Michelle Williams

Tenetria Michelle Williams was born on July 23, 1980, in Rockford, Illinois. At the age of 7 years old, when she sang her first solo, an interpretation of "Blessed Assurance," at her church, St. Paul Church of God In Christ. Michelle’s family life was surrounded with the church this is how she got into singing gospel music. She constantly listened to the Clark Sisters, Yolanda Adams, Commissioned, Kirk Franklin, Marvin Winans, and Hezekiah Walker. Throughout her childhood, she was part of two different church-based singing groups: Chosen Expression and United Harmony. Later she realized that she would never make a career out of singing. In May 1999, after two years attending Illinois State University, she got a phone call from a friend that was playing keyboards for R&B star Monica. She told Michelle that they were holding auditions for a backup singer for Monica. Michelle flew to Atlanta to audition. The audition was successful. Ladies Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland were the founding members of an ensemble they called Destiny's Child. Formed in 1993, they had taken the music scene by storm in 1997 with their single "No, No, No." In 2000, the two other members of Destiny's Child, LaToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson, left the group. Beyonce wanted to add a person to Destiny's Child. They had heard of Michelle and gave her a call to ask if she'd be interested in joining Destiny’s Child. Michelle officially joined Destiny's Child in February 2000. Michelle went back to her church roots and signed on with the label Music World Music. Soon after she released Heart To Yours, which hit number one on the gospel charts. From 2003 to 2004, she starred as the love-crossed princess in Elton John and Tim Rice's hit Broadway musical Aida. This role has been played by Toni Braxton and Heather Headley. In 2004, she went back to the recording studio and released her second solo effort called Do You Know.

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