Michelle Williams

From Discogs:

Born : July 24, 1980 // Rockford, IL, United States

From Lastfm:

Tenitra Michelle Williams (born July 23, 1980 in Rockford, Illinois) is one-third of the R&B supergroup Destiny's Child. She is also a gospel singer, songwriter and Broadway actress. She has won three Grammy Awards with Destiny's Child. Raised in a Christian family, Williams learned to sing in her church's choir. She later sang in a musical quartet called United Harmony with sister Cameron. After attending Auburn High School and being a part of the C.A.P.A (Creative And Performing Arts) program there, she pursued a degree in criminal justice at Illinois State University while singing back-up for R&B star Monica. It was then that she gained the opportunity in becoming part of the what was soon to be global phenomenon of Destiny's Child, which Michelle joined in 2000.

After the release and promotion of Destiny's Child's album Survivor, Williams became the first member to release a solo studio album. Her Gospel album, Heart To Yours , shot up to #1 on the Billboard Gospel Chart and became the biggest-selling Gospel album of 2002, making her the first member of Destiny's Child to do so; she then broke into acting with her starring role in the Broadway hit, Aida, replacing R&B singer Toni Braxton.

Following the success of her debut, Michelle released her sophomore album, entitled Do You Know, in 2004, featuring the single of the same name and a Destiny's Child Gospel track I Know. The album did not perform as well as her debut but did reach #2 on the Hot Christian Contemporary Album Chart and #3 on the Billboard Gospel Chart.

The lesser performance of Do You Know may have been due to the increasing criticism of Williams, by some devout Christian groups, who were against the fact that she was both a solo artist partaking in Gospel music and an R&B artist as part of the globally successful secular group Destiny's Child. Williams' second album also produced a different sound from the debut, with more R&B tinged beats and stronger vocals from Michelle.

Michelle released her third and first commercial pop album, "Unexpected" on October 7th, 2008 in the US and September 30th in the UK. The album features the Hot Dance hit singles "We Break The Dawn," "The Greatest" and "Hello Heartbreak."

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From Wikipedia:

Tenitra Michelle Williams (born July 23, 1980), commonly known as Michelle Williams, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is better known for being one-third of the successful R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling female groups of all time according to Sony BMG.

Originally a backing vocalist for singer Monica, Williams, alongside Farrah Franklin, joined Destiny's Child in 2000 replacing former members LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson without notice. Following the departure of Franklin just five months later, Williams continued on with fellow members Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland as a trio. In 2002, after a series of commercial successes, she went solo. Williams released her number one Billboard Gospel album Heart to Yours, which became the best-selling gospel album of 2002 and spawned the single "Heard a Word". The album was followed by Do You Know in early 2004. As well as having become a successful singer, Williams has also found success as a television and Broadway actress.

In 2008 she released her first commercial pop album, Unexpected, on October 7, 2008. The lead single from the album "We Break the Dawn" reached #1 on the Hot Dance Airplay chart; while her second single "The Greatest" peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart and reached #32 on the Yahoo Top 100 R&B Music Video chart.

Michelle began playing the leading role of Roxie Hart in London, England in the famous West End production of Chicago in July, 2009. Williams then began working on her fourth studio album. On January 12, 2010, it was announced that Michelle had parted ways with Matthew Knowles (her manager) and Music World Entertainment. Williams returned to the USA as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway in February, 2010. She is the first African-American to play the role of Roxie on Broadway.