Renee Grant-Williams
Celebrity Voice Coach
Moderator, Live Performance

Being an effective voice coach is an ironic pursuit.  Unlike most professions, the greatest successes of a voice coach are achieved by helping clients sound like they’ve never had a voice lesson in their lives.  That said, if you’ve never heard of Renee Grant-Williams, she won’t take offense.  The invisible art she creates speaks for itself in the music of her most famous clients, including Faith Hill, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Travis, Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Christina Aguilera, Huey Lewis, Rachel Lampa, and hundreds of other names you’d recognize.

With her clients garnering an incredible seven nominations at the 2004 Grammy Awards, Grant-Williams’ is obviously doing something right.  She makes a vital contribution not only to the vocal quality, but also to the protection of the person driving the sound.  Like an insurance policy, she’s there to protect against future wear and tear.

“In the entertainment business, whole careers are built around two little muscles in a person’s throat,” Says Grant-Williams.  “The success of an entire empire can depend on how well those muscles work.”

Grant-Williams has been called upon as a consultant by nearly every major record label and recording studio in Nashville to work with both new artists and seasoned performers to help them achieve their maximum potential.  From her studio in Nashville Tennessee, she has become the secret weapon that keeps countless entertainers at the top of their game.

“One of the most gratifying moments of my life came when I was walking through the Nashville airport and heard five songs in a row that I had worked on with my students,” she says. “I actually got tears in my eyes, because I realized what a significant contribution I had made to each song.”

Grant-Williams, an accomplished vocalist and musician, knows from personal experience the rigors of performing. She’s a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and was later on the faculty there. She was appointed Director of the Division of Vocal Music at the University of California-Berkeley. She moved to Nashville from New York City where she was working as musical director of an off-Broadway show at the Actors Studio.

Her techniques work for all types of communicators, not just singers. She’s also worked with attorneys, public speakers and politicians, including U.S. Senator Trent Lott.

“The way you produce a sound is the same if you are speaking or singing,” she says. “We are all communicators and we all benefit from tools that can help us become more effective at conveying intention and making every word count. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish.”

Grant-Williams presents programs to business organizations that build strategic communication skills. Fifteen years of experience as national director of sales for prominent film and music production companies, successfully marketing campaigns to Disney, Kraft, Blockbuster, General Motors, American Airlines, and countless others, have taught her first-hand that positive voice techniques translate into good business.

In addition to the rigorous schedule she keeps teaching privately at her studio, Grant-Williams also appears at numerous speaking engagements, is frequently called upon by members of the media to contribute her expertise on subjects ranging from teen behavior, the analysis of politicians’ speaking styles, and of course, singers.  As if that weren’t enough, she also conducts an annual Master Class in Nashville each spring for singers.  The event is a consistent sell-out.

She is the author of VOICE POWER: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention, published by AMACOM Books. Endorsed by Paul Harvey, VOICE POWER was chosen by Soundview Executive Book Summaries as one of the thirty best business books of 2002. She has created and teaches a course for BNU, Barnes & Noble’s online university, titled Stand and Deliver: Speaking with Confidence, and she has recently released a DVD and video series based on her annual Master Class.

Renee Grant-Williams has been the subject of a CBS profile, appeared on network, syndicated, and cable television and radio outlets including MTV, Bloomberg, NBC, FOX, BRAVO, NPR, and Voice of America.  Grant-Williams, an active member of the National Speakers Association, has written for and appeared in numerous national publications.