Magnificent Journey

Vanessa Williams Shares The Highs And Lows Of Her Path To Stardom.

- Robert Waldron

Brooklyn-born Vanessa Williams knew from an early age that she wanted to be in the arts. The budding performer sang and acted her way through elementary school, and joined the chorus and after-school programs. When Williams was 12, she caught a break that set her on the path to stardom.

“Mildred Hohner came to my Saturday music school looking for diverse faces to join the children’s chorus,” she recalls of the woman who founded the New York City Opera’s Childrens’ Chorus. “She auditioned my younger brother, who was a soprano, and another kid, and they started going into the city on Saturdays and working in the opera. I wanted to break into show business and I had no idea how you do this, but I figured Mildred Hohner would know. So I auditioned for her and she asked me if I wanted to join the opera chorus. I didn’t, really, I was just trying to find someone who knew how to get me into the TV, literally. So, not wanting to be rude, I was like, ‘Okay!’ And I started singing with the chorus.”

Williams performed regularly at the famed Metropolitan Opera House and then had the opportunity to head West. “My first time in California was to perform at the Dorothy Chandler [Pavilion] with the New York City Opera,” she marvels. “I was learning all of these classical operas and working with Maria Callas and Beverly Sills and all these people. I didn’t know them from the men on the moon, but I knew they were big deals. All I knew of opera was from The Little Rascals doing The Barber of Seville. It was a marvelous entry into the whole world.”