Vanessa Williams

The first African-American to be crowned Miss America in 1983, Vanessa Williams turned to a pop career after she was forced to resign her title when nude photos from her past caused a big scandal. Full of smooth-voiced, soul ballads and slick R&B pop, her debut album The Right Stuff (1988) produced the hit single Dreamin' before its follow-up The Comfort Zone (1991) produced the US huge Number 1 Save the Best For Last. Babyface produced her third album The Sweetest Days (1994) and she won an Oscar for Colours of the Wind, the soundtrack single to animated film Pocahontas, before turning her hand to acting with roles in the films Soul Food, Eraser and Dance With Me. Later albums Everlasting Love (2005) and The Real Thing (2009) failed to make much of an impact but Williams found fame as the bitchy fashion editor Wilhelmina Slater in the hit TV show Ugly Betty.