SINGER VESTA WILLIAMS DEAD AT 53
R&B singer Vesta Williams, who had hits in the 1980s with “Once Bitten Twice Shy” and “Congratulations,” was found dead late Thursday evening of a possible drug overdose in an El Segundo hotel room.
An autopsy will determine the cause of death, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s officials, but they said a drug overdose is suspected.
Cops tell BMS off the record that her death is being treated as either an accident or suicide, but not a homicide.
Born Mary Vesta Williams in Coshocton, Ohio, on Dec. 1, 1957, she had hits with “Don’t Blow A Good Thing,” “Sweet, Sweet Love” and the torch song “Congratulations,” in which she emotionally bids goodbye to her ex, about to marry someone else, on his wedding day. Although Williams never had any albums certified gold and never had any Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, she scored seven Top 20 R&B hits from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.
Besides her solo work, she was a member of the singing group Wild Honey and was a backup singer for Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Anita Baker and others.
Williams also had small acting roles, including on the TV series “Sister, Sister” in the late 1990s.
