![\"Paulette](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BJF26-Paulette-McWilliams-2.jpg\")
Paulette McWilliams will be one of the featured performers in the \u201cCelebrating Women in Jazz\u201d concert on Saturday. (Courtesy of Boscov\u2019s Berks Jazz Fest)<\/p>\nPaulette McWilliams will be one of the featured performers in the \u201cCelebrating Women in Jazz\u201d concert on Saturday. (Courtesy of Boscov\u2019s Berks Jazz Fest)<\/p>\n
The fourth \u201cCelebrating Women in Jazz\u201d concert, produced by Chris \u201cBig Dog\u201d Davis, will be back by popular demand on Saturday at noon in the DoubleTree by Hilton Reading Grand Ballroom.<\/p>\n
![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BJF26-Big-Dog-Davis.jpg\")
Chris \u201cBig Dog\u201d Davis is the producer of the \u201cCelebrating Women in Jazz\u201d concert. (Courtesy of Boscov\u2019s Berks Jazz Fest)<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theme will be \u201cLady Sings the Blues,\u201d inspired by the 1972 movie starring Diana Ross as Billie Holiday and Billy Dee Williams as her husband and manager, Louis McKay.<\/p>\n
The show will feature vocalists Regina Belle, Paulette McWilliams and Maysa, with violinist Chelsey Green and saxophonist Jazmin Ghent, accompanied by a band led by Davis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will show their jazz versatility, because in the other three shows, we used electronic instruments and R&B\/contemporary arrangements,\u201d Davis said. \u201cFor the first half of this show, we will be using a Yamaha grand piano, an upright bass, a drummer and two horn players, and going back to authentic jazz. And we\u2019re really focusing on songs from the movie that Billie Holiday would have sung.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the second half, he said: \u201cIt\u2019ll be electric, and the women can take their hair down and get loose. Over the past five years I\u2019ve worked with more than 30 women on this show, and they are all incredible artists.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those artists is Paulette McWilliams, who has had a remarkable career as a backup vocalist and singing partner for many artists, including Luther Vandross, Bette Midler, Michael Jackson, Johnny Mathis, Marvin Gaye and Quincy Jones. She has also had success as a solo recording and performing artist.<\/p>\n
In a recent interview over Zoom, McWilliams (who openly admits to being 77 but looks at least 25 years younger) radiated joy and warmth. In looking back over her experiences \u2014 which included singing on Broadway and on tour as a Harlette in \u201cThe Divine Miss M,\u201d and traveling to places she never could have imagined as a child living on Chicago\u2019s South Side \u2014 she often declared herself blessed by God.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never had a manager or a cousin or uncle who was out there before I decided to do this,\u201d she said. \u201cI was the first in my family to leave, and it was scary! But I used to watch musicals on TV and I would pray to God and say, \u2018I want this; I want to sing.\u2019 And God was my manager; I can see that now. Back then, as a teenager, it just seemed that doors kept opening up for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her first success was, at age 11, winning second place on Patricia Vance\u2019s \u201cLittle Stars,\u201d a regional TV show similar to \u201cStar Search.\u201d One of her idols, Sammy Davis Jr., happened to be a guest on the show.<\/p>\n
He told her she was a \u201cgreat singer\u201d and passed her his card, telling her to look him up when she was older.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost the card somehow, so I never called him,\u201d she said, \u201cbut always kept his words in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1969, McWilliams auditioned with more than 100 other girls for the band American Breed and became their lead singer for a number of years as their name changed to Ask Rufus, then Rufus; when she left the band, she was replaced by her good friend Chaka Khan, whom she had recommended for the lead.<\/p>\n
Gospel singers Donny Hathaway and Tennyson Stevens helped McWilliams record a demo and sent it to Quincy Jones, who hired her as a backup and lead for his \u201cBody Heat\u201d tour and the album \u201cMellow Madness.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sang with Marvin Gaye, performing the Tammi Terrell duets with him on his last tour. Her career burgeoned, and in 1982 she joined Luther Vandross and stayed with his band until 2002. By that time, she was one of the most in-demand backup singers in the business.<\/p>\n
In 2020, McWilliams recorded a solo album, \u201cA Woman\u2019s Story,\u201d followed by \u201cThese Are the Sweet Things\u201d (2023).<\/p>\n
Now her latest album, \u201cFunctify,\u201d is being released in time for her appearance at the Boscov\u2019s Berks Jazz Fest, and she is over the moon about having the opportunity to share this particular work with the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe songs are all originals,\u201d she said, \u201cwritten by myself and my ex-husband (drummer\/producer\/songwriter Ivan Hampden, who was also a member of Vandross\u2019s band). We found that we write together better than anything. The songs are neo-soul, pop and jazz, and funk is the umbrella over it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
She shared some lyrics of a story song called \u201cTeddy\u2019s Got a Plan,\u201d and the Mavis Staples-inspired \u201cI Feel You,\u201d and even thrilled the interviewer by singing a bit in her velvety contralto.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all based on being in love and loving myself enough to tell you it\u2019s not working,\u201d she said. \u201cThe love songs I write are stories about relationships, not just \u2018I love you, Baby.\u2019 I\u2019m so happy with my label, Majestic Music, and with the owner, Angelo Montrone.\u201d<\/p>\n
This summer, Majestic will be reissuing \u201cA Woman\u2019s Story,\u201d and simultaneously, McWilliams will be featured in the documentary film \u201cIn the Back, in the Corner, From the Dark to the Light,\u201d which is the story of her life as a singer.<\/p>\n
Appearing with her in the documentary will be many artists with whom she has worked, including Midler, Khan, Marcus Miller, Ray Parker Jr., Nat Adderly (a Vandross alum) and Willy Weeks (an Ask Rufus alum). The eminent documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has been a consultant on this project.<\/p>\n
Asked how she preserves her extraordinary voice, with its five-octave range, through all the touring and recording, McWilliams said: \u201cI don\u2019t party a lot, and I\u2019m not a drinker because alcohol dries out my vocal cords. I\u2019ve never smoked cigarettes, ever. I like feeling like I\u2019ve had enough rest so I can do what I\u2019m being paid to do, so I can be on top of my game. I want to reflect God\u2019s light, and I\u2019m trying to be the very best person I can be by following Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n