Dana Williams | |
---|---|
Born | Los Angeles |
Alma mater | Sarah Lawrence College |
Occupations |
|
Relatives |
|
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
Years active | 2012–present |
Labels |
|
Website | danawilliamsofficial |
Dana Williams is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet from Los Angeles. She rose to prominence in 2014 after placing fourth on the American singing competition series, Rising Star . She is also well known for her numerous YouTube covers, for appearing in a 2014 Apple Christmas commercial entitled "The Song," and for her collaborations with rappers Freddie Gibbs, Boogie, and Rejjie Snow.
Her debut EP, The Lonely One, was released on March 24, 2014. Followed by her second EP Let's Fall released on December 11, 2015 and a third, titled Thank You For The Memories on October 30, 2020, featuring a cover and acoustic versions of several of her singles. Dana has remained active over the years, regularly releasing new singles independently. To date, she has released over 25 singles.
Dana Williams was born in Los Angeles on July 17 of 1989 to musician and songwriter David Williams, famed for his work with Michael Jackson for over 30 years. [2] Her older sister Davida Williams is an actress. [2] As a child, Williams split her time between Los Angeles, the home of her father, and New York City, the home of her mother. [3] As a child, she also lived for a short time in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard during which time she attended Tisbury School. [4] During her childhood, she often accompanied her father to the recording studio and eventually met Michael Jackson because of her father's position as the singer's guitarist. After the studio sessions, Williams would often go home and practice writing love songs due to her father's influence. [3] For a middle school Black History Month project, Williams discovered and learned about legendary Jazz musician Ella Fitzgerald. This project opened Williams up to Jazz music, along with the influence of her maternal grandmother, who was a Jazz singer and often sang songs to Williams and her sister as infants. [3] [5] When she was in fourth grade, Williams was selected to sing "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" with Jay-Z for a Television special. [6] [7] As Williams got older and grew up in New York, she became exposed to the works of Billie Holiday and started to attend and perform at Jazz Clubs throughout the city, particularly Lenox Lounge, which was frequented by Holiday throughout her career. She began writing her own music when she was 14 or 15. [3]
Williams attended Middle School, High School, and College in New York, studying music at both the Masters School and Sarah Lawrence College, where she mastered the guitar and became trained in both classical and contemporary styles of music. [2] [3] At Sarah Lawrence, her primary focus of study was poetry and creative writing. [8] She majored in writing for the majority of her time at Sarah Lawrence, but realized that writing books and poetry would not be enough to make a successful career. She started to write and perform songs more often and eventually picked up a double major in music and poetry during her sophomore year. [9] During college, Williams became an award-winning, published poet, an accomplishment she says influences the poetic and emotional nature of her song lyrics. [2] She cites Louise Glück and Dennis Nurkse as two of her favorite poets, the latter of whom was one of her professors while she was studying at Sarah Lawrence. [9]
Williams served as the opening act for Leighton Meester and Check in the Dark's spring tour in 2012. [2] She was also featured on Freddie Gibbs's 2012 mixtape, Baby Face Killa , for the song "The Hard." [2] She began posting cover songs to YouTube in 2013, and is now most well known for her 2014 collaboration with Meester on Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", which has garnered more than 6,800,000 views as of January 2018. [10] [11] In 2013, Williams released her debut single, "Keep Me Waiting," ahead of the release of her debut EP, The Lonely One, on March 24, 2014. [6] The song was featured on the soundtrack for Damien Chazelle's 2014 critically acclaimed, Academy Award-winning film Whiplash and featured in his 2016 critically acclaimed film La La Land . [12] [13]
In the summer of 2014, Williams came into national prominence when she participated in the singing competition series Rising Star , where she progressed into the finale and finished in fourth place. [10]
