DrewLive: AOL Live welcomes JIVE recording artist Melissa Williams. Hey, Melissa, how are you doing?
Melissa Williams: Doing great.
DrewLive: We hear you have big announcement for us today, and we're very excited to have you at AOL. We're going to get to the questions now. First of all, we wanted to know what your newest single is.
Melissa Williams: My new single is a song called "Make You Mine." It's the first single I've released, and I'm really, really excited about it.
DrewLive: OK, great. Also, we have a question from Ortega Soccer 10: Do you think you might go back into acting? I loved you when you did that one episode of Beverly Hills 90210.
Melissa Williams: It's something I definitely do want to do more of in the future. Right now I have so much on my plate musically, considering the album being released, touring, and also headlining my own tour next Spring. I'm pretty busy and I can't -- I don't have any time to sit and really take any scripts seriously that have come in. But I will definitely do so in the future.
DrewLive: Caiif-101 says: Hey, Melissa, besides singing, what else in the future would you like to accomplish?
Melissa Williams: Well, my all-time goal is to become an all-around entertainer. That's why I really look up to -- a perfect example of that in the business as a strong, positive female, I think, being Madonna, a smart businesswoman, has been able to reinvent herself throughout the years, be daring enough to take chances that others maybe wouldn't, express herself creatively the way she likes and not really caring about other people's opinions. So I can really admire that and the fact that she's been able to stay on the stage, the studio, and the screen and have success at all three. That's something I'd like to do in the future as well.
DrewLive: You have traveled to many places. Is there one that's your favorite?
Melissa Williams: I really enjoy going to Japan. And London is another favorite place of mine, as well.
DrewLive: OK, let's see, Xxgapgirl asks: When do you think you'll start your new CD?
Melissa Williams: Well, damn, I haven't released the first one yet...thats pretty funny. I like to stay ahead of the game, so I would say sometime mid next year, if not, sooner.
DrewLive: Very good. What artists [do you] find to be most inspirational, and who are your favorites?
Melissa Williams: Most inspirational, as entertainers, I really look up to females like Madonna, Diana Ross and Janet Jackson. Vocally, I've always listened to Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Etta James. Brian McKnight is my favorite singer. And those are the main people that I really look up to.
DrewLive: Angel DNV asks: Melissa, I think you have a beautiful voice. I too want to start singing and want to make something out of it, but I'm having a hard time getting started. Do you have any suggestions?
Melissa Williams: Where is she from, does she say?
DrewLive: Unfortunately, it doesn't say.
Melissa Williams: OK. Well, thank you very much. Of course, if you have this dream, totally go for it and never look back. A good way to start is exploring your own creativity to its fullest and trying to come up with your own melody ideas, lyric ideas. Writing your own music is kind of a first step. That's what you can make -- in trying to get your foot in the door as far as regular labels are concerned, getting together with a producer and making demos together, getting some sort of management to represent you so that you can put together a package deal, maybe a head shot, your demos and -- we did a videotape of things that I had done television-wise and internationally-wise. It's sort of a background tape. Put together a package like that, and trying your hardest and never giving up.
DrewLive: Sounds inspirational. We have Mellow Cav 10 asking: Where was your video filmed, your most recent one?
Melissa Williams: My recent video was filmed in LA.
