July 9: Kiely Williams - 3LW and The Cheetah Girls – is 27-years-old today.

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Singer, actress, songwriter and dancer Kiely Alexis Williams was born on July 9, 1986 in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1999, Williams along with Adrienne Bailon and Naturi Naughton formed the girl group 3LW, which 3LW released their first single "No More (Baby I'm a Do Right)" in fall 2000. It became a top 30 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

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Their debut album, also released in 2000, went Platinum. In 2001, Kiely also played herself in an episode of The Jersey, where she switched bodies with a boy. In the summer of 2002, Naughton left the group.

In 2003, The Cheetah Girls were formed, consisting of Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, Sabrina Bryan, and Raven-Symoné. The group was created by The Walt Disney Company, and made famous by the eponymous Disney Channel original film and its sequels.

 

The Cheetah Girls began work on their debut album in January 2006. The album was originally titled "Who We Are," was released in September 2007, with a release name of TCG. The track "So Bring It On" was released as the album's first single. "Fuego" was released as the second single from the album. The Girls recorded their own version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for the holiday compilation album, A Disney Channel Holiday, which was released on October 16, 2007.

The girls began filming their third Cheetah Girls movie, entitled The Cheetah Girls: One World, in March 2008. It is the only movie to not feature Raven-Symoné and premiered on August 22, with its soundtrack released on August 19. The movie debuted with 6.2 million viewers, the lowest-ever rated premiere for the series.

In the fall of 2008, the group went on tour to support the One World movie, which would be their last tour together. In December 2008, the group disbanded. The girls are currently pursuing solo projects.

During the summer of 2008, Williams began working on a solo singing project separate from The Cheetah Girls. She filmed the music video for her first single "Make Me a Drink" in New York City in November 2008. 

Kiely also completed a starring role in the independent film Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale. Kiely also began work on Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming. For the role of Kandi Kane in Elle, Kiely recorded several songs for the film and the accompanying soundtrack and learned an extensive amount of  choreography. Stomp the Yard 2 and Elle were both released in 2010.

On October 28, 2009, Williams official website released the instrumentals of her first single, titled "Spectacular", a song written by Williams and produced by Mike City. The single was released in January 2010, followed by a music video.

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For more about Kiely, visit her Website at -

http://www.kielysworld.com/

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