Joni, Kim, Debbie and Kathy Sledge were taught how to sing by their grandmother Viola Williams, a former lyric soprano opera singer and protégée of civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune, the sisters recounted in various interviews.

Joni, Kim, Debbie and Kathy Sledge were taught how to sing by their grandmother Viola Williams, a former lyric soprano opera singer and protégée of civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune, the sisters recounted in various interviews.