Michelle T. Williams

Tenitra Michelle Williams was born on July 23, 1980 in Rockford, Illinois. She is best known for being part of the RnB group Destiny’s Child alongside Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland. She won a Grammy Award for the song “Survivor” while in the girl-group and has also received six more Grammy nominations. When the band split in 2006, Williams embarked on a gospel career and has released four solo studio albums.

She graduated from Rockford Auburn High School in her hometown before starting a degree in criminal justice at Illinois State University. Two years in, she left college to become a backing vocalist. In 1999, she met her future band members Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland in a hotel lobby.

In 2003, she made her Broadway debut and currently remains the only Destiny’s Child member to have appeared on Broadway. She replaced Toni Braxton in Aida playing the title role at the Palace Theatre. Her next theatrical performance came in 2007, when she played Shug Avery in a nationwide tour of The Color Purple. Williams then made the jump to the other side of the pond, performing as Roxie Hart in Chicago in 2009, before reprising her role in Chicago on Broadway and a national tour.

After national tours in What My Husband Doesn’t Know and Fela!, she returned to the role of Aida in Aida, this time at the Muny in St. Louis, Missouri.

After several years away from Broadway, Michelle T. Williams finally took to the stage once again, assuming the role of Erzulie, goddess of love, in the Tony Award-winning revival Once on This Island on November 30, 2018. Unfortunately, she had to depart the production prematurely on doctor's orders.