If you believe in angels, Deniece Williams has the voice of one and first captured hearts in the mid-70s. She doesn’t beg for your attention, she simply gets it with delicacy. Plus, she was cute as a button and that’s a perfect combination in Hollywood.

Like The Jacksons, Deniece is also from Gary, Indiana. Looks like everybody was trying to dodge doing time there, huh. When The Jacksons left, that was a third of the population.

Now!

Early on in her career, she was a background singer for Stevie Wonder, from whom she learned a great deal. This is Niecy was her intro album and the follow-up was Song Bird, and named rightfully so.

I gotta say Silly and It’s Gonna Take a Miracle had me wrapped tight in emotion and I hadn’t even experienced having a boyfriend yet. I mean, for these songs to catch hold of you during a break-up would have you washed in blue. Don’t play them ’cause the sweetness of Deniece’s voice pulls you right on in and twist your head up. You have to tell yourself, Wait a damn minute now!

To emphasize the depth of her 4 octave range, the New York Times took notice, which is a huge big deal. She’s described as “vocally acrobatic” and that’s spot on, I’d say.

Deniece is still active at 74. She’s had over a dozen Grammy nominations and snagged four. With that, I say congratulations to all you’ve accomplished, Ms. Williams.