Soul Express Interview/ArticleBy Heikki SuosaloDENIECE WILLIAMSPart 3 (1982 – 2008) In 1981DenieceWilliamsandThom Bellcollaborated on a classy album entitledMyMelody, which spawned a timeless beauty calledSilly. After findingthe magic formula in composing and producing, Deniece and Thom continuedworking together and created another masterpiece released in early 1982, analbum simply titledNiecy (ARC 37952). Again it wasrecorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia and the rhythm section wasexactly the same as on the previous album -Bobby EliandBill Nealeonguitars, Thom Bell andGeorge Merrillon keyboards,Bob Babbittonbass,Charles Collinson drums andLarry WashingtonandEdShay on percussion. It became one of the highest charted albums inDeniece’s career, when it peaked at # 5-soul and # 20-pop in Billboard. IT’S GONNA TAKE AMIRACLE As a taster fromthe upcoming album they first released a single, a cover ofthe Royalettes’65middle-sized hit calledIt’s Gonna Take a Miracle(# pop-41). ThomBell: “I thinkTeddy RandazzoandBobby Weinsteindid that song(plusLou Stallman). I love their writing. And I love the arrangingthatDon Costadoes forLittle Anthony and the Imperials. Thatwas the first guy that turned me on – Don Costa! They hadI’m on theOutside (Looking In), Hurt So Bad, Goin’ Out Of My Head… After that cameBurtBacharach, another one I loved. They were applying their classicaltraining, I believe, to so-called r&b, modern music. I didn’t knowanything about the so-called r&b music at all, until I was aboutseventeen-eighteen, because that’s not where my family was leaning me. I comefrom the classical end of it.” Deniece: “I’vegrown up listening toIt’s Gonna Take a Miracle. I heard that, when Iwas fifteen years old, and I absolutely love the song. I only sang gospelmusic growing up. We didn’t do any r&b or any other kinds of music. Thatwas a no-no, against our belief. But there was a group at high school that wasgoing to perform in this talent show and one of their singers got ill. Theyasked if I could sing with them in this talent show, because our girl can’t doit and we still want to do it. I learnedIt’s Gonna Take a Miracle andsang background. There was another girl, who sang lead. We did really well inthe talent show. We didn’t win. That was the only school talent show that Iperformed in, but that’s the song we did. As I was sitting around the kitchenone day with Thom Bell, I was saying ‘do you know this song’ and I startedhumming it to Thom. Then we left the kitchen, got to the piano and startedsinging the song and Thom said ‘let’s do it’.” Thom: “Every nowand then I do an older song likeIt’s Gonna Take a Miracle. That’s veryrare for me. If you look at my career, I don’t usually do them. They’reboring to me.” Deniece’s single went all the way to the very top of the soulcharts in May 1982 and stayed there for two weeks (# 10-pop). WAITING BY THE HOTLINE In July theyreleased the follow-up, a catchy mid-tempo song calledWaiting by theHotline(# 29-black, # 103-pop), written by Deniece and Thom, and it’s thekind of a song that could have been tailor-made forthe Spinners a fewyears earlier. Thom: “I have found that once a writer writes something, thatwriter has its own fingerprints. They have their own DNA. If I’ve heard youonce, I automatically know who you are the second time around, because I knowyour fingerprints. It’s the same way with me.” By the end ofthe year 1982 still one more single was released, a smooth slowie namedWaiting(# 72-black), which again was written by Deniece and Thom. Thom: “I always tryto write great melodies, because I always felt that the consumer deserves toget for their money the best that I can give them. I hate to hear some ofthose albums years ago that would come out with one hit single and the rest ofit is junk. A lot of the albums that came out in the 50s, 60s and 70s – theywere junk. They were terrible, and the companies were actually ripping peopleoff with those albums. I felt that I didn’t want that. I want people to know,when they’ve heard a Thom Bell product. It might not be a hit product, butit’s a good product.” One