Williams has enjoyed remarkable success in music, theater, television and film. Williams' current motion picture project is the romantic dance-musical Shut Up and Dance, due in early 1998. She also starred in the epic mini-series "The Odyssey" and appears in the gangster film Hoodlum.

Williams was born in Millwood, New York and majored in musical theater at Syracuse University. She has been honored with two NAACP Image Awards, nine Grammy Award nominations and a number of New York Music Awards. Her musical accomplishments began with her first release, 1988's "The Right Stuff," which became a pop and R&B smash. The multi-million seller "The Comfort Zone," featuring the hit single "Save the Best for Last," followed.

Her acting credits also include such television movies as "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Nothing Lasts Forever" and "Bye, Bye Birdie."

Among her recent accomplishments, she starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the box-office hit Eraser and had a triumphant nine-month run on Broadway in "Kiss of the Spider Woman." In addition, her third album, "The Sweetest Days," achieved platinum success, and her single, "Colors of the Wind," from the platinum soundtrack to "Pocahontas," soared up the charts and earned an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Her fourth album, "Next," was released in August and she began her first concert tour, co-headlining with Luther Vandross.