Rising Star performances and results | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stage | Song | Original artist | Date | Percentage | Result | |
East Coast | West Coast | |||||
Auditions | "Stay" | Rihanna | July 6, 2014 | 87% | 84% | Safe (2nd) |
Duels | "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" | The Shirelles | July 27, 2014 | 67% | 69% | Saved (5th) |
Round of 13 | "Latch" | Disclosure | August 3, 2014 | 60% | 65% | Saved (8th) |
Quarter-finals | "Human" | Christina Perri | August 10, 2014 | 57% | 60% | Safe (5th) |
Semi-finals | "Sunday Morning" | Maroon 5 | August 17, 2014 | 75% | Safe (3rd) | |
Finals | "At Last" | Ray Eberle and Pat Friday | August 24, 2014 | 30% | N/A | Eliminated (4th) |
Later the same year, she was featured in a Christmas commercial for Apple, entitled "The Song," in which she was shown discovering an old recording of her grandmother singing Nat King Cole's "Our Love is Here to Stay" for her husband before he left for the Korean War. [14] The commercial follows Williams as she records her own version of the song, creates a duet with her grandmother's original version, and then surprises her grandmother with the new recording, causing her to tear up. The commercial was met with widespread acclaim from viewers. [10] Williams collaborated with Freddie Gibbs on two more songs in 2015, being the featured vocalist on the track "Diamonds" on his EP entitled Pronto, and on the track "McDuck" for his second album, Shadow of a Doubt . [6] On April 14, 2015, Williams released a collaboration with Toronto producer Swim Good, providing vocals for the song "Callaway." [15] Williams's most recent project, a sophomore EP entitled Let's Fall was released on December 11, 2015, [3] [6] following the release of the lead single, "Fooling Myself." [16] The EP's second single, "Come Back," was released on January 16, 2016. [17] Williams released a music video for the album track "Damage" on April 14, 2016. [18]
Williams is currently represented by her publishing company, Smiggs Songs, and signed an administration deal with the Royalty Network, Inc. on December 11, 2015. [13]
On July 8, 2016, Williams performed a small show at the Base in Alex's Place at the YMCA on Martha's Vineyard. [4] In September 2016, Williams was featured on Boogie's single "Sunroof," from his mixtape Thirst 48 Pt. 2, [19] which was released October 14, 2016. She also provided uncredited vocals on the album track "Nigga Needs." [20] In late 2016, Williams played several live shows at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles, completing a residency on October 27 and then opening for the band Lawrence on November 9. [21] [22] She played a live show at UCB Theater in Los Angeles on November 12. [23]
On March 3, 2017, "Lifeline" was released, a collaborative single between electronic artist Melvv and Williams, who provides featured vocals on the track. [24] Williams was also featured on the Rejjie Snow track "Pink Flower" with Julian Bell in 2017. [25] Williams began working on material for a full-length LP in 2016, [26] which resulted in string of singles throughout 2017 and 2018. Williams's single "No Pressure" was released on July 14, 2017, with the official video following on July 26. [27] [28] "Honey" was released as a single in August 2017 alongside its official music video. [25] On October 27, 2017, "Give Me a Sign" was released, a song by French producer Fakear from his 2017 EP Karmaprana, on which Williams serves as featured vocalist. [29] Williams' original "Drifting" was released shortly after on November 1, alongside its video. [30] "Fragile Ego" was released as a single on December 1, 2017, followed by "There You Go" on January 12, 2018. [31] [32]
On January 16, 2018, "Egyptian Luvr" was released, the lead single from Rejjie Snow's album Dear Annie which features vocals by Williams and a verse by Aminé. [33] On February 1, Snow's Dear Annie: Part 2 EP was released as a precursor to the full album and included the song "Room 27" which also features vocals by Williams. [34] In addition to these two collaborations, Williams also features on the song "Oh No!" on the full album, which was released on February 16, 2018. [35] In later 2018, she released further singles - "Preach", "Oh No No", "Sunny Day", "Worst In Me", "Miles For You", and "Carried" - a song featured on the OST of the High School Drama movie "The Honor List"
In 2019, Dana released 3 singles "Holiday", "Do No Harm", and "Hard". Each of these songs had an acoustic version released a few weeks after its release.