of thegoodies that the two wrote together for the album isNow Is the Time forLove,a soft and melodic uptempo song, whereas a lovely serenade calledAPart of Love was penned by Deniece andKevin Bassinson, an upcomingmusic score composer. Thom: “That was one of my little surprises. That’s theone I did with three cellos.” Unfortunately,after those two lovely albums Deniece and Thom discontinued theircollaboration. Thom: “What happened was that she was going through a religiousawakening, and religion is really not my thing. Religion and politics are thetwo areas I stay away from. I stay away on purpose, because I feel thatthey’re very personal with people. You can’t get much more personal than yourreligion, what you believe in or what you don’t believe in. You’re going toget yourself in areas that you know nothing about. I’m not a preacher. I’mnotMartin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi… They do that for living. Idon’t. I do music for living.” A turning pointfor Deniece was, when she performed withPhilip Bailey andBilly andMarilyn McCoo at a gospel show in Los Angeles in 1980 and “God didsomething miraculous. Over three hundred people were saved.” After the showshe and Phillip decided to pursue careers in Christian music, and Deniece wasalso about to stop working with Thom on theMy Melodyalbum but luckilyshe reconsidered. Thom: “She’s afantastic singer. You very rarely ever can find a singer that can do thingsthat she does. Performing is not what she does good, but she’s a greatsinger. She has that 4-octave range, and her voice is extremely powerful. Like most great singers, you have to give them something that will challengethem. If you don’t do that, that’s boring. Deniece is one of the best singersthat I’ve ever worked with in any key. She rarely ever, ever sings flat. Allthe time – early in the morning or late at night – she rehearses, practices,and she’s a clean, classy lady.” Thom has someexciting things to look forward to. Thom: “They’ve asked me to conduct thePhiladelphia Symphony Orchestra, and I’m planning on that, doing a wholeevening. If you know anything about that orchestra, that’s one of the oldestin the world. I will be the first one off my kind of music – so-called popmusic, or r&b music… any name you want to give it – to do something likethat, and believe me, I’ll do the job, buddy! (laughing). That won’t be untilnext September. I will be working hard all that time, studying… a lot ofserious work.”  DO WHAT YOU FEEL AfterMauriceWhite’s ARC imprint ceased to operate, Deniece reverted to Columbia, the parent company, for her next album. Deniece: “I had a party at my home. IknewGeorge Duke’swifeCorine, before I knew George. She camewith George, and we just instantly hit it off. He’s such a wonderful, lovableperson. I’ve had a lot of respect for his music, what he’s done withFrankZappa andStanley Clarke… quite a few things. When he was leaving,he said ‘we should work together sometime’, and I said to him ‘I would actuallylove that. I think that would be great’! And it led, of course, to one of thelargest songs in my career…” At the party Deniece also gave George one of hersongs,I’m Glad It’s You, for him to record it onSister Sledge,butGeorge preferred Deniece to do the song… and a whole album in the end. George (www.georgeduke.com) produced four tracksfor theI’m So Proud album (Columbia 38622; # 10-black, # 54-pop), whichwas released in late spring 1983. In his Los Angeles sessions he used suchmusicians asLouis Johnsonon bass,Mike Sembelloon guitar,RickeyLawsonon drums,Paulinho da Costaon percussion and himself onsynths, which in a way marked also a new twist in Deniece’s sound. On thefirst single, an energetic dancer calledDo What You Feel(written byDeniece and George), there’s alsoErnie Wattson tenor sax. Whenreleased in early spring 1983, the song gave Deniece a top-ten black hit (#9-black, # 102-pop). George’s othercontributions includedI’m Glad It’s You, the very same beautiful balladthat Deniece gave him at her party, a disco dancer titledHeaven in YourEyesand a mover namedIt’s Okay,with a children’s choir –including Deniece’s two sons, Ken and Kevin – joining in at the end. Denieceherself produced a mid-tempo item with a reggae beat calledLove, Peace andUnity, and it was cut at Sigma Sound Studios in New York.  