Bernice Williams is an American

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and music business manager, who wrote the 1960s song "

Duke of Earl "Duke of Earl" is a 1962 US number-one song, originally recorded by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself "The Duke of Earl". The song was penned by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwa ...

" along with

Gene Chandler Gene Chandler (born Eugene Drake Dixon; July 6, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, and record-label executive. Chandler is nicknamed "the Duke of Earl" or, simply, "the Duke." He is best known for his most successful son ...

and Earl Edwards. The song was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 2002 and is in The

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. In the 1960s, she wrote three ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit songs.

Career

Chandler was discovered by Williams. Under her professional guidance, Chandler was introduced to agent Bill Sheppard, and Sheppard found a slot for Chandler as the lead singer with a doo-wop group called the Dukays. Their track, "Night Owl" (also known as "Nite Owl"), was released on Nat Records, and it entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 73 in February 1962. "Duke of Earl" appeared as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in November 1961, with a song called "Kissin' In The Kitchen" (also written by Bernice Williams) on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

. "Duke of Earl" was a major hit, with one million copies sold by the end of the calendar year; the song topped both the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

pop and R&B charts in February 1962. Williams was also responsible for the discovery of

The Starlets The Starlets were an American girl group from Chicago, Illinois. The group came together in 1961, and auditioned for a Chicago songwriter, Bernice Williams. Williams wrote them the tune "Better Tell Him No", which was released on Pam Records th ...

, an American girl group from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The group came together in 1961, and auditioned for Williams. She wrote them "Better Tell Him No", which was released on Pam Records that year. The record peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tiny Topsy Otha Lee Moore (May 22, 1930 – August 16, 1964), better known as Tiny Topsy, was an American R&B singer. The music journalist, Mark Lamarr, noted "Tiny in the same spirit you'd call a bald man curly, Tiny Topsy definitely had the lungpower to ...

was believed to be an alias used by Williams (who wrote Tiny Topsy's track, "Western Rock 'N' Roll") for some time, although pop historians now discount the idea. Williams has written over 200 songs.

Family

She lives in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with her daughter, and continues to write music.

References

External links

"Poverty hits African Americans hard", 23 April 2009
at News.bbc.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Bernice American women songwriters Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women