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The Untold Truth Of Jillian Hervey, Vanessa Williams’ Daughter

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She built a music career on a viral single and a mane of curls without ever trading on her mother’s famous last name.

Jillian Hervey grew up in a household built around performance — her mother is Vanessa Williams, the actress, singer and former Miss America — yet she spent her twenties deliberately steering away from that shadow. As one half of the neo-soul duo Lion Babe, she carved out a sound and a look entirely her own, built on years of dance training rather than a borrowed spotlight. Here’s the untold truth of Jillian Hervey.

• Born June 19, 1989, in Los Angeles to Vanessa Williams and music manager Ramon Hervey II, Jillian studied contemporary dance at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School and performed with the Take Dance Company before music ever entered the picture.
• She met producer Lucas Goodman (Astro Raw) at a college party and originally asked him to make music for her dance recitals — that collaboration became Lion Babe, whose 2012 single “Treat Me Like Fire” went viral and led to a 2015 self-titled EP and the 2016 debut album Begin.
• Hervey chose not to perform under the Williams name, building her own identity while later becoming a beauty ambassador — the curly-hair face of Pantene in 2016, a collaborator with MAC Cosmetics on its ‘Future Forward’ collection, and a presence for brands like H&M.

Dance Came Long Before Lion Babe

Hervey was dancing before she could really talk, starting at age two and staying with it straight through her studies at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School in New York City. She performed with the Take Dance Company, a serious contemporary outfit, not a side hobby — the kind of technical training that later showed up in Lion Babe’s stage shows, where choreography is as central to the act as the vocals.

Music wasn’t even the original plan when she crossed paths with Lucas Goodman, who records under the name Astro Raw. They met at a party during her college years, and Hervey’s first ask wasn’t for a duet — it was for production tracks to dance to at her recitals. Recording vocals together came after, almost as an afterthought that turned into a career.

Treat Me Like Fire And The Rise Of Lion Babe

Lion Babe’s breakout came in 2012 with “Treat Me Like Fire,” a single that spread online and put the duo on the radar of soul and electronic fans looking for something outside the mainstream pop lane. The momentum carried into a self-titled EP in 2015, and the pair followed it with their full-length debut, Begin, in 2016 — a record that leaned into the funk-soul-electronic blend that became their signature.

The band’s name traces directly back to Hervey herself. Her voluminous curly hair — the kind that draws stares on a runway — inspired the “Lion” half of Lion Babe, turning a personal trait into a brand identity before the beauty industry ever came calling.

Skipping The Williams Name On Purpose

Hervey’s decision to perform as Jillian Hervey rather than Jillian Williams wasn’t an accident or an oversight — it was a calculated move to be judged on her own music rather than her mother’s résumé. Vanessa Williams remained supportive of her daughter’s path throughout, but Hervey wanted Lion Babe’s success measured against its own catalog, not against a Miss America title or a string of Williams’ hit records.

She built Lion Babe’s identity around the very thing that made her stand out in a crowd — her hair — rather than the surname that would have opened doors instantly.

Becoming A Beauty Industry Fixture

By 2016, Hervey’s profile had grown well beyond music venues. Pantene tapped her as the face of its curly-hair campaign, putting her signature look at the center of a mainstream hair-care push. Around the same time, MAC Cosmetics brought her into its ‘Future Forward’ collection, and she picked up additional fashion work with brands including H&M — proof that the same look that named her band had turned into a genuine commercial asset.

That crossover between music and fashion is a familiar pattern for performers with famous parents trying to build something separate — much like celebrities who forged unexpected bonds long before fame found them, Hervey’s path started with ordinary college connections, not industry connections. It’s also a reminder of how differently music offspring choose to handle their inherited spotlight, a theme that runs through profiles like the untold truth of Danielle Jonas. Lion Babe’s catalog remained the calling card, with Pantene, MAC and H&M as proof the curls-first branding worked commercially as well as musically.