I’M SO PROUD The follow-upsingle, a slow cover ofI’m So Proud (# 28-black), was produced byDeniece and guitarist/arranger/conductor/producerBill Neale. Lee Oskarplaysthe harmonica solo on it. Bill had earlier co-writtenI Believe in Miracleswith Deniece for theNiecyalbum. Deniece: “I’m So Proudwassomething that I wanted to do. I was a hugeCurtis Mayfieldfan. I wasgrowing up listening to him andthe Impressions as a child and ateenager.” The original Impressions record was released in 1964. The two othersongs that Deniece and Bill produced together were duets. They Sayisan atmospheric, slow song that builds up towards the end, and Deniece cut itwith an old friend from herEarth, Wind & Firedays, Philip Bailey. “Philip and I wanted to do a gospel song together, and some friends of ours –SkipScarboroughandTerri McFaddin – had written a song we really loved,They Say. We decided to go into the studio and do this gospel record,and it turned out wonderful. I also recorded it with a Christian artist,SandiPatti,and we won a Grammy for it.” To return thefavour, Deniece visited on Philip’s debut solo album,Continuation (on Columbia in late ’83), and did a duet with him on a ballad calledIt’s Our Time. They were also supposed to produce together a solo album onTerry Bradford(www.terrybradford.com). “Weknew Terry, but he was under Philip Bailey’s production company, Holy SoundProductions. I formed a Christian gospel production company called GatewayMusic House.” LOVE WON’T LET ME WAIT The other dueton the album was a melodic and poppy mid-pacer titledSo Deep in Love,whichDeniece recorded with her dear recording partner from five years back,JohnnyMathis. As mentioned already in the second part of the story, they sangtogether also onWithout Us. “It was a theme song for ‘Family Ties’, ashow that starredMichael Fox. The theme song is still on televisionsomewhere today. Two years ago Johnny and I did ‘The TV Land Music AwardShow’, and we got a chance to sing it again, because it was one of the bestsongs from one of the largest television shows to run for an X amount ofyears.” In early 1984 Columbia released as a single one more duet from Deniece and Johnny,Love Won’t Let MeWait(b/wLead Me To Your Love; # 32-black, # 106-pop). “I enjoyeddoing it with him, and he was so excited to do the song. And, of course, thatsong is written by Bobby Eli.” Those daysDeniece marriedBrad Westering, who would also become her musicalpartner. “I had two more sons,ForrestandLogan. Forrest wasborn in 1988 and Logan was born in 1991.” Deniece was dreaming about anothercareer in cosmetology, too. “We started the cosmetics line, but, once again,my attention was paid to my children, and to my home, but that still is aproject on the back burner.”  LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY When Deniecetalks about “one of the largest songs in my career“ above, she means aninfectious and energetic dancer calledLet’s Hear it for the Boy, a songfrom the motion pictureFootloose. Written by two movie script and songwriters,Tom SnowandDean Pitchford, and produced byGeorge Duke, the single hit number one both on Billboard’s pop and black chartsin June 1984 and went platinum. Deniece: “It was a very different song forme. I hadn’t sung anything likeLet’s Hear it for the Boy. I read alot of articles that were saying that I was an incredible balladeer, and Iwanted to show the world and show myself that I could do an uptempo pop song –and we succeeded!” Interestingly, according to Dean Pitchford, Deniece’s firsttake on the song was too girlish, so they had to call her from a gig on theEast coast back to Los Angeles, and the second time she nailed it right away. The ensuingalbum was also entitledLet’s Hear it for the Boy (Columbia 39366; #10-black, # 26-pop), and Deniece co-wrote five songs out of the ten on thealbum. She also produced six tracks, leaving four to George. George was incharge of the next single, too, the