Jade Williams is a British independent pop singer, who currently performs under the stage name Whinnie Williams, and previously Sunday Girl. She released her debut EP, Bad Girl, through Night Beach Records in October 2014.
Early life
During her early teenage years, Williams was employed at a local pet shop where she worked every Sunday. Having not revealed her name to the other members of staff, Williams became known as Sunday Girl, which would later become her music alias. Growing up, Williams was always shy when it came to performing and singing in front of people, so her mother took her to see a hypnotist when she was 17, and it helped her to overcome the fear. With her fear of performing gone, Williams joined many cover bands including a ska band, a jazz band, and a trio who did covers of '40s blues standards with a ukulele and double bass. Williams completed an Art Foundations course at University and studied set design at Wimbledon College of Art, but took a gap year during her studies to travel and, more importantly, focus on songwriting, as she was getting bored of only singing covers of other artists songs. During the gap year, she was discovered by a manager one night while singing in a night club, and he helped direct her to work with other songwriters, which led to her eventual signing with Polydor Records and Universal's Geffen Records in late 2009.
Career
Music
Prior to her renderings of songs for the supermarket chainAldi, Williams released her debut single as Sunday Girl, "Four Floors", through Polydor Records on 28 March 2010. A music video directed by Elisha Smith-Leverock was also released to accompany the release of the single. On 15 July 2010, she released her second single, "Self Control", a cover of the 1984 Raf song popularized worldwide by the late Laura Branigan. A music video, again directed by Smith-Leverock, was released to accompany the single release. She supported Ellie Goulding on tour during November 2010, and played her first headlining show at London's XOYO on 15 December 2010. Her third single, "Stop Hey," was officially released through iTunes by Polydor in February 2011. She wrote and produced the song with Jim Eliot, who has also worked with Kylie Minogue, Ladyhawke, and Ellie Goulding. A music video for "Stop Hey" was directed by Smith-Leverock, and themes for the video came from superstitions about bad luck. In June 2011, Williams was featured on Martin Solveig's album Smash, performing "Let's Not Play Games," which she co-wrote. Her cover of "Love U More", originally by Sunscreem, was promotionally released along with its accompanying video in October 2011, but its commercial release was delayed indefinitely. That November, she also went on tour to support LMFAO on a few of their UK dates. Williams then recorded a cover of Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" for Thomson's 2011 holiday TV campaign, and the single's success helped her to be signed by Universal's Island Records in early 2012. Williams became one-half of DJ duo Ooh La La! in February 2012 with model Zara Martin. The pair have since streamed mixes 90s Hip Hop, R&B and Pop at night clubs and fashion parties in London and other cities in the UK. In March 2012, she co-wrote a song titled "Turn Up the Radio" for Madonna's twelfth studio albumMDNA. Furthermore, she released "High & Low" from the official motion picture soundtrack of StreetDance 2. In February 2013, Williams announced the end of the Sunday Girl project, and released her first single and music video under the moniker of Whinnie Williams, "You Don't Love Me", in early 2013, later followed by "Break Hearts in Your Sleep". Both of these singles were released free via Williams' SoundCloud page, as was her first mixtape, Mix Tape Vol 1, released in December 2013.
Fashion
Fashion has been a huge part of Jade Williams' career alongside her passion for music. Her first role as a model came in October 2010 when she became the new face of River Island's Design Forum campaign. She has a fashion blog/vlog on MSN Life & Style, puts together all of her tour outfits and stage design, and even put out her own fashion line with Firetrap in September 2011. Williams cites her fashion icons as Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld, and describes her own style to be masculine, tailored, and tom-boyish. In 2011, a portrait of Williams was painted by British artist Joe Simpson, the painting was exhibited around the UK including a solo exhibition at The Royal Albert Hall.
