Gray Line New York Honors Award-Winning Actress and Singer Vanessa Williams
Leading NYC Entertainment Company Celebrates Exemplary New Yorkers with its Ride of Fame™ Campaign Series
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY - September 25, 2012: Gray Line New York, New York City's premier double-decker bus, motorcoach and entertainment company, has announced today that multi award-winning actress and singer Vanessa Williams will be the next honoree in its prestigious Ride of Fame™ campaign. A ribbon-cutting ceremony, where a custom decal displaying Ms. Williams' likeness on the front of the vehicle will be unveiled, will take place on Thursday, September 27th at Pier 78 (455 12th Avenue at 38th Street) at 12 pm EST. The ceremony will coincide with Ms. Williams' debut in the pilot episode of ABC's newest drama "666 Park Avenue," premiering on Sunday, September 30th at 10 pm EST.
Since 1926, Gray Line New York has been a proud staple of the New York City tourism industry, bringing visitors to all the must-see stops in New York City on its signature red double-decker tour buses. Now with its Ride of Fame™ campaign, Gray Line New York is recognizing and honoring leading New Yorkers and iconic New York establishments, whom they identify as exemplary community figures and entities by bestowing a bus in their fleet to each dedicatee.
"No matter where my work takes me, New York will always be my true home and true love," says Ms. Williams. "I am honored that Gray Line New York would choose me for this wonderful honor and I can't wait to take my first ride on my own bus."
"What a treat this is for New York City to salute this native New Yorker," says David W. Chien, Director of Marketing for Gray Line New York, "I know Vanessa's fans will be excited to see her presence on a daily basis here in New York City, but not more so than everyone here at Gray Line New York!"
The dedication will include the revealing of Ms. Williams signature, open-top, red double-decker bus that millions of sightseers will be able to ride each day moving forward. .
Gray Line New York's Ride of Fameв„ў campaign unveils a series of dedications to commendable New Yorkers. Hollywood may have its "Walk of Fame," but now NYC has its own mobile monument to immortalize New Yorkers honored by Gray Line New York for their contributions to making the Big Apple such a great city.
Past honorees include: Liza Minnelli, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Dreyfuss, Bernadette Peters, Joe Namath, Rachael Ray, Henrik Lundqvist, Cyndi Lauper, Roger Maris, Marc Anthony, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, Kenneth Cole, Reggie Jackson and Donald Trump.
ABOUT GRAY LINE NEW YORK
Since 1926, Gray Line New York is the source for NYC's best double-decker bus and deluxe motorcoach tours. This company operates the signature deluxe double-decker, hop-on, hop-off bus tours that include Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn and Night loops, as well as fully escorted foreign language motorcoach city tours in German, French, Spanish and Italian. Gray Line New York's one-day excursions to Niagara Falls, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Woodbury Common premium shopping outlet mall are visitors' favorites too. In addition, this tour company sells tickets to all major New York City attractions and has specialists trained to assist individuals, groups, and charter sales. Independently managed and operated, Gray Line New York is ENTERTAINMENT.
ABOUT VANESSA WILLIAMS
Vanessa Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment today. She has conquered the musical charts, Broadway, music videos, television and motion pictures. She has sold millions of albums worldwide and she has achieved critical acclaim as an actress on stage, in film and on television.
Her albums "The Right Stuff," "The Comfort Zone and "The Sweetest Days" earned multiple Grammy nominations and have yielded such classic hits as "Save the Best For Last," "Dreamin," "Work To Do" and "Love Is," and the Academy Award-winning single "Colors of the Wind," from Disney's "Pocahontas," among many others. Her recordings also include two holiday albums, "Star Bright" and "Silver & Gold," "Vanessa Williams Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years" and "Everlasting Love,"a romantic collection of love songs from the 1970's. Concord Records released Vanessa's, "The Real Thing," in June 2009, for which she received a NAACP nomination for "Outstanding Jazz Artist."
In 1994, Vanessa took Broadway by storm when she replaced Chita Rivera in "Kiss of the Spider Woman," winning the hearts of critics and becoming a box-office sensation. She garnered rave reviews and was nominated for a Tony Award for the 2002 revival of "Into the Woods." She also headlined a limited special engagement of the classic, "Carmen Jones," at the Kennedy Center and starred in the Encore! Series staged concert production of "St. Louis Woman."She was last seen in Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine's "Sondheim on Sondheim," an original Broadway musical that ran in Spring of 2010 at The Roundabout Theatre.
Vanessa made her film debut in 1986 in "Under the Gun." She has starred in such features as "Eraser," "Hoodlum," "Soul Food," ""Dance With Me," "Light It Up," "Shaft" and "Johnson Family Vacation." She starred recently in the independent features, "My Brother" and "Somebody Like You" and co-starred in Disney's feature film, "Hannah Montana: The Movie." Next up, Vanessa plays Janice in Tyler Perry's "The Marriage Counselor," out in March of 2013.
On television, Vanessa has starred in such movies and mini-series as "Stompin' at the Savoy," "The Boy Who Loved Christmas," "The Jacksons: An American Dream, "ABC's revival of "Bye, Bye Birdie," "Nothing Lasts Forever," "The Odyssey," "Don Quixote" and "Keep the Faith, Baby," and she executive produced and starred in Lifetime's "The Courage to Love" for Lifetime and the VH1 Original Movie, "A Diva's Christmas Carol." She starred in ABC's critically-acclaimed hit series, "Ugly Betty," earning three Emmy nominations as the deliciously wicked Wilhelmina Slater, in addition to numerous individual and ensemble awards and nominations, including SAG, Golden Globes and NAACP Image Awards. In the Fall of 2010, she moved to Wisteria Lane as the newest resident on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," where she stirred things up as Renee Perry, Lynette's former college friend and sorority sister. In March 2011, she won the NAACP Image Award for this role and helped carry the show to the end of its 8-year run in May 2012. Next up this Fall, Vanessa plays Olivia, the stylish wife of the devilish Gavin (played by Terry O'Quinn) in the new ABC supernatural drama "666 Park Avenue."
In April 2012, Vanessa and her mother Helen landed on the NY Times Best Seller list after publishing the memoir "You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-Nonsense Mother, and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other)." The book brings readers on the inside journey of Vanessa's life - told for the first time from her perspective and with the wisdom and frankness of her mother, the firecracker Miss Helen.
In 2007, Vanessa achieved a career pinnacle, with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her accomplishments as a performer. In December 2010, the International Foreign Press Academy named Vanessa as the recipient of the 2010 Mary Pickford Award For Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry. The award honors her international achievements and success in film, television, stage and recording over the past 28 years. Her charitable endeavors are many and varied, embracing and supporting such organizations as Special Olympics and many others.
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