pulsating and melodicNext Love (#22-black, # 81-pop), which the two co-wrote together. BLACK BUTTERFLY A beautifulballad with uplifting lyrics namedBlack Butterfly wasn’t such a big hit(# 22-black), but gradually it has become one of Deniece’s signature songs. Itwas written byBarry MannandCynthia Weil. “They had actuallysent it to George Duke, and George was holding it. He didn’t have in mind anyartist that he was working with at the time that could do the song. When heand I got together and we did Footloose and I asked him to do the next project,he remembered the song and sent it to me. I instantly fell in love with themessage behind the song and what it said.” George’s fourth production on thealbum was a rock track titledHaunting Me. Deniece producedthree fast (Pick up the Pieces, Blind Dating, Wrapped Up) and three slowtracks for the album. Among the downtempo ones there’s the etherealI WantYou, the beatyDon’t Tell Me We Have Nothingand a hymn calledWhiterthan Snow. The CD releases from Sony of bothI’m So ProudandLet’sHear it for the Boyhit the stores in 1990. By that timethere were already three artists signed to Deniece’s production and managementcompanies. “We had one artist to make it, and his name wasMichael Peterson(www.michaelpetersonmusic.com),and strangely enough he has done very, very well in country & western music(laughing). He’s got a couple of Grammy nominations. He was the mostsuccessful at our production company. With the other two artists it didn’twork out.”  WISER AND WEAKER We had to waitfor two years, before a new single finally hit the streets in the summer of1986. An aggressive rock belter calledWiser and Weakerwas unlikeanything Deniece had cut earlier. The public, however, didn’t seem to accept it,since it reached only # 60-black. Written by Deniece,Fritz BaskettandGreg Mathieson, the latter also produced and arranged it. Greg (www.gregmathieson.com) had arrangedI’vegot the Next Dancefor Deniece already in 1979. “Greg Mathieson was doinga lot of arranging and writing withDavid Foster. He was also doing alot of writing withChicago. We’d met before at various junctions andfairs, and I would like what he was doing, and that’s how he and I finally gottogether and decided to try to do something.” Greg producedand arranged the ensuing album,Hot on the Trail(Columbia 40084; # 58-black),and this time Deniece co-wrote as many as seven songs out of the eight on it. The second single from the LP, the delightful and richHealing(#76-black), was one of the only two slowies on the set. The second one was abeat ballad namedWe’re Together. The rest is mostly disco music andsome rock. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Notis the catchiest of them. Thetitle tune, which is one of the disco dancers, was co-produced byJay Gruskaand Deniece’s new husband, Brad Westering. “It was very, verydifferent. At the record label there was a big argument that would keep goingon that she’s an r&b artist but she’s selling pop. And the pop departmentwould say that she may sell pop, but she’s an r&b artist. They couldn’tjust make up their minds. I kind of kept getting tossed around. But also itwas exciting for me, because my taste for music was all over the board, too. Basically, they were trying to figure me out, but I got to work with somepretty interesting people” (laughing).  I SURRENDER ALL Although Deniecehad recorded one inspirational song on almost each of his secular albums, itwasn’t until 1986 that she released her first full-length gospel album,SoGlad I Know(Sparrow 1121; # 8-gospel). Those days also Philip Baileystarted releasing gospel sets on Word (The Wonders of His Love, Triumph,Family Affair). Produced this time by Brad Westering alone, Jay Gruska andGreg Mathieson took the roles of arrangers. Interestingly, there are some ofthe same musicians as onHot on the Trail, such asPaul Jackson Jr.onguitar andFreddie Washingtonon bass. “When you’re in the industry, youmake friends along the way and you meet people that are appropriate for you,regardless of what you’re doing. Some of the musicians say ‘what ever you wantto do, if you need