Deniece Williams

June Deniece Williams (née Chandler; born June 3, 1950) is an American singer.

She has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC.

She is best known for the songs "Free", "Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two Billboard Hot 100 No.1 singles "Let's Hear It for the Boy" and "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" (with Johnny Mathis).

Williams has won four Grammys with twelve nominations altogether.

She (with Johnny Mathis) is also known for recording “Without Us”, the theme song of Family Ties.

June Deniece Chandler was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, United States.

She attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, in the hopes of becoming a registered nurse and an anesthetist, but she dropped out after a year and a half.

She recalled, "You have to be a good student to be in college, and I wasn't."

Williams started performing while a college student, "a part-time job singing at a club, Casino Royal, and I liked it. It was a lot of fun."

During those years, she also worked at a telephone company and as a ward clerk at the Chicago Mercy Hospital.

She recorded for The Toddlin' Town group of labels as Deniece Chandler.

One of those early records, "I'm Walking Away", was released on Toddlin's subsidiary Lock Records in the late 1960s, is a favorite on England's Northern Soul scene.

A brief spell in 1969 with Patti Hamilton's the Lovelites resulted in her lead on "I'm Not Like the Others", a track that was eventually released in 1999.

She became a backup vocalist for Stevie Wonder as part of "Wonderlove", lending her vocals on his albums Talking Book, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life.

Williams also appeared on Syreeta Wright's 1974 album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta, Minnie Riperton's 1974 album Perfect Angel and Roberta Flack's 1975 album Feel Like Makin' Love and 1977 album Blue Lights in the Basement.

She left Wonder in 1975 to sign a deal with Columbia Records and Kalimba Productions.

Kalimba was a production company started by Maurice White and Charles Stepney.

Williams went on to work on her first studio album with both White and Stepney as its producers.

Released in 1976 This Is Niecy rose to Nos.

3 and 33 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Billboard 200 charts respectively.

This Is Niecy has also been certified Gold in the United States by the RIAA and silver in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry.

An album cut, "Free", got to nos.

1, 2 & 25 on the UK Singles, Billboard Hot R&B Songs and Hot 100 charts respectively.

Another single being "That's What Friends Are For" rose to No. 8 on the UK Singles chart.

A few months before the release of This Is Niecy, Charles Stepney died.

White went on to solely produce Williams' second album, Song Bird, released in 1977.

The album rose to No. 23 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart.

Simon Gage of The Daily Express found Songbird is "filled with gorgeous songs that showcase her four-octave range to full effect".

John Rockwell of The New York Times also wrote "Deniece Williams's “Song Bird” is a most appealing album for anyone who likes varied, skillful and sophisticated singing in the black pop area. One can't be more stylistically precise than that because it is a characteristic of Maurice White's production and Miss Williams's virtuousically diverse singing that her disk ambles all over the stylistic map. But instead of sounding diffuse, it sounds refreshingly varied."

A tune from the album called "Baby, Baby My Love's All for You", reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart and No. 32 UK Singles chart.

Williams guested on Roberta Flack's 1977 album, Blue Lights in the Basement, and sang along with Maurice White on Weather Report's 1978 album, Mr. Gone.

Williams recorded a duet with Johnny Mathis, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Soul Songs and Adult Contemporary Songs charts.

Williams went on to issue a duet album with Johnny Mathis dubbed That's What Friends Are For in 1978 on Columbia for Kalimba Productions.

Paul Sexton of Record Mirror commented "their coupling is quite satisfactory from an artistic point of view."

Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times said "Mathis' duets with Williams have rescued him from the MOR graveyard and given him new life in the pop/R&B market. This album, far superior to the last featuring this pair, brims with romantic material. To make sure no one mistakes these songs for MOR, producer Jack Gold has tacked on sprightly rhythm tracks which turn some of them into gentle rockers."

The LP rose to No. 14 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and No. 19 on the Billboard 200 chart.

That album has also been certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.

An album cut as a cover of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's You're All I Need to Get By peaked at No. 5 on the RPM Canadian Adult Contemporary Songs chart, No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary songs chart.

William's fourth studio recording, When Love Comes Calling was issued in 1979 by ARC Records (ARC), Maurice White's vanity label on Columbia.

Connie Johnson of the Los Angeles Times proclaimed "This album (coproduced by Raydio's Ray Parker Jr.), nicely showcases Williams' expressive voice, and those translucent high C's she's capable of reaching."