Vesta Williams
Encyclopedia
Mary Vesta Williams was an American
R&B
singer. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was sometimes simply billed as Vesta beginning in the 1990s. She was known for her four-octave vocal range. 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 US
Billboard
R&B
chart
from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. Williams was known for the hits "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," "Sweet Sweet Love," "Special", and her 1989 #1 hit and signature song, "Congratulations".
, United States
, Williams' father was a disc jockey
. 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
. 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. The album would become her most successful, and her only album to appear on the US Billboard 200
, peaking at #131. 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".
In 1989, Polygram Records purchased A&M Records. 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 McDonalds, Nike
, Baskin Robbins, Diet Coke
, Revlon
and Exxon
.
Williams portrayed a saloon singer in the 1993 film Posse
, directed by Mario Van Peebles
. During this time period she had a hit with the SWV
song, "Rain
", recorded alongside smooth jazz
musician, Norman Brown
. Williams had a recurring role as "Monica", Jackee Harry
's best friend, in the television series Sister, Sister
in the 1994-95 season.
In 2000, Polygram released a compilation album
, featuring songs from Williams and Polygram artist, CeCe Peniston
. 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.
By 2002, Williams became a radio personality and was co-hosting a morning show on KRNB
, a radio station based in Dallas/Fort Worth. In recent years, Williams lost 100 pounds, going from size 26 to a size 6. It was at this time that Williams became an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.
Her final performance was on September 17, 2011 in Portsmouth, Virginia
, performing at the Autumn Jazz Explosion."
Williams was scheduled to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!" in Los Angeles on October 22. The show has stated that it will now be paying tribute to her and the late singer, Teena Marie
. She was also scheduled to be the subject of an upcoming episode of "Unsung" on TVOne.
, a suburb of Los Angeles. According to the county coroner's office, Williams was found dead at 6:15 p.m. While a Los Angeles County Coroner's Office spokesperson has stated that Williams' demise was likely due to a drug overdose, the autopsy did not yield a cause of death and the toxicology results could take four to six weeks.
Ms. Williams was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
on Octoder 4th, 2011 after a public memorial service at West Angeles Church of God in Christ
in Los Angeles, California
.
She is survived by her mother, daughter, three sisters, brother and three grandchildren.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was sometimes simply billed as Vesta beginning in the 1990s. She was known for her four-octave vocal range. Although Williams never had any albums certified gold nor any Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, she scored six Top 10 hits on the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. Williams was known for the hits "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," "Sweet Sweet Love," "Special", and her 1989 #1 hit and signature song, "Congratulations".
Biography
Born in Coshocton, OhioCoshocton, Ohio
Coshocton is a city in and the county seat of Coshocton County, Ohio, United States. The population of the city was 11,682 at the 2000 census. The Walhonding River and the Tuscarawas River meet in Coshocton to form the Muskingum River....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Williams' father was a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
. Her family moved from Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
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
Wild Honey
-Singles:* "Wild Honey" b/w "Wind Chimes" , 23 October 1967 US #31; UK #29* "Darlin'" b/w "Here Today" , 18 December 1967 US #19; UK #11....
. Following that stint, Williams found work as a backup singer
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, working with artists such as Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
, Sting, Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...
, Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
and Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
. Williams sang on the original version of Joe Sample
Joe Sample
Joseph Leslie "Joe" Sample is an American pianist, keyboard player and composer.He is one of the founding members of the Jazz Crusaders, the band which became simply The Crusaders in 1971, and remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991 .- Biography :Sample began playing the piano...
's "The Survivor", and met producer David Crawford while working with his group Klique
Klique
Klique was an American R&B trio, consisting of Howard Huntsberry, Isaac Suthers and his sister, Deborah Hunter. They released four albums, starting with It's Winning Time in 1981, concluding with Love Cycles in 1985...
. After doing session work, she landed a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
and her debut album, Vesta, was released in 1986. The album featured her first Top 10 R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", which became her only UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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. The album would become her most successful, and her only album to appear on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, peaking at #131. 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".
In 1989, Polygram Records purchased A&M Records. 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
Phil Perry
Phil Perry is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group The Montclairs from 1971 to 1975.- Biography :...
, Howard Hewett
Howard Hewett
Howard Hewett is an American R&B and gospel singer and former lead vocalist of the R&B group Shalamar.Raised in Akron, Ohio, Hewett moved to Los Angeles. He would eventually meet Soul Train dancer and future first wife Rainey Riley-Cunningham, then a secretary of the show's creator and original...
, and George Duke
George Duke
George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
. Her voice could be heard by radio listeners in jingles for advertisers that included McDonalds, Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
, Baskin Robbins, Diet Coke
Diet Coke
Diet Coke is a sugar-free soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. It was first introduced in the United States on August 9, 1982, as the first new brand since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark...
, Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
and Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
.
Williams portrayed a saloon singer in the 1993 film Posse
Posse (1993 film)
Posse is a 1993 American Western film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. Featuring a large ensemble cast of mostly African-American actors, the film is about a posse of black soldiers and one ostracized white soldier, who are all betrayed by a corrupt colonel. The title of the film refers...
, directed by Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles
Mario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles is an American director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is son of filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.-Life and career:...
. During this time period she had a hit with the SWV
SWV
Sisters with Voices, better known as SWV, is an American female R&B trio from New York. Formed in 1990 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including "Weak", "Right Here/Human Nature", "I'm So Into You", and "You're the One"....
song, "Rain
Rain (SWV song)
"Rain" is the title of final single to be released by the group SWV. The musical backing track is based on Jaco Pastorius's "Portrait of Tracy." Released as a single in 1997, the song peaked at number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 7 on the US Hot R&B Singles chart. It was...
