> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # There’s something about Chelsea Williams that makes people stop and listen. - URL: https://www.smdp.com/communityprofiles-c-o-m-m-u-n-i-t-y-p-r-o-f-i-l-e-s-i-s-a-w-e-e-k-l-y-s-e-r-i-e-s-t-h-a-t-a-p-p-e-a-r-s-e-a-c-h-m-o-n-d-a-y-a-n-d-d-e-l-v-e-s-i-n-t-o-20050829/ - Published: 2005-08-29T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T07:37:41.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Education, Promenade, #archive-import *By ROBERT FATURECHI Special to the Daily Press* There’s something about Chelsea Williams that makes people stop and listen. Five days a week, the 19-year-old singer pierces the sleepy morning lull at the Third Street Promenade with a medley of old and new, from the Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon” to Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough.” With nothing but a guitar, a microphone and two speakers, Williams draws surprisingly large crowds just as the Third Street Promenade wakes up — a time when few other street performers even try. “People will walk by and they’ll kind of be in a bad mood, and I’ll smile at them and they smile back,” Williams said. “It makes me feel really good that I had an impact on them.” Williams says she’s always loved music. As a baby, her mother — also a singer — put her to bed with soft melodies. Later, her mom became her voice coach. The passion has spanned much of Williams’ young life — from childhood when she joined a musical theater group to adolescence when she finished high school two years early so she’d have more time to focus on her music. “I’ve been singing basically my whole life, I’ve been around it my whole life,” Williams says. “I’ve loved it my whole life.” Today, Williams regularly makes her rounds at Hollywood clubs, including the Roxy and the Knitting Factory. Though the half-hour sets give her a shot at singing her own tunes — she has almost 90 — Williams says her morning performances on the Promenade offer some of the best experience a singer can get. “People have given me their cards from Columbia Records and a couple other smaller record companies,” Williams said. “I haven’t gotten a record deal yet, but I’m getting closer.” For Williams, singing is more than a hobby. It’s her life and, though her aspirations sound lofty, the coy teenager takes on a businesslike tone when talking about her future. “I’d love to get a major record label deal just because I want to distribute my music widely, not just across the country but basically across the whole world,” Williams said after finishing up a morning set, a few lagging admirers still swooning nearby. “Every different country, I want to go on tour and travel around and play.” The Daily Press recently got a chance to sit down with the Promenade starlet to talk about life, music and a promising future. You live all the way in Sunland. Why’d you decide to trek on over to Santa Monica five days a week to perform? “I have some friends that play down here, and it’s just a great way to get your music out. It’s also good because a lot of music industry people work down here. They told me it’s a great way to make a little cash. I pay the rent with it, it adds up.” > “It ain’t enough to get the breaks. You gotta know how to use ’em.” — - HUEY P. LONG AMERICAN POLITICIAN (1893-1935) What kind of feedback do you get from onlookers? “A lot of the people like the song choices. I get a lot of ‘I love your playlist’ because I play the Beatles and James Taylor and some Alanis Morissette. It’s a wide variety of music from a lot of different genres. Someone who likes older music would like it. Someone who likes newer music would like it.” You draw bigger crowds than most street performers. What do you think is your appeal? “I think a lot of people, they’re just kind of happy to see a girl playing a guitar. I know people come up to me and say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re a girl.’ Yeah, I know I’m a girl! People are just happy to see a girl out there doing it because it doesn’t happen as often as a guy out there playing guitar.” How’d you get interested in playing the guitar? “About 6 1/2 years ago, one of my mom’s singing students, his dad is a guitar teacher so we just exchanged. I started there, and I just couldn’t stop playing. I kind of became obsessed with it. I would just stay in my room and keep playing songs over and over again, until I got ‘em right.” Which artists do you consider influences? “I love the Beatles, but then again who doesn’t? They’re the Beatles. I also like folky artists like Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, the Shins, Elliot Smith.” You’ve written almost 90 of your own songs. Why don’t you perform them on the Promenade? “I actually perform covers more out here because it’ll draw people in more because if they hear a song they know they’re more likely to stop and listen. But when I’m out doing shows at Hollywood clubs like the Roxy, at those shows I do mostly originals. And the CD I sell is mostly originals. My songs are kind of folk alternative, like the Shins or Elliot Smith or Death Cab for Cutie.” Why music? “I just love being a part of music. It’s amazing to me that I could be part of a song and just add my own personal personality into a song. I love performing. I love making people happy.” Why Santa Monica? “I love Santa Monica. It has such a Bohemian vibe to it, and I love the people here. They’re so open and nice. There’s nothing not to love. You’ve got the beach, good people, good weather.” How does performing on the Promenade further your aspirations? “It makes me better. It’s great practice. It makes me sound tighter. The more you sing, the better you’re gonna get. It definitely makes me a better guitar player, singer, performer. And it also lets me practice interacting with the audience. You’ve always got to have that for the live show.” Where else have you performed? “For three or four years I’ve been playing at coffee shops around the (San Fernando) Valley. I also was in a musical theater group for about four years called “Steppin’ Out” and it really got me hooked. You’d have to practice for the auditions. Now I perform in Hollywood clubs like the Roxy and the Knitting Factory, and I’ll be doing that a lot more in September. Any interesting encounters on the Promenade? “A lot actually. I meet a bunch of unique people. Sometimes it’s a little scary coming out here alone, especially in the morning when it’s really quiet and no one’s around. One time this freaky guy came up to me and started talking to me, and he was angry and he was yelling. Whenever I didn’t acknowledge he was there, he would get upset at me so I just kept having to acknowledge what he was saying. It was kind of scary. But at the end he gave me a bracelet, and I think it had real crystals on it. And he said he found it on the beach, but I think he stole it.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 29, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/082905.pdf?ref=smdp.com)