Vesta Williams

She was scheduled to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!"

Mary Vesta Williams (December 1, 1957 – September 22, 2011) was an American singer-songwriter, who performed across genres such as soul, funk, R&B, Quiet storm, jazz soul and Urban Contemporary.

Her family moved from Ohio to Los Angeles in the 1960s.

While there, Williams and her three sisters, Margaret, Marte and Marlena, appeared on the television show Jack and Jill as "The Williams Sisters".< Later, she returned to Ohio but decided to go back to Los Angeles in order to launch a solo career.

Former Fifth Dimension member Ron Townson put Williams in his band Wild Honey.

Following that stint, Williams found work as a backup singer, working with artists such as Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Sting, Stephanie Mills, Anita Baker 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.

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 United States Billboard R&B chart from the mid–1980s to the early–1990s that included "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" (1986), "Sweet Sweet Love" (1988), "Special" (1991), and her 1989 single and signature song, "Congratulations".

Born in Coshocton, Ohio, United States, Williams' father was a disc jockey.

After doing session work, she landed a recording contract with A&M Records and her debut album, Vesta, was released in 1986.

The album featured her first top 10 R&B hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", which became her only UK hit and performed modestly on the US R&B charts.

Her 1988 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 and #5 on the R&B chart.

"Congratulations" was Vesta's only single to enter the Hot 100 chart.

Her only album to appear on the US Billboard 200, peaking at No. 131.

There were persistent rumors that the song was inspired by the dissolution of her long-time relationship with Bruce Willis and that Demi Moore was directly responsible for ending it.

In 1989, Polygram Records purchased A&M Records.

Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was simply known as Vesta beginning in the 1990s.

She was known for her four–octave vocal range.

She once sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Los Angeles Lakers game opener using all four of those octaves.

In 1991, Williams released her third album entitled Special, with the title track as a single.

"Special" 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 a minor R&B hit, "Always".

Williams portrayed a saloon singer in the 1993 film Posse, directed by Mario Van Peebles.

During this time period she had a R&B minor hit "Always" in 1993.

Williams' 1998 album Relationships was released under the Polygram name, and it became a modest seller, appearing on the R&B charts.

Following the release of Relationships, A&M/Polygram did not renew her contract.

Williams continued to work as a session singer, landing spots on albums by such artists as Phil Perry, Howard Hewett, and George Duke.

Her voice could be heard by radio listeners in jingles for advertisers that included McDonald's, Nike, Baskin-Robbins, Diet Coke, Revlon and Exxon.

That same year, she performed the opening theme to the ABC miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place.

Williams had a recurring role as "Monica", Jackée Harry's best friend, in the television series Sister, Sister in the 1998–99 season.

Her singing voice is featured in the theme song of UPN's Malcolm and Eddie.

In 2000, Polygram released a compilation album, featuring songs from Williams and former A&M artist CeCe Peniston.

By 2002, Williams had become a radio personality, and was co-hosting a morning show on KRNB in Dallas/Fort Worth.

In recent years, Williams had lost 100 pounds, going from size 26 to size 6.

It was at this time that Williams became an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.

In 2007, Williams released an album of R&B songs on Shanachie Records entitled Distant Lover.

Produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis, Distant Lover was a cover album featuring 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.

Her final performance occurred on September 17, 2011, in Portsmouth, Virginia, at the Autumn Jazz Explosion, just five days before her death.

in Los Angeles on October 22, 2011.