Hayley Williams

Hayley Williams is a musician and lead singer of the band Paramore. Williams was born in Tennessee and moved to Mississippi at 13, where she met her future Paramore bandmates. She went on to take vocal lessons and auditioned for a funk cover band called The Factory. One year after moving, the singer landed her first contract as a songwriter.

Williams later signed to Atlantic Records, and while the label had planned to make her a solo act, she insisted she wanted to be part of a pop punk band instead. Paramore released their debut album All We Know is Falling in 2005. They went on to find success with their sophomore album Riot! (2007), which featured the multi-platinum song “Misery Business.”

Williams was featured on the song “Airplanes” by rapper B.o.B, which hit the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The singer continued to perform with Paramore throughout the late 2000s and began pursuing solo projects and collaborations amid a hiatus in 2017. She went on to announce her first solo album in December 2019. Petals for Armor was released in May 2020 and was followed by her sophomore album Flowers for Vases / Descansos in 2021.

Led by Williams, Paramore made their return to the industry in February 2023 with their album This Is Why. They served as the opening act for the European leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in 2024.

She began dating New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert in 2007; the pair wed in 2016. They split the following year. Williams announced in 2022 that she was in a relationship with bandmate Taylor York.