7B
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT^The Charlotte Post
Thursday November 13, 1997
Vanessa Williams Ending her niche as an actress
TI)E ASSOCIATED PRESS
Prom dethroned Miss
America to American Dream
Queen. Here’s how the scandal-
plagued beauty Vanessa
Williams battled her way from
tabloid-hell to Hollywood’s
major league. She has a highly
acclaimed new album, a slew of
must-see movies, a new man
and a house full of happy kids,
Barbara Sgroi writes in an arti
cle in Cosmopolitan magazine.
Suddenly, single supermom
Venessa Williams has wound
up exactly where she wants to
be. It’s been a tough, uphill
haul, but at 34, her resume
now includes two platinum
records, nine Grammy nomina
tions, critical raves for
Broadway’s “Kiss of the Spider
Woman,” and Hollywood co-
starring roles with the likes of
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The former beauty queen’s
renown as the first black _ and
first dethroned _ Miss America
is finally starting to fade. “I’m
simply a survivor,” Williams
explains.
She has even managed to sur
vive the Hollywood tendency to
typecast. Williams played a
goddess up to no good in last
spring’s television miniseries
“The Odyssey,” an adaptation
of the famous Greek epic poem
(and fell in love with her cur
rent boyfriend, the project’s
screenwriter, Christopher
Solimine, while filming in
Turkey).
Last summer, she was a good-
hearted nurse in love with
Harlem gangster Laurence
Fishburne in “Hoodlum.” And
currently, she plays a ballsy,
bitchy, decidedly unglamorous
corporate lawyer in the drama
“Soul Food.”
The multitalented superstar
has just wrapped up her six-
month, United States to Japan
concert tour and has happily
reverted to being a brownie
baking, carpooling, small-town
mom to her daughters,
Melanie, 10, and Jillian, 8, and
son, Devin, 4 at their home
about an hour north of New
York City.
Now that her career is on a
roll and her divorce from
Romon Hervey is in the works,
she’s dealing with the emotion
al aftermath of life without the
man who was her husband,
manager, and mentor. Hervey
was the Los Angeles publicist
she hired to do damage control
when nude photos of Williams,
reigning Miss American, and
another woman turned up in
the pages of Penthouse maga
zine back in 1984.
“I think he was drawn to my
vulnerability _ he thought he
could help,” she says of Hervey,
12 years her senior. “I was only
21 and overwhelmed. All I
wanted was someone to take
care of me.” The scandal cost
her the crown, ravaged her rep
utation, and sent her career
into a crash-and-burn tailspin.
But on Hervey’s advice,
Williams doggedly set out to
reinvent herself.
“Afterward, I never felt. Oh
my God, I’m nothing! My goal
was to figure out how to pick up
the pieces and get back on
track. I knew that I had a
future.”
Snagging a record deal was
easy. It was her image that had
been ruined, not her voice, and
on radio, that was all that real
ly counted. Her first album
went gold and won three
Grammy nominations.
Williams had made her come
back.
Having mastered music,
Williams set out to steer her
career back to her longtime
goal; acting. And conquering
Broadway, with the starring
role in Broadway’s “Kiss of the
Spider Woman,” gave her act
ing career a push.
“My attitude is, go after what
you want,” Williams says. “If
you get it fine, if not, move on.”
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Sounds: Rakim offers fine CD
Continued from SB
rudeness to women, gang bang
ing or drug running. He’s basical
ly promoting his own skills, but
that’s how rap and That alone is
worth the price of admission, let
alone his fluid rap style. “The
18th Letter (Always and
Forever)” is an edgy, swirhng
tune that showcases his wit and
skill. “It’s Been A Long Time”
sounds like something straight
out the early ‘80s, which isn’t a
bad thing. That’s when hip-hop
was more original and musical.
Welcome back, Rakim.
Rating:
☆☆☆☆☆ Classic;
Excellent;
☆☆☆ Good;
iWr Fair;
☆ Why?;
No Stars - A mess
Rap lyrics raise parents’ concern
Continued from SB
formances have drawn protests in
several states.