In 2020, the following singles were released "Silly Words", "Underwater", "Stand By Me (Live Cover)", "Knife", "Stuff", "Answers", "Happy Holidaze", and a cover of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". Some of the music videos were set up and shot in Dana's own settings due to COVID-19 restrictions. In addition to her singles, Dana also released her third EP on October 30, 2020, titled "Thank You For The Memories" featuring acoustic versions of several of her singles and a cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella". Dana did several online/digital performances this year due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns. One included taking part in H.E.R.'s weekly instagram show "Girls With Guitar" where Dana performed on her guitar and H.E.R. was said to be in awe of Dana's talent. In addition, she featured in a song called "Two Feet" with Young Franco, and Pell. The song was released on September 11, 2020, with a video directed by Ash Lim and Jamin Tasker releasing on November 4, 2020.
On January 13, 2021, Dana released her next single "You Win" with the music video released on January 15, 2021.
To date, Williams has reached over 100 million streams on Spotify.
Williams is long-time friends with actress and singer Leighton Meester. The two attended the same middle school. They have performed several cover duets together for Williams's YouTube channel, including "Dreams," "Dream of You," "You and Your Sister," and "Blue Christmas. [3] [10] [36] These cover videos have drawn thousands, and even millions, of viewers. [3] [10]
Williams describes her music as "ethereal soul folk," and is heavily inspired by Fitzgerald, Holiday, Carole King, Norah Jones, Nina Simone, and Sam Cooke. [37] [38] Her greatest thematic inspirations come from events and interactions that happen in her daily life. [37] She has a relaxed approach to songwriting, explaining that "forcing it usually strangles my creative process." [37] Williams finds comfort and release in writing and singing songs about loss, especially surrounding the death of her father. [39]
Williams currently lives and frequently performs in Los Angeles. [38] Williams moved to Los Angeles with her immediate family in 2012 after graduating from school. Williams likes animals and considered being a veterinarian or marine biologist as a child. She often spends time outdoors with her dogs, trying to find new areas of the city to explore. [9]
Title | Details |
---|---|
The Lonely One |
|
Let's Fall |
|
Thanks For The Memories |
|
Happy Holidaze |
|
Year | Single | Album |
---|---|---|
2013 | "Keep Me Waiting" | The Lonely One |
2015 | "Fooling Myself" | Let's Fall |
2016 | "Come Back" | |
2017 | "No Pressure" | Non-album single |
"Honey" | ||
"Drifting" | ||
"Fragile Ego" | ||
2018 | "There You Go" | |
"Preach" | ||
"Oh No No" | ||
"Carried" | From "The Honor list" OST | |
"Sunny Day" | Non-album single | |
"Worst In Me | ||
"Miles For You" | ||
2019 | "Holiday" | |
"Holiday (Acoustic)" | ||
"Do No Harm" | ||
"Do No Harm (Acoustic)" | ||
"Hard" | ||
"Hard (Acoustic)" | ||
2020 | "Silly Words" | |
"Underwater" | ||
"Stand By Me (Live Cover)" | ||
"Knife" | ||
"Stuff" | ||
"Answers" | ||
"Happy Holidaze" | Happy Holidaze | |
2021 | "You Win" | Non-album single |
"Bad Decisions" | ||
"Red Flag" | ||
"No Doubt" |
Year | Title | Other artist(s) | Album |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | "The Hard" | Freddie Gibbs | Baby Face Killa |
2015 | "Diamonds" | Pronto | |
"Callaway" | Swim Good | Non-album single | |
"McDuck" | Freddie Gibbs | Shadow of a Doubt | |
2016 | "Sunroof" | Boogie | Thirst 48 Pt. 2 |
"Nigga Needs" (uncredited) | |||
"Give Me Your Love" [40] | Gaia & Luna DJ B3LFAST | Non-album single | |
2017 | "Lifeline" | Melvv | Non-album single |
"Pink Flower" | Rejjie Snow Julian Bell | The Moon and You | |
"Give Me a Sign" | Fakear | Karmaprana | |
"Make It Right" [41] | Midnight Snacks | Non-album single | |
2018 | "Egyptian Luvr" | Rejjie Snow Aminé | Dear Annie |
"Room 27" | Rejjie Snow | ||
"Oh No!" | |||
2019 | "Stay" | The Aston Shuffle | Non-album single |
2020 | "Two Feet" | Young Franco Pell | Non-album single |
2021 | "Waiting For The Rain" | AKA Block | Non-album single |
"Weekend Love" | Jafunk Mike Nasa | ||
"Get Away" | Fabich | ||