my help, give me a call’, so that’s what I did.” So Glad IKnowis stronger, more versatile and enjoyable set thanHot on theTrail. Musically it’s like one of Deniece’s subtle secular albums, onlywith another kind of message. “In our hearts and minds it was music with adifferent expression – lyrical, of course. We felt in our commitment to Godand Jesus Christ why would we do any less in quality for our belief than wewould do for anything else.” Among thegoodies there’s a beat ballad calledMy Soul Desire and the title tune,which is a melodic and poppy ditty. Chaka Khanco-wrote a scorchernamedWhat You Do For Me. Highlights, however, are the two songs thatwon Grammys. In the category “Best Gospel Performance By A Duo Or Group, ChoirOr Chorus” Deniece and Sandi Patti won withThey Say, the same songDeniece had cut with Philip Bailey three years earlier. A dramatic and emotiveballad calledI Surrender All won Deniece her second Grammy in thecategory “Best Soul Gospel Performance, Female.” “I Surrender Allisjust a traditional hymn that has been around for many, many years. It was anolder traditional gospel song that I gave a new version. A lot of the churchpeople knew the song, loved the song and was just excited to hear it to get anew life.”  NEVER SAY NEVER Deniecetravelled all the way to London to record her next album withSteve Levine(www.stevelevine.co.uk). “That wasthe recommendation from the record label. I thought ‘well, some incrediblemusic has come out of there… why not, let’s see’. It wasn’t my recommendation,but they thought that my going over there and working with producer SteveLevine would be a great combination, so we went for it.” ForWaterunder the Bridge(Columbia 40486, 1987; # 39-black) Deniece co-wrote foursongs out of ten, but unfortunately in instrumentation machines dominate. Apoppy mover calledNever Say Neverturned into a top-ten hit (#6-black), and it was followed byI Confess(# 24-black), a light andcatchy dancer with some Latin touch to it. There are five nice ballads (Waterunder the Bridge, Not By Chance, I Believe in You, Baby This Is LoveandDon’tBlame It on My Heart) and five uptempo melodic, albeit more superficial poptunes. WithI Believe in YouDeniece won her third Grammy in the “BestGospel Performance, Female” category in 1987. “I was really surprised. Thatsong I wanted to do in order for people to have a real feel of me as an artistand as a person that they would know about my gospel music side. It was abeautiful song and obviously touched the heart of a lot of people.”  I CAN’T WAIT There were asmany as three production units onAs Good As It Gets(Columbia 44322,1988; # 48-black). “At this time again we were just exploring variousmusicians, various producers and various music styles.” George Duke produced apoppySkylark-writtendancer titledI Can’t Wait, whichdid quite well for Deniece on Billboard’s charts (# 8-black, # 66-pop). “Thatwas George Duke’s idea. I loved it. I thought it was just an incredible song,and the video that we shot… I remember the cutest part about that was when Iwent to Japan, to Tokyo, and when I did that song, a little Japanese girljumped up and started doing the moves from the video. I just cracked up. Theywere sitting there all quiet, hadn’t said a word and all of a sudden they startdoing the dance moves with me” (laughing). George producedalso a powerful balladMemories- written by Deniece and George – and onthis particular track Philip Bailey is on background again. An enchanting beatballad namedThis Is As Good As It Gets(# 29-black) was produced byBrad Westering and Jay Gruska, who also cutWe Are Here to Change the World,co-written byMichael Jackson. This gospel beater hasRay Parker Jr.on guitar andthe Andrea Crouch Singerson background. “Michael didthe song in Captain EO, I think, by Disney. I really loved the song, so Icalled Michael and he gave me the permission to do it.” The Westering& Gruska twosome produced also a beat ballad titledI Am Sure, whichhas a 3-month-oldForrest Matthew Westeringon the background, while areggae-beat track calledHold Me Tight(not theJohnny Nash hit)has a little olderPhil Perry doing backup vocals. Monte Moirconcentrateson programming on the three tracks he produced for the album, and on the tenderIt’s You I’m Afterthere’s oneHoward Hewettsinging togetherwith Deniece. “Howard and Philip are my friends. We loved performing witheach other. We have high regard and respect for each other’s talent.”  