The Praise 1300am Family want to salute a woman who has a voice of an angel…Over the years she has sung with all of the greats from Stevie Wonder to Johnny Mathis…Happy Birthday Deniese Williams!!!
Born in Gary, Indiana, Williams attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland in the hopes of becoming a registered nurse and an anesthetist but dropped out after a year and a half. “You have to be a good student to be in college, and I wasn’t.”She also performed on the side during that time. (“I got a part-time job singing at a club, Casino Royal, and I liked it. It was a lot of fun.”) During those years Williams worked also in a telephone company and as a ward clerk in the Chicago Mercy Hospital. As Denise Chandler, she recorded for The Toddlin’ Town group of labels and one of those early records, “I’m Walking Away”, released on Toddlin’ Town’s Lock Records subsidiary in the late 1960s, is a favorite on England’s Northern Soulscene. In the 1970s, she became a backup vocalist for Stevie Wonder as part of “Wonderlove”.
She left Wonder in 1975 and after signing to Columbia Records, she teamed up with two famed producers: Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, and his frequent collaborator, Charles Stepney. Her 1976 debut album entitled This Is Niecy was released. The single “Free” reached number 2 on the Black Singles chart, number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 1 on the British Singles chart.
CLICK HERE to read bio
source: wikipedia.com
