Carla Marie Williams

Carla Marie Williams is a British songwriter and singer. Notable songs she has written or co-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]

Carla Marie Williams
Born
Harrow, London
NationalityBritish
Occupationsongwriter, singer, producer

Early life

Williams grew up in Wealdstone Harrow, 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 McVey, 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. 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. "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. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. 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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