EVERY MOMENT Brad aloneproduced Deniece’s second inspirational set,Special Love (Sparrow 1174,1989; # 11-Top Contemporary Christian), which in terms of music contains somegospel disco and funk this time. Jay Gruska did most of the arranging. Amongthe six ballads there’s that delightfulHealingagain from three yearsback, and on some of the tracks Phil Perry is singing background once more. “Ilove Phil Perry’s voice. He’s incredible. I knew his wife. She was one ofthe background singers withRamsey Lewis. Ramsey was also a part of thefamily with Maurice White, and I met her. So I met Phil and we becamefriends.” Natalie Coledoesa duet with Deniece on a powerful ballad calledWe Sing Praises. “I’veknown Natalie through the music industry. We’d be performing near each other,especially when we’re in Las Vegas. She’d be in one of the casinos, I’d be inanother. I’d go over to her shows, she’d come over to mine. I had this song,and Natalie had just went through a wonderful, wonderful recovery at that timeand wanted to just sing a song like that. So we did it.” The album producedone charted single, too, as in late ’89 a swaying beat ballad namedEveryMomentpeaked at # 55-black.  LULLABIES In 1991 Deniecereleased a CD calledLullabies to Dreamland(Word 48780), and they alsopublished a book by the same title. The idea was born for the first time somefourteen years earlier withLinda CreedandBruce Roberts. “Lullabieswas for my younger two sons. I didn’t like ‘Rockabye baby’ and ‘When the treebreaks the cradle will fall’, so I just started to write my own lullabies formy children and for the children of the world… something that would be peacefuland positive and encouraging for them, something to go asleep to, and that’show that project came about. I’m now in the studio re-recording that projectfor release in 2008.” Also in 1991Sparrow released in a CD format a compilation titledFrom the Beginning(Sparrow 1256; # 35-Top Contemporary Christian), which featured twelveinspirational songs compiled from Deniece’s earlier albums. After that, on therecording front there became a five-year silence. “I had small children and Ihad a bad divorce and I was just growing tired. I wasn’t recording. I wasactually doing theatre. I went to London to do ‘Mama I Want to Sing’ (in themid-90s) and we went to Japan. When the Japanese piece ran out, I went back to London, and it was at that time when a producer from Radio 2 for the BBCapproached me about a radio show. I did the radio show for BBC for nineyears. I lived in London for almost three years. When I left, I went to theBBC and my producer and told him I’d hope he finds another host. They said‘that’s okay, we’ll make it work from you going back to the United States’, so I continued even five years after I left. My producer would come here, and wegot those radio shows done.”  LOVE SOLVES IT ALL Produced and forthe most part written by Deniece,Alan GlassandAndrew Klippel, Deniece’snext CD,Love Solves It All(P.A.R. 2264, 1996), was again cut andprogrammed in London. There are two dancers and four mid-pacers, and amongthose four melodic mid-tempo songs there’sStop a Tear from Falling Down,atrack with a Caribbean beat, and here Deniece does a duet withBrinsley Ford. There’s even a short rap bySolomonon it – a new “conquest” forDeniece. “This also wasduring the time, when I was trying to figure out what I was doing. Someoneapproached me about doing this project, and I said ‘why not. I’m on radio. I’m not doing any singing’. Of course, it’s not the best project I ever did,and I think it’s just indicative of being a very hard time for me personally,still having children being responsible for and in a foreign country. Weshared the same language, but it’s a very different culture, and I was therealone – single parent with children. That’s