Saturday, Mar 15
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Born June Deniece Chandler (birthdate June 3, 1950) known by her stage name, Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s. Ms. Williams, whose music has been influenced by Soul and Funk, is known for her hits such as “Free,” “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle,” and for her many vocal duets with Johnny Mathis.
In 1984, Deniece released the album Let’s Hear It for the Boy, in which the title track reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was featured on the soundtrack to Footloose. The song would prove to be the biggest pop hit of her career – and the last. She also contributed vocals, along with Maurice White, to the song “And Then” from Weather Report’s album Mr. Gone released in 1982. She continued releasing albums during the 1980s such as Hot On The Trail (1986), Water Under The Bridge (1987), and As Good As It Gets (1988), which featured her last Top Ten hit to date, “I Can’t Wait”, written by Skylark.
Although Deniece had recorded one inspirational song on almost each of her albums, it was in 1980 that her musical career path began change toward one of her favorite things, Gospel music. She joined with friends Phillip Bailey (Earth, Wind and Fire fame), Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo to present a gospel show at a popular Los Angeles club named The Roxy. The show was called “Jesus At the Roxy”. Deniece felt strongly about it saying, “God did something miraculous. Over three hundred people were saved”, as reported in an interview with Gospel Today Magazine. After that, both Bailey and Williams decided to pursue careers in Christian music.
Deniece continues to work on countless projects and is still quite active in the music industry today. She has an incredible five-octave range and distinctive soprano voice. Her vocal range was also pointed out by The New York Times, “Miss Williams mounted a spectacular vocal display in which her penetrating, feline soprano soared effortlessly to E flat above high C, and she worked various vowel sounds into prolonged feats of vocal gymnastics”.
Deniece Williams' website
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