‘1 missed an opportunity there;
I failed my son as a father,” said
Kuntz, who lives in Burlington,
N.D. “I failed to recognize that my
son was holding a hand grenade
and that it was going to go off.”
The industiys Rosen said the
mi;isic community is making a
positive difference in ways that
don’t get much attention. Records
have been labeled since 1985 so
that “parents can make inteUi-
geht listening choices for their
children,” she said.
Lieberman said the labels
should be much more specific and
more like video-game and televi
sion ratings systems. Rosen said
music is too subjective for that.
“What makes one painting good
and one painting bad? It’s a mat
ter of taste,” she said. “You may
assume that something is simply
in bad taste because you don’t like
it, but that does not mean that
there is not a level of artistic cre
ativity that went into the creation
of it.”
Rosen said most retailers follow
the voluntary guidehnes to
restrict album sales to people
under age 17.
Stanford University communi
cations professor Donald Roberts,
who recently published a book
about the impact that rap and
heavy metal have on teen-agers.
said violence-laced videos have
been shown to make adolescents
more antagonistic toward women.
“Heavy metal and rap attract
kids to their audiences who may
be particularly susceptible to
influence,” Roberts said.
Outside the hearing room,
Michael Eric Dyson, a Columbia
University professor of Afiican-
American studies, told reporters
that music was a symptom, not a
cause.
“Until the social injustice that
prevails in American society has
been dealt with, we will not be
able to deal with the substantive
issues that cause young people to
have despair and to have hope
lessness,” Dyson said.
^ubs^cribe
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704-376-0496
or 1-888-
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WINTER WEEKEND GETAWAY!
92.7 WCCJ, Charlotte’s Smooth Jazz Source invites you and 4 of your friends for a
Winter Weekend Getaway to Hilton Head!
All you have to do is fill out this form below, find four friends who wouldn’t mind
winning $92.70 in extra Christmas cash, and fax your entry to WCCJ at 358-3752. Be
listening Monday through Friday, 7:10 and 11:10 a.m., and 3:10 and 7:10 p.m., now
through December 12th. If you hear us thank you for listening, you’ll have 45 minutes
to call in and claim your $92.70, If you hear us thank one of your listed friends for
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All winners will be automatically qualified for the Grand
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NAME D.O.B. NAME FOUR OF YOUR FRIENDS:
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For a complete set of contest rules, semi a self - addressed stamped envelope to:
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COCA COLA ’ STUDENT’ OF THE MONTH
ELLIOTT REID
Senior,
West Charlotte High School
Elliott Reid's career objective is to become a criminal attorney, and he is lay
ing the foundation to do so. He has worked with the local law firm of Grier & Gri
er, which heightened his desire to pursue his career as an attorney. He has also
worked for Harris-Teeter Super Market and University Cinemas.
Throughout his school years, Elliott has been very active as a mem
ber of the National Beta Club, Senior Class President, Student Council,
Youth Breaking Barriers, Youth Legislative Assembly, Order of the Lion,
Love of Learning-Davidson College, Co-President West Charlotte DECA,
DECA District II Vice President, NAACP, Discovery Place Volunteer,
and Qwest West.
Other outstanding accomplishments include: Hugh O'Brien Ambas
sador, Minority Achievement President 9th grade, Sophomore Class
Council, Kids Voting, Focus on Leadership-youth component, Straight-Up Writer
for the Charlotte Observer, Junior Class Council and National Vocational Tech
nical Honor Society.
Elliott has also been awarded for his deeds as Most Outstanding Teen Role
Model, Most Outstanding Sophomore, Gibbs Award Recipient, Deca State Finalist
& District Proficiency Winner, local and district winner of the Optimist Club Ora
torical Contest.
Reading, community service, playing pool, writing and listening to music
are hobbies that occupy hds time while not at school.
Elliott is the son of Jimmy & Bernadette Reid. He has an older sister, Joy
The family attends Cedar Grove Presbyterian Church where he is a member of
the Board of Trustees, church Sexton, member of the Youth Group and member
of the Youth Usher Board.
Congratulations ^Elliott”'From
Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated of Charlotte