Valerie William
Valerie Williams was born to a normal family living in a normal trailer in a normal town in central Pennsylvania. One father, one mother, one brother, one sister. A revolving assortment of dogs, cats, fish, and one lone rabbit named Thumper.
As a child, when she wasn’t at church, being beaten up by her older sister, alone in her room wishing she had friends to play with, or writing, she was watching The Empire Strikes Back with her sister, recorded from TV on an old tape. Their favorite part was when (spoiler alert!) Darth Vader informs Luke of his true paternity and subsequently freed himself of that cumbersome second hand. In fact, their favorite thing to do was to watch that part over and over again in slow motion and then act it out. Valerie was probably always Luke.
When she wasn’t losing her hand to the wrath of an invisible lightsaber, Valerie enjoyed watching The X-Files with her sister and neighbor even though they weren’t supposed to. She also liked to rollerblade in her grandma’s basement, play with the Legos at her piano teacher’s house while she waited for her weekly lessons, and joining every incarnation of band that was available at her school despite the fact that she never practiced her trumpet.
Then one day, out of the blue, she gave up this life in order to be sad. Reenacting Star Wars would never pay the bills, she realized, so switching to a more profitable hobby was inevitable. She settled on songwriting after begging for a guitar at the age of 13 and getting exactly what she wanted, as she is the youngest child and always gets her way. The first song she ever taught herself on guitar was “Breathe” by Faith Hill.
Soon after learning “Breathe,” she realized it was a pretty song but it could get pretty annoying, especially if it was the only song she knew how to play. So her solution was to start writing her own songs. They were pretty abysmal, but they were hers, and she played them proudly for the attentive audience that was her cat, 
although her cat really preferred to hear Michelle Branch songs.
Valerie was churning out songs left and right, when she wasn’t distracted by silly things like class or homework. She performed at various open mics around campus and perfected the art of last-minute songwriting, a habit which she has since abandoned. College ended and so did her streak of open mics. She locked herself in her room for two years with her guitars, piano, and determination to write just one good song. The jury’s still out on whether or not she succeeded, but the good news is that she’s unlocked the door and rejoined the world of performing. Thus, Valerie presents herself to you, the public, armed with a new catalog of songs that are much more mature and interesting than her previous creations.