not my best project, but I’msurprised, the emotional state that I was in, that I even got it done.” Onthose melodic mid-tempo and (four) slow songs some of the old magic ispreserved. A hymn calledGreat Is Thy FaithfulnessDeniece does acappella. Besides this newCD, a lot of compilations were released those days. In 1994 Sparrow put out atwelve-tracker titledGreatest Gospel Hits and a year later Sony gave usChange the World, a ten-song CD. The best compilation,Gonna Take aMiracle: the Best of Deniece Williams(Legacy 64839; # 85-r&b),consists of sixteen popular and best loved songs in Deniece’s career and it hitthe streets in 1996.  THIS IS MY SONG Deniece wrote orco-wrote all ten songs for her next gospel CD,This Is My Song (Harmony1655, 1998; # 14-Top Gospel), which was produced by Deniece andRaina Bundy. “Raina Bundy works as the CEO of Harmony Music. I’ve known Raina for many,many years. She’s been in gospel music, but she’s been also in the secularmusic industry. When I came back, she was very interested in me getting intothe studio and doing this project, so I said ‘okay, why not’! I worked with awonderful producer and arranger,Loris Holland.” In terms ofmusic the CD represents a mixture of pop and r&b. There are some prettytunes among the six ballads, such as the bloomingLover of My Soul, ProdigalSons and DaughtersandI Love Him Above All Things. The CD alsoearned Deniece her fourth Grammy in the category of “Best Pop/ContemporaryGospel Album” in 1998. “It was a total surprise again, because my project wasup against some projects that were just incredible.” In 2000 Sony released onemore compilation of fourteen songs titledLove Songs. Prior to herlatest CD,Love Niecy Style, which we covered in the first part of thestory, Deniece has appeared in many television shows –Joy, the Evolutionof Gospel Music in 1999, –The Deniece Williams& Friends Mother’s Day Special in 2000, –a Christmas specialnamedLove’s Pure Light in 2006 and –Celebrity Duets withAlfonso Ribeiroin 2006. She has carried on with her acting, too, in such plays asLookingfor Mr. Do Right,All Men Can’t Be Dogs, If You Don’t Believe andGodIs Trying to Tell You Something. There are DVDappearances as well. She sings in a ’85 movieLace II, and she’s one ofthe artists on the DVDHallelujah Gospel from 1982,singingGodIs Amazing. Deniece also appears in a 2003 filmChristmas Child. In 2003 shelaunched a radio show on KKLA in Los Angeles calledThe Deniece WilliamsShow. She has songs on some “various artists” compilations, such asDoYou Hear What I Hearon a CD titledAll I Want for Christmas(onTempo Inc.) andO Holy NightonTis the Season(on Encoded Musicin ’97). She recordedThine Is the Kingdomin 2007, which is availablefor download (on Amazon and a couple of other sites). GRATEFUL In October 2007Deniece made a comeback on charts. Together withWanda Vaughn (anEmotions lady, earlier known as Hutchinson) andSherree Brown,shehit# 40 on “Billboard Adult R&B Singles” chart with a song calledGrateful(the Redication) on Playground Records (www.pgrrecords.com),which is a medley ofThe Best of My Love, FreeandAin’t Nobody. In 2007, October13 was declared the “Deniece Williams Day” in Gary, Indiana. Today Deniecestill is an active follower of music and new trends. “I likeJill Scott. She doesn’t remind me of anybody else. I likeMusiq (Soulchild). IlikeJohn Legend. There are just a few artists that I really like thatI think have staying power. And I loveAlicia Keys.” Not only infollowing today’s music, Deniece keeps on being active in many fields. “I’vejust finished writing a new book, which will be published soon, and it’s calledMommy, Your Daddy Divorced Me Too. Other than that, I take one day at atime and I’m going to breathe (laughing). I’ve been in the studio with my19-year old Forrest. He has a group calledKeyz2Poetry. My 16-year old Logan is going to do a rap CD. He’s a part of a duo namedGameboi andRico. My oldest sons and I have written two film projects. We have someinvestors interested in financing our first film to start production in 2008.”
Heikki Suosalo
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