Eileina Williams is as comfortable singing jazz and blues as she is unleashing her voice in a gospel choir, or belting out one of her chart-topping hits on the European club circuit. The versatile and truly international singer, who is now based in LA, has been honing her talents since her first performance at the age of three in her minister-father’s church in Birmingham, England. Since then she has scored pop hits in Italy, sung for Moroccan royalty and worked with greats like Nina Simone, Randy Crawford and Paul Young. Eileina will be singing for the first time in Asia at The Living Room.

What was it like being a star in Italy?
It was an absolutely wonderful experience for me, and I miss it terribly. The degree of admiration and respect that you get from people in Italy who know you are an artist is incredible. To have people come out to see you perform and listen so intently that you can hear a pin drop is a wonderful thing.

Why change to jazz?
Well, I was living in Italy, and I was singing a lot of R&B. I saw Gloria Gaynor perform. And she was huge. They actually had to sort of hoist her up on the stage! And I thought, “Oh my God! That will not be me at that age, singing disco! It kind of scared me. (Anyway, Gloria is much thinner now. She looks fantastic.) One of the very first songs I worked on was "I Cover the Waterfront", originally sung by Billie Holiday. And I felt as though I had come home singing-wise. The same emotions and the same elevations that I get when I sing gospel were perfectly fit to jazz and I thought, “Wow! This is what I am going to be singing!”

Was it difficult coming from R&B?
With R&B you get into the groove, jump around, move your head and sing at the top of your lungs and inject 10 different notes into the word “baby”! With jazz you really have to listen to all of the elements—there are the drums and the piano and the bass—and then lay your vocals in the right places. You really have to have your head in a different mind space.

Biggest jazz influences?
Shirley Horne, Carmen McRae, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn.

What else do you listen to?
I really like to listen to opera, having lived in Italy for so many years. There is so much power behind their voices.

From your recordings, it sounds like your voice also has a lot of power.
I actually have to move the microphone away sometimes, so I don’t deafen people. I did a concert once in Italy in a club adjacent to a mink coat factory. I was singing so loud I set off the security alarms!