"You Got Me" | Jafunk Nic Hanson | ||
Year | Video | Director | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | "Keep Me Waiting" | Jones Crow | [42] |
2014 | "Right Now" | Carl Diebold | [43] |
"One More" | Caleb Wood | [44] | |
2015 | "Fooling Myself" | Tony Minas | [45] |
2016 | "Come Back" | Naomi Christie | [17] |
"Damage" | [18] | ||
2017 | "No Pressure" | Christina Holmes Eric Bumatay | [28] |
"Honey" | Rhedd Morton Jankle | [25] | |
"Drifting" | Jordan Rebello | [30] | |
"Fragile Ego" | [46] | ||
2018 | "There You Go" | [47] | |
"Preach" | Rhedd Morton Jankle | ||
" Oh No No" | |||
"Sunny Day" | |||
"Worst In Me" | |||
2019 | "Holiday" | N/A | |
"Holiday (Acoustic)" | N/A | ||
"Do No Harm (Acoustic)" | N/A | ||
2020 | "Hard (Acoustic)" | Royce Isaac | |
"Underwater" | N/A | ||
"Knife" | N/A | ||
"Stuff" | Royce Isaac | ||
"Answers" | |||
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" | N/A | ||
2021 | "You Win" | Sebastien Nuta | |
"Bad Decisions" | N/A | ||
Year | Video | Director | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | "The Hard" | N/A | [48] |
2017 | "Sunroof" | Riley Keough | [49] |
2018 | "Egyptian Luvr (LA Sessions)" | Alima Lee | [50] |
"Egyptian Luvr" | Martin C. Pariseau | ||
2020 | "Two Feet" | Ash Lim Jamin Tasker |
Bonnie Leigh McKee is an American singer and songwriter.
Leighton Marissa Meester is an American actress and singer. She is known for her starring role as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, which ran from 2007 to 2012. She has also appeared in films such as Killer Movie (2008), Country Strong (2010), The Roommate (2011), Monte Carlo (2011), The Oranges (2011), The Judge (2014), The Weekend Away (2022), and EXmas (2023). She portrayed Angie D'Amato on the ABC sitcom Single Parents (2018–2020). Meester made her Broadway debut in Of Mice and Men (2014).
Laura Marie Marano is an American actress and singer. She is known for her role in the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally as Ally Dawson. Marano was one of the five original classmates in Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?. She starred in Without a Trace for three seasons and Back to You. Marano starred in the indie film A Sort of Homecoming, the Disney Channel Original Movie Bad Hair Day, the fifth installment of the A Cinderella Story film series A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish, the Netflix original movie The Perfect Date, and the Netflix interactive romcom Choose Love.
Margaret Osborn, known professionally as Alice Glass, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the co-founder and former frontwoman of the electronic band Crystal Castles. In 2014, she embarked on a solo career. She released her eponymous debut EP in 2017. Her solo debut album, Prey//IV, was released in February 2022.
"Good Girls Go Bad" is a song by American pop band Cobra Starship with guest vocals by Leighton Meester. It was the first single released from their third studio album, Hot Mess. The song was released digitally through iTunes on May 11, 2009. On May 8, 2009, "Good Girls Go Bad" made its radio debut on KIIS-FM with Ryan Seacrest's show.
Rebecca Renee Black is an American singer, songwriter, and YouTuber. She gained extensive media coverage when the music video for her 2011 debut single "Friday" went viral on YouTube and various social media sites. The song had a polarizing reaction as while it peaked at number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was also panned by audiences and music critics, many of whom considered it "among the worst songs ever made". In 2013, Black released a follow up single "Saturday" to similar commercial success and marginally improved reception. Her debut studio album Let Her Burn—preceded by two extended plays—was released in February 2023 to generally favorable reviews.
Leah LaBelle Vladowski was an American singer. She rose to prominence in 2004 as a contestant on the third season of American Idol, placing twelfth in the season finals. In 2007, LaBelle began recording covers of R&B and soul music for her YouTube channel. These videos led to work as a backing vocalist starting in 2008 and a record deal in 2011 with Epic in partnership with I Am Other and So So Def Recordings. LaBelle released a sampler, three singles, and a posthumous extended play (EP).
