Carla Marie Williams


Carla Marie Williams is a British songwriter and singer. Notable songs she has written or co-written include Beyoncé's "Freedom", Naughty Boy's "Runnin'" and Britney Spears's "Private Show". In 2016, Williams was nominated for two Grammy Awards for her work on Beyoncé's Lemonade album. She is the founder of Girls I Rate.

Early life

Williams grew up in Wealdstone Harrow, London, England. At the age of 10, she formed girl group "The Likkle Mentions". They entered local singing competitions and appeared on local radio. Williams completed her GCSEs and studied her A-Levels at Bentley Wood High School, an all-girls comprehensive school in Harrow. After completing her A-Levels she worked as a youth mentor for four years to help young musicians and songwriters.

Career

Williams moved to full-time songwriting in 2006 after losing her voice from muscular tension. She was signed to Xenomania as a songwriter by Brian Higgins. Williams has written tracks for Girls Aloud, The Saturdays, Kylie Minogue and Alesha Dixon. Most notably she co-wrote Girls Aloud's "The Promise", for which she received a BRIT Award, and has been nominated for a Grammy for her work on Naughty Boy's "Runnin' " and Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar's "Freedom".
Since leaving Xenomania, Williams has founded her own writing collective, New Crowd Media, and is currently working on music with up-and-coming artists Mabel McVey, Ray BLK and vocalist Kyla.
Williams also founded the Girls I Rate movement in 2015 to help, empower and support women in "the male-dominated music industry".

List of notable writing credits