You have to be careful these days of when you get news on the net that a celebrity has passed. Facebook and Twitter are notorious for killing people off. Just ask Hugh Heffner (yes...he's still alive) and Bill Cosby. Heck, I even fell for it once by buying into the fact that Tony Danza had passed. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here.
R&B singer Vesta Williams (known just as "Vesta" to us R&B fans) was found dead Thursday in a hotel room in El Segundo from a rumored drug overdose. She was 53-years-old.
There are a few singers that I will always associate with the classic BET show Video Soul. Vesta was one of them. Her video for "Congratulations" played there on a regular basis. I didn't fully appreciate it then because of its content (singing to a former lover who was marrying someone else on his wedding day). However, the song never left me and I always remembered it as I got older.
I didn't realize this until later, but Vesta was also a semi-regular on the show "Sister, Sister" where she played one of Jackee Harry's girlfriends. Yes, I really watched that show. It was corny but every now and then they would have a good episode. Plus, it had my dude (and frat brother) Tim Reid on it so of course I was going to check it out.
Vesta seemed to struggle with weight problems over the years as she went from big to thin and sometimes back again. Something that tends to happen to a lot of artists when their career begins to falter. What's really bad though is the fact that she even had that problem with her career. She had an incredible voice. If she only had better production she could have had more longevity. Or possibly even revived her career. Unfortunately we'll never know now.
Rest in peace, Vesta.
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