Music industry professional Andrea René Williams is known as a former GRAMMY Awards Manager and a current publicist, who has represented artists such as Gladys Knight, Pastor Charles Jenkins and the late Andraé Crouch. But few know that the Berklee College of Music summa cum laude graduate and award-nominated publicist and marketer is a musician herself. The DMV-based singer, songwriter, composer, arranger and producer, she launched her recording career last year with vocal and instrumental singles, including the 2020 WAMMIE Award-Nominated single, “Count It As Done”, and the smooth-jazz styled “Won’t Work”. Now Williams returns with an inspirational, CCM jam called “Who Do I Run To”. The single is currently available on digital music outlets such as iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify.
“Who Do I Run To”, a musical reminder that no matter what happens in life God is the one we should go to, was produced and engineered by Andrea. Mark Reiter of the GRAMMY Award-Winning Bias Studios in Springfield, VA, mixed and mastered the track. “This song is a real change for me musically,” says Williams. “It has a throwback vibe and a fun, danceable groove but I don’t want people to miss the important message of the song. When trouble comes, it’s so easy for us to pick up the phone and call a spouse, significant other or friend. I want to believers to remember that even though loved ones may be able to give us advice, God is the one with all the answers we seek. He needs to be the first one we run to when challenges come.”
The song is dedicated to the memory of Andrea’s parents; her mother passed away in June and her father, a minister of the Gospel, passed in 2010. The project’s cover, a butterfly, is special to the artist and her parents and she believes they send her butterflies as reminders of their love. “Three days before my mother passed away, not knowing that she would be passing, I asked her to send me butterflies when she left,” recounts Andrea. “She agreed, already knowing that I believed my father had done the same thing when he passed. The day after I buried her, which happened to be my birthday, a butterfly circled me for fifteen minutes. I knew it was my mother’s way of comforting me. When I decided to release, ‘Who Do I Run To’, I had to honor the two people who passed on their musical gifts to me – and even more importantly – their faith in God.”
Starting her music career in 1998 at the Washington, DC Chapter of the Recording Academy, known for distributing the coveted GRAMMY Award, Andrea has penned hundreds of articles for Gospel music blogs and Christian publications. Long before becoming an interviewer of artists such as Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Yolanda Adams, Tramaine Hawkins and CeCe Winans, she honed her vocal skills in choirs for decades with renowned directors and Gospel greats such as Richard Smallwood, Byron Cage, Earnest Pugh and Ricky Dillard. A member of Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, MD, she’s sung at many churches and in arenas, even rendering the National Anthem for the NBA’s Washington Wizards and Washington Mystics.
Author of Live The Life You Sing About: How To Live With Integrity In The Gospel & Christian Music Industry, Williams is the owner of Andrea René Williams Music Ministries, LLC, a publicity, marketing and consulting agency for faith-based recording artists. A multi-faceted, serial entrepreneur, she’s been her own boss since 2006 with the full-time launch of Tehillah Enterprises after her departure from the Recording Academy. A new company coming in 2021, Faith & Song, will encourage music ministers to follow the principles of scripture as they pursue their musical passions and their God-given callings.
In addition to her latest single, “Who Do I Run To”, Andrea’s orchestral alter ego, Soul Oasis Symphony, dropped an instrumental EP last August, Soul Oasis. The four-song EP contains original material, all with the goal of relaxing the mind and soothing the spirit. All of Andrea’s music is released through her Gotta Praise Production company and her record label, Angels Wings Records. A 2020 Second Place Winner of the Make Music Montgomery Contest (held in Montgomery County, MD) and a 2020 WAMMIE Award Nominee for Best Gospel Artist, Andrea will be releasing her first vocal EP, Count It As Done, in Spring 2021. Connect with Andrea René Williams on her website, www.singitandrea.com and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
