The renowned dance music artist, Jessica Williams, has been singing since she could talk. One of ten children she was raised in a gospel singing home and church in Tyler, Texas. She was very fortunate to work with Motown songwriter-producer Hal Davis and soon found herself backing Motown stalwarts like Diana Ross on ‘Love Hangover’ and Thelma Houston on ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ along with numerous songs for Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, and The Jackson Five.
She became a lead singer for dance producer Simon Soussan’s (who produced Pattie Brooks, Shalimar, etc.) group Arpeggio the first group from his Polydor-distributed label, Harem Records. With Arpeggio Jessica acquired some hits under her belt like ‘Love and Desire” and ‘Let The Music Play. She also had some solo recordings ‘Queen Of Fools’, ‘Limelight’, and ‘Love Hostage’ at Harem Records, which are dance classics.
With her studio and club tour success, Jessica, still continued her rewarding work as a background vocalist for The Jazz Crusaders (Ghetto blaster album), Stephanie Mills, Laine Kazan, and Helen Reddy giving her the chance to explore other musical styles. Her independent projects as a campy send-up of ‘These Boots Were Made For Walking’ produced by Man To Man, brought her a great cult following in England and Mexico.
Producer Rick Gianatos, who produced for Scheme Payne and
Jayne Edwards, knew very well Jessica’s gifted versatile talents and invited
her to join in for some session work for his Motor City Reunion project.
Jessica then joined Rick’s Altair Records label and they put their heads
together and came up with a sparkling new version of ‘Keep The Fire Burning, an
eighties powerhouse R&B tune written by Willie Hutch and originally
recorded by Gwen McRae.
Jessica used her versatility by singing background and booking the background singers for acts appearing on ‘The Arsenic Hall Show’, in which she worked with her husband John B. Williams who was the Bassist and resident poet in the show’s band ‘The Posse’. In 1998, Jessica reunited with Helen Reddy on Helen Reddy’s CD ‘Center Stage, a collection of Broadway songs.
It was through her association with Helen Reddy that Jessica
was asked to lend her vocal talents to a dance remake of Helens’ Grammy-winning
‘I Am Woman. Fine Line Features released ‘Trick,” starring Christian Campbell,
J.P. Pitoc, and Tori Spelling. ‘I Am Woman’ appears in its entirety in the
film, and is on the movie’s soundtrack distributed by Will Records. So, after
all those years in the background, Jessica Williams has moved up front right
where she belongs with Paradax Records. Jessica contacted Dwayne Taylor the
founder of Paradax Records and a mutual music relationship was born. Jessica
recorded her debut single ‘Faith, Friendship & Love’ on March 23rd, 2006
with Paradax Records. The track received a positive reaction within the dance
music community. Many of Jessica’s fans were happy to see and hear her back
where she should be with a new record label and an updated fresh new sound. The
second single ‘Mingle With the Night’ was successfully promoted at the 2008
Winter Music Conference and continues to get into the hands of the “A-List”
DJs. The remixes were done by some of the best talents on both sides of the
U.S. i.e. Aaron Arce, Frankie Medina, Estranjeros, Roqsta, and Victor
Simonelli.
In the 2000’s Jessica has recorded and released songs
including ’24 Hours A Day’, ‘Sunset People’ and “This Time Baby’ with producer
Rick Gianatos. Her new album, ‘Tell Mama’ was just released in England and is
available for order from VBeat Records. Link at the bottom of the page.
Alan Mercer: What country released your new album, ‘Tell Mama’?
Jessica Williams: It
was released in the UK. Paul Tams got the OK to release it since Rick Gianatos,
who is going through Parkinsons, turned everything over to Paul. We are having
a release party on the eighth of March in Los Angeles.
AM: Awesome! I wish I
was there to see you. Did you wonder if this album was ever going to come out?
JW: The record label
was going through so many legal issues that I kind of put it on hold. I had
decided it was not going to come out. There had already been a couple of songs
out as singles. Paul Tams never gave up. He kept working out the kinks on the
business end of it, so he got Rick to OK it and we finally got both sides to come
together again, so yeah, we put it out and it’s great. You know, Gwen McCrae
just passed away and I have ‘Gotta Keep the Fire Burnin’ on my album.
