she continued to produce music, releasing her third album, The Sweetest Days, in 1994. The album went platinum, and featured material by Babyface and Sting. The following year, Williams sang the theme to Disney’s film Pocahontas. Colors of the Wind became a huge hit, and was recognized with an Academy Award. 1996 was a year of professional highs and personal lows for Williams. Her marriage to manager, Ramon Harvey, came to an end; and Williams also released her fourth studio album, Next, as well as the holiday album Star Bright. Also in 1996, Williams scored her biggest feature film role to date, starring opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser. She followed up in 1997 with an appearance in the ensemble drama Soul Food with Vivica A Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, and Mekhi Phifer. For her role in Soul Food, Williams received an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress. In 1998, Williams starred in Dance With Me (1998), followed by Light It Up (1999), and the remake of Shaft (2000) starring Samuel L Jackson. In 1999, Williams married LA Lakers basketball player Rick Fox; however the couple parted ways in 2004. Williams currently stars as Wilhelmina Slater on ABC’s comedy Ugly Betty, produced by Salma Hayek. |
