Colleen Williams was raised in the Finger Lakes region. Her dream was always to pursue a career in musical theater after graduation from Nazareth College, but fate had other plans and sadly, that dream was put on hold. Williams enjoyed a successful career in marketing landing in Buffalo, and—married with a family—singing became more of a sideline activity. In 1996, Williams was diagnosed with an aggressive form of thyroid cancer, which not only threatened her ability to sing, but threatened her life. She attended a healing mass and the result was powerful and emotional: her cancer disappeared! With the health scare behind her, Williams put all her efforts into pursuing her dream.

In 1997, Williams met jazz keyboardist and arranger Bobby Jones (Doc Severinsen) and jazz saxophonist Bobby Militello (Dave Brubeck), who produced her first album, TORCHED (1998). With the album’s critical success and Williams’ vocal strength, she quickly established herself as one of the area’s premier entertainers. In 2003 she released her follow-up album, Colleen Williams, and since then, she and The Bobby Jones Trio have been mainstays in the Buffalo jazz scene and at prestigious events including the M&T Plaza Concert Series, Lewiston Jazz Festival, and Jazz Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Williams has sung with the BPO in Sal Andolina’s tributes to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and the Great American Songbook. She collaborated with David Foster’s arranger and music director Boh Cooper to create her own symphony show, ON MY WAY TO NOW – The Great American Songbook Re-Imagined, which debuted in 2022.