Vanessa Lynn Williams was born on March 18, 1963 in Millwood, New York, and is a pop/R&B singer and actress who made history when she became the first African American woman to be crowned Miss America in September, 1983. She resigned close to the end of her reign on July 23, 1984, however, when it was discovered that she had posed nude for photographs that were later published in the September 1984 issue adult magazine Penthouse without her permission. The crown was given to Suzette Charles 54 days before the 1984 pageant.

Williams was born to two teachers; she and her brother grew up in the suburbs of NYC. Propheticly it has been said that her parents put "Here she is Miss America" on her birth announcement. She received a scholarship and attended Syracuse University, but later dropped out of college to pursue a career in entertainment.

Williams managed to rise above the Miss America scandal and become a popular singer with her 1988 debut album, The Right Stuff, which reached gold status and earned her three Grammy Award nominations, including one for Best New Artist. Her most notable songs include "Dreamin'", "Running Back To You", "Save The Best For Last", "Love Is", "The Sweetest Days", "Colors of the Wind", and "Oh How The Years Go By". Throughout her career, Williams has sold six million records and received fifteen Grammy nominations.

In 2005, Vanessa released her eighth studio album, Everlasting Love, a collection of covers of her favorite 1970s songs.

Vanessa also made a splash into Hollywood and became an acclaimed actress, with appearances in films such as Eraser, co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and starring in movies such as 1997's Soul Food, for which she won the Best Actress award at the NAACP Image Awards, and 1998's Dance With Me. Her other movies include 1997's Hoodlum opposite Laurence Fishburne, 2000's Shaft opposite Samuel L. Jackson and most recently, 2004's Johnson Family Vacation alongside Cedric the Entertainer.

In addition to her music, theater, and work on the silver screen, Williams has starred in numerous made-for-TV movies, miniseries, and has appeared on hit shows including, The Love Boat, T.J. Hooker, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, LateLine, Ally McBeal and Boomtown. She has also appeared in a number of advertisements for Radio Shack, starting in 2001. Williams also became the spokesmodel for Proactiv Solutions.