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It took 62 years to finally crown a black Miss America, in 1983. But after 20-year-old Vanessa Williams, daughter of two music teachers from the Bronx, earned her tiara, she was stripped of her title months later when unauthorized nude photos of her surfaced in Penthouse magazine.
Williams showed resilience and determination, relying on her natural beauty and talent to guide her to three Emmy nominations for her work on the sitcom “Ugly Betty,” 11 Grammy nominations for singles like “Save the Best for Last,” as well as a Tony nod and a best song Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy for her single “Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s “Pocahontas,” which she will sing Oct. 12-13 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
Williams sat down to talk to Coast about her music and career.
COAST: On this tour, you have the band and the orchestra. How gratifying is it to sing in front of a full symphony orchestra?
VANESSA WILLIAMS: I get a chance to do classics like “St. Louis Woman,” the one I did for City Center Encores! back in 1998. That was an unusual production because we did it 20 years ago and it was virtually a lost score. I think it had been done back in the early ’40s-’50s era. Ralph Burns and Luther Henderson did the original arrangements, Luther did the original dance arrangements, and there was some original score and music that was lost.
COAST: So you basically resurrected the show.
VW: We did the show and then we got a chance to record the album. The Encores series usually does one weekend, so I invited guests and did probably a total of five shows. For the tour, I do a couple of songs from “St. Louis Woman,” do a duet that I did for “Side by Side by Sondheim” with Barbara Cook.
COAST: Speaking of Sondheim, I understand he rewrote a section of “Into the Woods” for you when you played the Witch.
VW: When I got a chance to do a recital with Sondheim and (James) Lapine, the Witch’s last number, “The Last Midnight,” they wanted to take another stab at it. So Stephen wrote additional lyrics for the Witch, and the staging was different because in our version, while everyone is bickering, the baker and his wife and Jack, they leave the baby in a basket upstage. The Witch picks up the baby and basically has all the power not only for the song, but it puts the baker and his wife in a much more vulnerable position. So it’s much stronger both visually and dramatically. And Sondheim wrote some additional lyrics for our version.
COAST: You’ll be singing selections from the upcoming album?
VW: The new album is my American songbook. These are all the songs that have been pivotal in my life. A song called “Being Good Isn’t Good Enough” — I originally learned it in performance class when I was a musical theater major at Syracuse University, and I sang it for the Miss Syracuse Pageant and ended up winning that. And I sang it again for Miss New York State in July, and I ended up winning Miss America within six months. They’re all songs that have to do with pivotal points in my life. And there are also a couple of new songs that will be on there as well.
COAST: “Colors of the Wind” is one of your biggest hits, but prior to that you had a dicey relationship with Disney.
VW: I went in years ago for the voice of Nala in “The Lion King.” And I met the artists and they knew I could sing. And the agent called me back after I had met with everyone. The powers that be said I’m not Disney material. And years later, my same agent and manager tell me that I have an offer to sing the theme song of “Pocahontas,” “Colors of the Wind.” So, it’s a lesson about not giving up hope. Everyone is judged in life, but you have to overcome it and you have to be patient. And hopefully, one day you’ll get a chance to get your opportunity to shine.
COAST: Early in your career your opportunity to shine was taken away. Was the Miss America pageant’s 2015 apology sufficient?
VW: The apology was to my mother. My parents endured a lot more than I knew because they were basically shielding me from a lot of things through the years. I was aware of some things, but my mother was protecting me from death threats and tremendous terrors. I have my story, which people think they know. And my mother had a completely other story, which was fascinating. My mother, it made her feel very good about it. She was satisfied.
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