Vanessa Williams1963年3月18日出生于美国纽约的达里镇(Tarrytown)。从小就深受百老汇(Broadway)音乐演出的熏陶。1985年她进入了锡拉丘兹(Syracuse)大学攻读音乐戏剧。她在影视和歌唱事业上都颇有建树。但她的成功来之不易,自从她成为首位夺得“美国小姐”(Miss USA)的黑人后,有关她的流言就一直不断。而后来,她开始了音乐事业方面的追求。成为飞翔唱片公司(水银唱片公司Mercury Records旗下的子公司)的签约歌手。她的丈夫,Ramon Harvey,亲自担任她的经纪人。然而,在此期间,她的音乐天才并没有得到很好的发挥。她音乐事业的真正开始是1989年其专辑The Right Stuff推出之后。这张专辑共收录有包括He's Got the Look、Daring I 等8首歌,并使其获得了NAACP Image Award大奖。而1991年推出的第二张专辑The Comfort Zone中单曲“Save the Best for Last"使她再次夺得该奖项。且该专辑摘取了两个白金销量。她的第三张专辑The Sweetest Days由于刚好第三个孩子出生,推迟了三年直到1995年才完成。在这张专辑中表现了更高的创造力和斗志。同年为迪士尼动画片《风中奇缘》(Pocahontas)演唱的主题曲《风之色彩》Colors of the Wind反应尤为火爆。1998推出了其出道十年的精选集Greatest Hits--the First Ten Years。 Vanessa Williams的倩影也频频出现于银幕和荧屏。她曾先后出演过Motown Returns to the Apollo、Kid Who Loved Christmas(1990)、Stompin' at the Savoy(1992)、 Another You(1991)、Light it Up(1999)、 闪箭(Shaft)(2000)等,其中Motown Returns to the Apollo曾荣获Emmy奖。
Vanessa Williams用她的成功证明:我不是徒有外表!
You think you own whatever land you land on
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life has a spirit has a name
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew
You never knew
Have you ever heard the wolf cry
To the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind
Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sun-sweet berries of the earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once never wonder what they’re worth
The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle in a hoop that never ends
Have you ever heard the wolf cry
To the blue corn moon
Or let the eagle tell you where he’s been
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind
How high does the sycamore grow
If you cut it down then you’ll never know
And you‘ll never hear the wolf cry
To the blue corn moon
For whether we are white of copper-skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountain
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind
You can own the earth and still
All you’ll own is earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind