Vesta Williams born 1 December 1957

Mary Vesta Williams (December 1, 1957 – September 22, 2011) was a powerful singer and underrated songwriter who released a number of quality singles and albums during the late 80s and early 90s, and was one of the most sought-after session vocalists of her time. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was simply known as Vesta beginning in the 1990s. She was known for her four–octave vocal range. 

Born in Coshocton, Ohio, 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." After high school she moved back to Ohio and joined the group Wild Honey, formed by Ron Townsend of the 5th Dimension (who was Williams' cousin).  Williams' big voice and impressive tone were similar to Chaka Khan, and she was soon developing a solid career as a jingle singer as well as a backing vocalist, 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 her increasing notoriety in the music industry led to a meeting with producer David Crawford, who assisted in landing her a contract with A&M Records.  Her 1986 debut album, Vesta, was produced by Crawford, Gary Taylor and others and included the hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," which hit the R&B top ten.  Williams assumed a greater role in the creation of her 1988 follow-up, Vesta 4 U which 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 and #5 on the R&B chart. 

                                  

"Congratulations" was Vesta's only single to enter the Hot 100 chart. Vesta 4U became her only album to appear on the US Billboard 200, peaking at No. 131. There were persistent rumors that the song was inspired by the dissolution of her long-time relationship with Bruce Willis and that Demi Moore was directly responsible for ending it. 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. 

Unfortunately, she stumbled two years later with Everything-N-More in 1993, a lesser album that eschewed her adult soul roots for a more contemporary sound.  It stiffed on the charts and nearly stopped her solo recording career in its tracks.  Fortunately, Vesta continued to be a popular session singer, landing regular spots on albums by such artists as Phil Perry, Howard Hewett and George Duke.  Disappointed with the results of Everything-N-More, Vesta left A&M in search of a new recording contract.  It took nearly five years before she released her next album, Relationships, on Lee Ritenour's IE Records.  It was a mature album that appealed to adult soul fans but didn't receive sufficient airplay to garner any hits. 

By 2002, Williams had become a radio personality, and was co-hosting a morning show on KRNB in Dallas/Fort Worth. In  recent years, Williams had lost 100 pounds, going from size 26 to size 6. It was at this time that Williams became an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes. She continued to work regularly as a session vocalist, particularly on jazz albums, and her song "One More Bridge To Cross" was arguably the highlight of the popular 2005 compilation Love Pages by the Cafe Soul All-Stars.  She also occasionally toured in multi-artist smooth jazz shows. In 2007, Vesta signed with Shanachie Records and released Distant Lover, an album of soul music cover songs. Her last recording was the song "Dedicated," released on 7 December 2010 on Stimuli Music. 

Her final performance occurred on September 17, 2011, in Portsmouth, Virginia, at the Autumn Jazz Explosion, just five days before her death.  On September 22, 2011, Vesta died in her hotel room in Los Angeles. It was a tragic and much-too-early death of a talented singer especially before the release of her last album “Seven.” It took three months of intensive coroner's autopsy and toxicology research to determined that the cause of death was 'due to 'hypertensive heart disease,' adding: "An enlarged heart can remain undetected for many years. 

Though her time as a major recording artist was relatively brief, Vesta Williams impacted the soul music world for over two decades.  Both via her own solo work as well as through her impressive appearances on the albums of other artists, Vesta made a career's worth of notable music and was consistently among the most distinctive singers of her era. 

(Edited from an obit by Chris Rizik @ soultracks & Wikipedia)