", recorded alongside smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
musician, Norman Brown
Norman Brown (guitarist)
Norman Brown is a smooth jazz guitarist & singer, often compared to his contemporary George Benson.-Overview:...
. Williams had a recurring role as "Monica", Jackee Harry
Jackée Harry
Jacqueline Yvonne "Jackée" Harry , better known by her professional name Jackée, is an American actress and television personality, primarily known for her roles on sitcoms and other types of television shows...
's best friend, in the television series Sister, Sister
Sister, Sister
Sister, Sister may refer to:* Sister, Sister , a TV movie starring Diahann Carroll* Sister, Sister , a thriller starring Eric Stoltz* Sister, Sister , by Andrew Neiderman...
in the 1994-95 season.
In 2000, Polygram released a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, featuring songs from Williams and Polygram artist, CeCe Peniston
CeCe Peniston
CeCe Peniston is an African American recording artist and former beauty queen. At the beginning of the nineties, she was considered to be one of the most successful dance club artists in the history of the U.S...
. In 2007, Williams released an album of R&B songs on Shanachie Records
Shanachie Records
Shanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic...
entitled Distant Lover. Produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis, Distant Lover was a cover album featuring songs originally recorded by Bill Withers
Bill Withers
William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
, Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, Sade
Sade Adu
Helen Folasade Adu OBE , is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.-Biography:Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria...
, and Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler 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...
.
Her last recording was the song "Dedicated," released on 7 December 2010 on Stimuli Music.
By 2002, Williams became a radio personality and was co-hosting a morning show on KRNB
KRNB
KRNB is an urban adult contemporary-formatted radio station in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Service Broadcasting Corporation alongside its sister stations KKDA-AM-FM. Its studios are located in Grand Prairie, Texas.-History:...
, a radio station based in Dallas/Fort Worth. In recent years, Williams lost 100 pounds, going from size 26 to a size 6. It was at this time that Williams became an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.
Her final performance was on September 17, 2011 in Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
, performing at the Autumn Jazz Explosion."
Williams was scheduled to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!" in Los Angeles on October 22. The show has stated that it will now be paying tribute to her and the late singer, Teena Marie
Teena Marie
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer, songwriter and producer...
. She was also scheduled to be the subject of an upcoming episode of "Unsung" on TVOne.
Death
On September 22, Williams was found dead in a hotel room in El Segundo, CaliforniaEl Segundo, California
El Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on the Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is one of the Beach Cities of Los Angeles County and part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments...
, a suburb of Los Angeles. According to the county coroner's office, Williams was found dead at 6:15 p.m. While a Los Angeles County Coroner's Office spokesperson has stated that Williams' demise was likely due to a drug overdose, the autopsy did not yield a cause of death and the toxicology results could take four to six weeks.
Ms. Williams was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...
on Octoder 4th, 2011 after a public memorial service at West Angeles Church of God in Christ
West Angeles Church of God in Christ
West Angeles Church of God in Christ is a Baptist Christian church and a member of the Church of God in Christ denomination. It is located in the West Adams Historic District of Los Angeles, California, USA....
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
She is survived by her mother, daughter, three sisters, brother and three grandchildren.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Record Label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US R&B Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
|||||
| 1986 | Vesta | — | 43 | A&M A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:... |
||
| 1988 | Vesta 4 U | 131 | 26 | |||
| 1991 | Special | — | 15 | |||
| 1993 | Everything-N-More | — | 65 | |||
| 1998 | Relationships | — | 55 | I.E. / PolyGram PolyGram PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:... |
||
| 2000 | Winning Combinations (a compilation) with CeCe Peniston CeCe Peniston CeCe Peniston is an African American recording artist and former beauty queen. At the beginning of the nineties, she was considered to be one of the most successful dance club artists in the history of the U.S... |
— | — | A&M/Universal Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
||
| 2007 | Distant Lover | — | — | Shanachie Shanachie Records Shanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic... |
||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
US Dance Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
Dutch Single Top 100 | UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
||
| 1986 | "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" | — | 9 | 45 | 20 | 14 |
| 1987 | "Something About You" | — | 46 | 21 | — | — |
| "Don't Blow a Good Thing" | — | 17 | 5 | — | 89 | |
| "Suddenly It's Magic" | — | — | — | — | 88 | |
| "You Make Me Want To (Love Again)" | — | 90 | — | — | — | |
| 1988 | "Sweet, Sweet Love" | — | 4 | — | — | — |
| 1989 | "4 U" | — | 9 | — | — | — |
| "Congratulations" | 55 | 5 | — | — | — | |
| "How You Feel" | — | 70 | — | — | — | |
| 1990 | "I'll Be Good to You" (with Najee Najee Jerome Najee Rasheed , known professionally as Najee, is an urban jazz saxophonist and flautist.He attended New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied with George Russell and Jaki Byard.... ) |
— | 9 | — | — | — |
| 1991 | "Special" | — | 2 | — | — | — |
| "Do Ya" | — | 43 | — | — | — | |
| 1993 | "Always" | — | 44 | — | — | — |
| 1998 | "Somebody For Me" | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2010 | "Dedicated" | — | — | — | — | — |
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart or was not released | ||||||
External links
- Vesta Williams on Soul Tracks
- Sweet Sweet Love music video
- Special music video
- Congratulations music video