Carla Marie Williams

Carla Marie Williams
Born Harlesden, London
Nationality British
Occupation songwriter, singer, producer
Website carlamariewilliams.com

Carla Marie Williams is a British songwriter and singer. Notable songs she has written include Beyoncé's "Freedom", Naughty Boy's "Runnin'" and Britney Spears's "Private Show".[1][2][3] In 2016, Williams was nominated for two Grammy Awards for her work on Beyoncé's Lemonade album. She is the founder of Girls I Rate.[4]

Early life

Williams grew up in Harlesden, London, England. At the age of 10, she formed girl group "The Likkle Mentions".[5] They entered local singing competitions and appeared on local radio. Williams completed her GCSEs and studied her A-Levels at Bentley Wood High School, an all-girls comprehensive school in Harrow. After completing her A-Levels she worked as a youth mentor for four years to help young musicians and songwriters.[3]

Career

Williams moved to full-time songwriting in 2006 after losing her voice from muscular tension.[1] She was signed to Xenomania as a songwriter by Brian Higgins.[6] Williams has written tracks for Girls Aloud, The Saturdays, Kylie Minogue and Alesha Dixon. Most notably she co-wrote Girls Aloud's "The Promise", for which she received a BRIT Award,[7] and has been nominated for a Grammy for her work on Naughty Boy's "Runnin' (Lose It All)" and Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar's "Freedom".

Since leaving Xenomania, Williams has founded her own writing collective, New Crowd Media,[8] and is currently working on music with up-and-coming artists Mabel, Ray BLK and vocalist Kyla (who features on Drake's track "One Dance").

Williams also founded the Girls I Rate movement in 2015 to help, empower and support women in "the male-dominated music industry".

List of notable writing credits

References

  1. 1 2 Butter, Susannah (10 November 2016). "Carla Marie Williams: 'We need more swag in the industry - women need to bring it back'". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Baiden, Kamilla Rose (16 May 2016). "Introducing Carla Marie Williams, The North London Songwriter Penning Tracks For Queen Bey". Vibe. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Meet Carla Marie Williams, the British songwriter who wrote Freedom for Beyonce". Newsbeat. BBC News. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "GIRLS I RATE". girlsirate.com. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  5. ↑ Spendelow, Nathan (20 January 2016). "Meet the Harrow woman who ended up writing songs for Beyoncé". getwestlondon. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  6. ↑ Williams, Carla Marie (29 February 2016). "Carla Marie Williams: For black women in music it's hard to defy the stereotype". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Wright, Matthew (8 March 2016). "10 Questions for Songwriter Carla Marie Williams". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  8. ↑ Baiden, Kamilla Rose (16 May 2016). "Introducing Carla Marie Williams, The North London Songwriter Penning Tracks For Queen Bey". Vibe. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
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