THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501060187
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Close Up
SOURCE: Rebecca Myers
LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
A dream.
That's what it seems like today when Margaret Anne Williams thinks back to the years she sang backup for Elvis Presley.
``Sometimes I'll glance at the pictures with me standing beside Elvis, and it's like, `This really happened?' '' said Williams, former member of Sweet Inspirations, a female quartet who sang with Aretha Franklin as well as Elvis in the 1960s and '70s.
After all, Williams didn't intend to pursue a career as a singer when she moved to New York after graduating from Crestwood High School in 1962.
``It just kind of fell in my lap!'' she said of her stint with the Sweet Inspirations. Williams sang with the group from 1969 to 1973.
Singing with ``The Sweets,'' as Williams affectionately calls them, took the Portsmouth native to 38 foreign countries and to all 50 states. She's currently writing a book about her life, tentatively scheduled for release in December.
``The book is about how I lived in a small town, left and went to a large city and just how good fortune and meeting the right people led my life in the right direction . . . ,'' she said, pausing to reflect on her words.
Then, clarifying: ``. . . led me to a life of adventure that I would have never had an opportunity to do, not in my lifetime!''
The story of Williams' life is the stuff from which movies are made.
She grew up as the only child of Sylvester and Margaret Williams of Hattonsville. Her family moved to Bowers Hill, where she attended Southwestern Elementary School and Crestwood High. An active, outgoing young woman, Williams spent her summers visiting relatives in New York City, eventually deciding to move there.
``During the time that I was born and raised here, Virginia was a lot different. There was an awful lot of racism and prejudice in this area . . . I had always told my mother that it would be nice if we could move North because the people in the North didn't act like the people in the South!'' she said with a chuckle.
``And my mother tried to explain to me that no matter where I would go in the world, I would find people not liking one another because of race and color. But I had not run into that dilemma in New York City, so I decided when I got old enough I would leave the Virginia area and I would go to New York because I felt freer there.''
In New York, Williams started working in one of the city's first drug rehabilitation centers, earning about $10,000 a year as a drug counselor. It was while singing in church that she was discovered by one of the members of Sweet Inspirations.
``When the service was over, she came up to me and said I was the voice they were looking for,'' Williams recalled.
Laughing at the memory, Williams said her puzzled response went something like, ``The voice you're looking for? What is that?''
Williams was hired to replace one of the original members, Cissy Houston, who took time off to give birth and raise her daughter, Whitney Houston.
``When I joined them, they were already with Elvis, so it was like heavy duty for me,'' said Williams, ``because I had to learn everything that the Sweet Inspirations had ever recorded, plus I had to learn everything that they had ever backed up for Aretha, plus I had to learn everything they had ever done with Elvis!''
Working with Elvis, said Williams, was quite an adventure.
``To put it in a nutshell, the only word you could come up with to really describe Elvis would be `insanity,' '' she said with a heartfelt laugh. ``And I don't mean it in a bad sense, but when I say `insanity,' that's what we experienced! For me, it was complete insanity!
``He was fun. He always had crazy jokes. He was always laughing. He was always doing something - stuff you wouldn't imagine. Like if they gave him a pitcher of water, he was subject to pour it on somebody!'' she said. ``We were always trying to be alert and aware when we were around him because you never knew what this man was going to do!''
Williams especially liked Elvis' ``Southern mannerisms.''
``He was also very handsome and enjoyed the comments and the way the women made over him,'' she added. ``He loved every bit of that! He loved seeing them go crazy like he was!''
For the last three decades, Williams has lived at her family home in Chesapeake and an apartment she keeps in New York City. Her father, a preacher, died while she was traveling with Elvis. Her mother, a nurse, died in 1990.
Because of career demands - and because most of the men with whom she was involved expected her to quit work - Williams chose not to marry or start a family of her own. She has no regrets.
In addition to working on her autobiography, Williams has recorded a single, ``The New Americans,'' also scheduled for release in December.
Some might call it destiny, but Williams seems just as surprised as anyone else that a young Portsmouth girl would cross paths with the King of Rock 'n' Roll.
``It wasn't planned. It wasn't something I sought,'' she said.
``If you plan it or you dream about it or you seek it and it happens, it's like a miracle has taken place. But I just walked into it!'' Williams said incredulously.
Name: Margaret Anne Williams
Nickname: ``Kool''
Neighborhood: Hattonsville
Birthplace: Portsmouth
Occupation: Singer, writer, composer
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Fondest childhood memory: ``Sitting with my grandmother on summer nights. As we gazed into the sky, she would name the stars and show me the various shapes of each one.''
First concert: ``In 1955, I gave my first concert at an outdoor church meeting with my grandmother and mother. We sang together and played our guitars.''
If you could trade places for just one day with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? ``There is no one that I would want to trade places with. I like the life that God has graciously given me.''
Perfect way to spend the day: ``Taking my dog, Beauty, for a nice stroll in the park and sitting by the water with my sketch pad and pens and sketching away.''
I can't resist: ``Highly intelligent, creative young people. I love them and I love being around them; strawberry cheesecake; steamed seafood; Irish coffee with whipped cream; chef's salad with garlic bread; lobster with garlic butter (a must).''
Favorite Chesapeake restaurant: ``Occasionally I have dined at Morrison's. I'm a great cook, and I enjoy preparing my meals most of the time. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
by CNB