Yasmeen Williams | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Betty J. Williams |
Genres | A cappella, Gospel Music |
Occupation(s) | singer, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | vocals |
Website |
www |
Yasmeen Williams (Also known as Betty J. Williams, Bheti Yasmeen Williams, and Yasmeen Bheti Williams-Johnson) is an American gospel singer and former member of the African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Yasmeen Williams is the daughter of Baptist preacher Rev. Dr. Edgar L. Williams [1] and Deaconess Gladys E. Weaver Williams. [2] [3] Her father pastored the Second New St. Paul Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. for approximately 45 years. [4]
Williams grew up during the gospel explosion in Washington, D.C. As a youth, she received her training in gospel music from her cousin, Dr. Shirley Ables-Starks [5] [6] of the Joy Gospel Singers [7] and her aunt, Vara Simpson, the founder of two gospel groups – The Service Gospel Singers and The Spiritualettes, who were often featured on the Metro D.C. WOOK Radio Station for early Sunday Morning worship.
According to a recent interview, [8] in the mid 1970s Williams attended the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (then the Festival of American Folklife) and came across a stage that was set up like an old "stoop." She saw a group of Black women sitting on this simulated porch dressed in African attire. [9] As they began to sing a cappella, Williams shared that she could "see my sister’s face in each of those women," and she had the vision of singing with them one day. That group was Sweet Honey in the Rock.
About a year after she first heard them sing, Williams joined the D.C. Black Repertory Theatre Company. A community funded program, it was under the directorship of actor Robert Hooks and his wife Rosie. [10] The leader of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Bernice Johnson Reagon, was the Director of the theatre's Music Department. [11]
In 1976, after hearing Williams sing in class one day, [12] Bernice Johnson Reagon, asked Yasmeen to audition for Sweet Honey in the Rock and she was accepted into the group. [13] [14] She sang with Sweet Honey for 17 years. While her full-time involvement ended in 1985, she often returned for special events and recordings. [15]
Sweet Honey in the Rock traveled the world singing and grassroots organizing. [16] The group was booked internationally by Roadwork, another woman's group that was co-organized by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Amy Horowitz. [17] [18] [19] Roadwork not only worked with Sweet Honey in the Rock, but also created Sisterfire, [20] an urban, global multiracial women's cultural festival that brought together diverse women artists like Sweet Honey in the Rock, and other radical women artists. Williams was part of Sweet Honey in the Rock during this time period along with Bernice Johnson Reagon, Evelyn Harris, Patricia Johnson, and later Ysaye Barnwell, and was heavily influenced by the management and organization of Roadwork. [21]
The recipients of numerous awards, including a Grammy for their work on Folkways: A Vision Shared – A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly. [22] Sweet Honey in the Rock is an American institution which is featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of American History. [23]
Major recordings and performances while Williams was active in the group include:
Yasmeen Williams, "Timeless." We Who Believe in Freedom: Sweet Honey In The Rock – Still on the Journey, edited by Bernice Johnson Reagon, Anchor Books Doubleday, 1993, pp. 75–86.
