Musical artist
Mary Vesta Williams (December 1, 1957 – September 22, 2011) was an American R&B singer. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was sometimes simply billed as Vesta from the 1990s onwards.[2] 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 US Billboard R&B chart from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. Williams was known for the hits "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," "Sweet Sweet Love," "Congratulations" and "Special."[3]
Biography
Born in Coshocton, Ohio, United States,[1][2] the daughter of a disc jockey. Williams ran track in high school but became more interested in singing. Her family moved from Ohio to Los Angeles in the 1960s. Williams and her sisters once appeared on the television show Jack and Jill as The Williams Sisters. She returned to Ohio in 1977, and sang in the girl group Wild Honey (with bandmate Freddi Poole), but soon decided to go back to Los Angeles to launch a solo career.[2] Former Fifth Dimension member Ron Townson put Williams in his band Wild Honey. After that stint, she found work as a session musician, working with artists such as Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Stephanie Mills, 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 much session work, she secured a recording contract with A&M Records which released her debut album Vesta in 1986. The album became a modest seller on the R&B Albums Chart and it featured her first Top 10 R&B hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", which also became her only UK hit.[2]
Her 1988 sophomore release, Vesta 4 U, produced the Top 10 R&B hits "Sweet Sweet Love", "4 U", and "Congratulations", with the latter peaking at #55 on the Hot 100 chart, her only single to appear in that chart. This would also be her most successful album, and her only album to appear on the US Billboard 200, peaking at #131. In 1991, Williams released her third album entitled Special, and the title track as a single. That single became her highest charting song on the R&B chart at #2, but sales of the album were less than that of Vesta 4 U. Her next album, 1993's Everything-N-More, produced only the minor R&B hit "Always".
In 1989, Polygram Records purchased A&M Records. Williams' 1998 album Relationships was released under the Polygram name, and it became a modest seller and appeared on the R&B chart. After this album, A&M/Polygram Records parted ways with her. She continued to be a session singer, landing spots on albums by such artists as Phil Perry, Howard Hewett, and George Duke.
Williams portrayed a saloon singer in the 1993 film Posse, directed by Mario Van Peebles. She also had a hit with the SWV song, "Rain", with the smooth jazz musician, Norman Brown.
She guest starred with Jackee Harry in the television series Sister, Sister in the 1994-95 season.[4]
In 2000, Polygram released a compilation album, featuring songs from Williams and CeCe Peniston, another Polygram artist.
In 2007, Williams released an album of R&B songs on Shanachie Records entitled Distant Lover. Produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis, it featured songs originally recorded by Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Sade, and Deniece Williams.
Her last recording was the song "Dedicated," released on 7 December 2010 on Stimuli Music.[5]
She had recently lost 100 pounds and she went from a size 26 down to a petite size 6.[6]
Her last performance was on September 17, 2011 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Performing at the Autumn Jazz Explosion, Williams looked slim and healthy as she sang her signature song, a heartbreaking story that wished well to a former lover who had married someone else. For the Portsmouth show Williams had changed the ending of her song. After singing the lyrics that bid him farewell, she added a final verse that showed how she had found her own peace. Williams sang, "As long as I can walk this earth and make you laugh and make you cry with me with this gift that God gave me, as long as I'm walking it's okay that I got my heart broken. ‘cause I got a new friend anyway. He don't lie. He's always by my side. He makes me want to testify. Thank you Jesus. So now as long as I can breathe heavenly father you've always be the one for me."[4]
Williams was scheduled to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!" in Los Angeles on October 22. The show has stated that it will now be paying tribute to her and another late soul singer, Teena Marie. [7]
Death
On September 22, 2011, Williams was found dead in a hotel room in El Segundo, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.[1][8] An official cause of death has not been released.[9][10] According to the county coroner's office, Williams was found dead at 6:15 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled to determine the exact cause of death; a coroner's office spokesman has stated that the cause of death was likely a drug overdose.[1]
Williams is survived by an adult daughter and a granddaughter.[11]