Claudia Alexandra Madriz Meza, known professionally as Snow Tha Product, is a Mexican American rapper and singer from San Jose, California. Her debut studio album, Unorthodox (2011) was met with positive critical reception and led her to sign with Atlantic Records the following year. Her commercial mixtape, Half Way There... Pt. 1 (2016) entered the Top Rap Albums chart at number 15. Her other releases failed to chart, leading her to part ways with the label in November 2018.
Alexander Anyaegbunam better known by his stage name Rejjie Snow, is an Irish rapper and songwriter from Drumcondra, Dublin.
Bleta Rexha, known professionally as Bebe Rexha, is an American singer and songwriter. After signing with Warner Records in 2013, Rexha first achieved success as a songwriter, with credits on Eminem's single "The Monster" as well as other songs for Shinee, Selena Gomez, and Nick Jonas, among others. Rexha released her debut extended play in 2015, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, which saw moderate commercial success with its singles "I Can't Stop Drinking About You" and "I'm Gonna Show You Crazy".
Emma Louise Blackery is an English singer-songwriter, YouTuber and author. Active since 2012, Blackery has released EPs, singles, and Vevo music videos. She has toured with Busted, and headlined tours for her debut studio album Villains, released on her RWG Records label in 2018.
Tom Cully, known professionally as Jamie Isaac, is an English singer, songwriter and producer.
Beatrice Annika Miller is an American singer and actress. She was the fifth contestant eliminated on season two of The X Factor (US) when she was 13 years old. She was later signed to Hollywood Records. Her debut EP Young Blood was released in 2014, and her debut album Not an Apology was released on July 24, 2015. In 2016, she released the single "Yes Girl". During 2017, she released the EPs Chapter One: Blue, Chapter Two: Red, and Chapter Three: Yellow. The three EPs, along with five additional songs, were collected as her second studio album, Aurora.
Alessia Caracciolo, known professionally as Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploading acoustic covers of songs such as "Love Yourself" and "Sweater Weather" online, she signed with EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings in 2014 and released her debut single, "Here", the following year. It peaked at number 19 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and was a sleeper hit in the US, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Xylø is the alias of American singer-songwriter Paige Duddy. From 2015 to 2018, Xylø was a musical duo that consisted of Duddy and her brother Chase. Since 2018, Duddy has embarked on a solo career and has continued to release her new music under the Xylø moniker.
Adam Aminé Daniel is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He first gained notability for his commercial debut single, "Caroline", which peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Aminé released his debut studio album Good for You, on July 28, 2017, and his second studio album, Limbo, on August 7, 2020.
Margaret Debay Rogers is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Easton, Maryland. After her song "Alaska" was played to artist-in-residence Pharrell Williams during a master class at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 2016, she gained widespread recognition. She has released two independent albums, The Echo (2012) and Blood Ballet (2014), and three studio albums, Heard It in a Past Life (2019), Surrender (2022) and Don't Forget Me (2024). She was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2020.
American singer Lauren Jauregui has released two extended play, sixteen singles, two promotional singles. In 2012, Jauregui auditioned as a solo artist in the second season of The X Factor. After being eliminated as a solo performer, Jauregui was brought back into the competition along with four other girls to form the girl group Fifth Harmony. During her time in the group, Jauregui and her bandmates released the albums Reflection (2015), 7/27 (2016), and Fifth Harmony (2017).
Queen Naija Bulls is an American singer and media personality. Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, she began her career as a YouTube vlogger, and appeared on the thirteenth season of American Idol. Her 2017 single, "Medicine" peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100; the following year, she signed with Capitol Records. The song and its 2018 follow-ups, "Karma" and "Butterflies" each received double platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and preceded the release of her self-titled debut extended play (2018), which peaked at number 26 on the Billboard 200. Bulls' debut studio album, Missunderstood (2020) peaked at number nine on the chart.
Louis Kevin Celestin is a producer better known as Kaytranada. This production discography lists the recorded performances, writing and production credits as Louis Kevin Celestin, as Kaytranada, or Kaytradamus.