Williams has recorded four solo albums and contributed to two others with JeffMajors. [28] [29]
Mike Joyce, a columnist for The Washington Post who covered Williams and the D.C. music scene [38] [39] [40] wrote, "Opening was Yasmeen, the local singer best known for her work with Sweet Honey In The Rock. Her rich alto voice produced some sumptuous chest tones and silvery highs as she moved from a gospel tune to songs composed by Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan." [41]
Richard Harrington from The Washington Post said this of Williams' contributions to Sweet Honey: “The readings of the church standards are excellent, but the most memorable moments come in Sweet Honey’s introduction of two stunning West African songs ‘When I Die Tomorrow,’ uncovered at a Baptist church in Liberia and re-arranged by Yasmeen Williams-Johnson, is a compulsive swirl of polyrhythms and congregational communion.” [42]
Yasmeen is the mother of Summer Williams and has six grandchildren. [43]
Yasmeen Williams | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Betty J. Williams |
Genres | A cappella, Gospel Music |
Occupation(s) | singer, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | vocals |
Website |
www |
Yasmeen Williams (Also known as Betty J. Williams, Bheti Yasmeen Williams, and Yasmeen Bheti Williams-Johnson) is an American gospel singer and former member of the African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Yasmeen Williams is the daughter of Baptist preacher Rev. Dr. Edgar L. Williams [1] and Deaconess Gladys E. Weaver Williams. [2] [3] Her father pastored the Second New St. Paul Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. for approximately 45 years. [4]
Williams grew up during the gospel explosion in Washington, D.C. As a youth, she received her training in gospel music from her cousin, Dr. Shirley Ables-Starks [5] [6] of the Joy Gospel Singers [7] and her aunt, Vara Simpson, the founder of two gospel groups – The Service Gospel Singers and The Spiritualettes, who were often featured on the Metro D.C. WOOK Radio Station for early Sunday Morning worship.
According to a recent interview, [8] in the mid 1970s Williams attended the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (then the Festival of American Folklife) and came across a stage that was set up like an old "stoop." She saw a group of Black women sitting on this simulated porch dressed in African attire. [9] As they began to sing a cappella, Williams shared that she could "see my sister’s face in each of those women," and she had the vision of singing with them one day. That group was Sweet Honey in the Rock.
About a year after she first heard them sing, Williams joined the D.C. Black Repertory Theatre Company. A community funded program, it was under the directorship of actor Robert Hooks and his wife Rosie. [10] The leader of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Bernice Johnson Reagon, was the Director of the theatre's Music Department. [11]
In 1976, after hearing Williams sing in class one day, [12] Bernice Johnson Reagon, asked Yasmeen to audition for Sweet Honey in the Rock and she was accepted into the group. [13] [14] She sang with Sweet Honey for 17 years. While her full-time involvement ended in 1985, she often returned for special events and recordings. [15]
Sweet Honey in the Rock traveled the world singing and grassroots organizing. [16] The group was booked internationally by Roadwork, another woman's group that was co-organized by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Amy Horowitz. [17] [18] [19] Roadwork not only worked with Sweet Honey in the Rock, but also created Sisterfire, [20] an urban, global multiracial women's cultural festival that brought together diverse women artists like Sweet Honey in the Rock, and other radical women artists. Williams was part of Sweet Honey in the Rock during this time period along with Bernice Johnson Reagon, Evelyn Harris, Patricia Johnson, and later Ysaye Barnwell, and was heavily influenced by the management and organization of Roadwork. [21]
The recipients of numerous awards, including a Grammy for their work on Folkways: A Vision Shared – A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly. [22] Sweet Honey in the Rock is an American institution which is featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of American History. [23]
Major recordings and performances while Williams was active in the group include:
Yasmeen Williams, "Timeless." We Who Believe in Freedom: Sweet Honey In The Rock – Still on the Journey, edited by Bernice Johnson Reagon, Anchor Books Doubleday, 1993, pp. 75–86.
Williams has recorded four solo albums and contributed to two others with JeffMajors. [28] [29]
Mike Joyce, a columnist for The Washington Post who covered Williams and the D.C. music scene [38] [39] [40] wrote, "Opening was Yasmeen, the local singer best known for her work with Sweet Honey In The Rock. Her rich alto voice produced some sumptuous chest tones and silvery highs as she moved from a gospel tune to songs composed by Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan." [41]
Richard Harrington from The Washington Post said this of Williams' contributions to Sweet Honey: “The readings of the church standards are excellent, but the most memorable moments come in Sweet Honey’s introduction of two stunning West African songs ‘When I Die Tomorrow,’ uncovered at a Baptist church in Liberia and re-arranged by Yasmeen Williams-Johnson, is a compulsive swirl of polyrhythms and congregational communion.” [42]
Yasmeen is the mother of Summer Williams and has six grandchildren. [43]