AM: The title track
is such a stunning showcase for you. Was it your idea to record it?
JW: No, Rick talked
to me about it and I said, “Oh yeah, I used to sing that song when I was in a
group.” This was when I first started out, I was singing with this group from
Santa Barbara, California. We would sing in different little nightclubs. We
were kids really. So when Rick brought it up, I thought, well the song has
followed me all my career. It’s a fun song with Etta James.
AM: It sure is. Are
you going to perform it in your show?
JW: It will depend on
the club. Some of them will only let you perform the songs they play. I am now
considered a High Energy Artist, so it depends what songs they pick, but I can
slip it in whenever I want to. I only sing about 4 songs for any show, but I’m
sure that could be one of them.
AM: Of course,
everyone wants to hear your massive dance classics.
JW: Yeah, ‘They Call
Me The Queen Of Fools’ is bigger than ‘Queen Of Fools’ now. That’s so funny to
me, now.
AM: You were also a member
of the group, Arpeggio. Maybe you still are. Do they still exist?
JW: The group doesn’t
really exist anymore, but every now and then I’ll slip in ‘Love & Desire’
and songs from Romance. I was signed to Harem Records at that time, so I got to
do all of the songs. I got to pick and choose, and he would put different
groups together, but I was the girl singer, most of the time.
AM: Jessica, you are
one of the leading background vocalists of your generation. You have supported
so many superstars.
JW: I sang for Helen
Reddy and we did a duet. She is on my ‘Bouquet’ album, too. We recorded a song
called ‘My Friend’ for her ‘Center Stage’ album. That was a showstopper number
from a Broadway play in New York. We became close friends when we started working
together. Even after she retired, we still got together and worked out and went
out toe at and did friend things. We had the same personal trainer. She would
drive to my house, and I would go see her all the time. Every person I sang
background for ended up becoming my friend.
AM: I’m sure everyone
fell in love with you, and you are an amazing singer, so it makes sense.
JW: I was never a
threat. I never tried to outshine anyone. I was there to make them look good. I
was one of Lainie Kazan’s background singers at the Playboy Club. Lainie had
her own room at the Playboy Club with Hough Hefner. I got to travel to a lot of
different cities with her. That’s how I met my husband.
AM: Speaking of your
husband, I recently discovered you did an album together titled ‘African Queen
A Tribute to Horace Silver’ and it is really amazing! Your three vocal tracks
are spectacular, and the other instrumental tracks are all on fire! It’s an
enjoyable album.
JW: My husband worked
with Arsenio Hall. He was the bass player in the posse. I got to do a lot of
singing on there. Martha Wash came on the show, so I got to do her show.
Jeffrey Osbourne, the gospel singing group, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and guess
who else…Ringo Starr!
AM: Oh wow!
JW: I got to sing with
Ringo Starr when he was on the show and he was funny. He is the only artist who
ever asked for my resume, so I got one for him and when he saw it, he said, “I
should be backing you guys.”
AM: You have a book
in you. Those little bits of information is what is so interesting.
JW: I should be doing
stuff like that, but I’ve slowed down a lot. I raised all of my grandchildren,
two of my kids passed away. I still have a ten year old and my husband is under
the weather now. I have to pick and choose what I do.
AM: You are very busy
doing very important work.
JW: Yes, but I’m
still Jessica and I still like to hit that stage.
AM: Do you have any
plans to be on stage in 2025?
JW: Yes, I have some
gigs here in the Los Angeles area. I’ve got some shows with Pierre Canon. He’s
one of the big promoters here. I’ll be doing a show with the group, Lime in
August. I’m trying to stay closer to home because I don’t want to leave my
husband. I still like to work. A lot of the time, I will take him with me and
have an assistant watch over him so he can watch me perform. He took care of me,
so I don’t even really have to work. What he has accomplished in this business
has afforded me the opportunity to not do anything if I don’t want to.
