Lavina Rose Williams (born 13 June 1979) is a New Zealand musical artist and musical theatre performer. Williams began her career as a member of the 1990s the girl group

Ma-V-Elle Ma-V-Elle is a three-piece New Zealand girl group best known for their top-40 singles in the New Zealand charts in the mid 1990s. The group consists of Lavina Williams, Marina Davis and Maybelle Galuvao. Background The group formed at James ...

. The group had multiple songs in the New Zealand music charts, including ''Never Say Goodbye'', ''Freedom'', ''Show Me Heaven'', and ''Three Flow''. In 2006, Williams competed in the 4th season of

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol' ...

, finishing in the top 8 of the competition. Williams briefly joined her younger sister's girl group Young Divas in 2007. She has since pursued a musical theatre career, performing in The Lion King, Hairspray, Dream Girls, and Sister Act. As a singer, she has been the backing vocalist for many New Zealand artists including Ginny Blackmore and Stan Walker. She featured in her brother J. Williams's song

Stand with You "Stand with You" is the fourth single from J. Williams' first studio album, '' Young Love''. The song features Williams' sister, Lavina Williams. Music video The music video was financially supported by New Zealand On Air. The music video sta ...

, which reached 6th in the New Zealand charts. Williams has also featured in some of

Mika Haka Mika X (born Terrance John Pou on 8 February 1962, later renamed Neil Gudsell, also known as Mika and as Mika Haka) is a New Zealand Māori singer, performance artist, actor, filmmaker, TV producer and comedian. He has toured across the worl ...

's singles, including ''Coffee'' and ''Loved Me A Man''.

Ma-V-Elle

The group formed at

James Cook High School James Cook High School is a state co-ed secondary school in the South Auckland suburb of Manurewa, New Zealand. School structure The school's colours are royal blue and gold. History James Cook High School was opened in February 1968. Like ...

, Manurewa in the mid 1990s. Ma-V-Elle's name comes from the first names of the three members - Marina, Lavina and Maybelle. The group was originally managed by

Tim Mahon Tim Mahon is a New Zealand musician who played in the Plague, the Whizz Kids and Blam Blam Blam. He was seriously injured in a road accident while on tour with Blam Blam Blam, leading to the band breaking up. In 1983 he played bass and sang w ...

. Their debut album ''Spoken To'' was released in 1997, with the trio touring nationally and internationally, including two performances at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Member Marina Davis left in 1998 for religious reasons, with Maybelle and Lavina continuing as a duo. The group released their second album, ''Angel'' in 1999, with a heavier,

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

-inspired sound. Both Maybelle Galuvao and Lavina Williams were nominated for the Most Promising Female Vocalist award at the 2000 New Zealand Music Awards, losing to Vanessa Kelly of

Deep Obsession Deep Obsession is a New Zealand group, notable for being the only New Zealand act to have three consecutive No.1 singles in the Official New Zealand Music Chart. History Deep Obsession started recording their debut album in 1997. They signed ...

. Ma-V-Elle performed together for the first time in 13 years with a surprise reunion at the 2013

Pacific Music Awards The Pacific Music Awards are an annual New Zealand music award ceremony since 2005 that honours excellence in Pacific music in New Zealand. The awards honour musicians who primarily work in the Pacific Island style of music from the Cook Islands, ...

. The group released new single "Let's Go (To the Sky)" and performed at the Parachute music festival in January 2014.

Australian Idol

:''Top 24'': "

(You Make Me Feel like) a Natural Woman "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin on the Atlantic label. The words were written by Gerry Goffin from an idea by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and the music was compo ...

" by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

:''Top 12'': " If I Ain't Got You" by

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

Bottom 2 :''Top 11'': " Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence :''Top 10'': " Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston Bottom 3 :''Top 9'': " Too Much Heaven" by The Bee Gees :''Top 8'': "Best of My Love" by The Emotions Eliminated

Notable performances

Williams has been a regular performer at Christmas in the Park. She performed in 2014, and returned in 2015 to sing a solo of Joy to the World and perform

Aotearoa ''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South ...

with Stan Walker. She also performed in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. She performed regularly at the Big Gay Out event at Coyle Park. She has performed in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Personal life

Williams is the older sister to J. Williams,

Emily Williams Emily Williams (born 8 October 1984) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame in 2005 on the third season of ''Australian Idol'' and became the runner-up of the competition. After ''Idol'', Williams signed with Sony BM ...

and Ezra Williams. She was born in New Zealand, and is of Samoan and Fijian descent.

Discography

with Ma-V-Elle

Albums

* ''Spoken To'' (1997) * ''Angel'' (1999)

Singles

Featured on

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Lavina 1979 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand women singers New Zealand people of Samoan descent New Zealand people of Fijian descent People from Auckland 20th-century New Zealand women singers