Venzella Joy Williams - The Drummer for Beyonce Carter

Born in Lockport and raised in Buffalo, NY, Venzella Joy has been playing drums since the age of 10. She started perfecting her craft by learning to play by ear in church, and later learned the fundamentals of music theory in her elementary school band. Joy joined the high school orchestra, where she learned to play multiple percussion instruments and later, in college, she performed with the jazz ensemble. Joy also co-founded Heaven Bound: The All-Girl Band  with which she's played various venues and collaborated with a number of gospel artists over the years.

In March of 2009, Joy was featured on MTV’s reality show competition, Making His Band, with Sean “Diddy” Combs where she worked alongside Combs and other industry veterans. 2009 was bittersweet for Venzella Joy because she lost her mother, Vet Howard, that year. Vet was very supportive of Joy’s career and loved hearing Joy practice for hours. The following year, Joy graduated from Canisius College with a B.A. in Criminal Justice and a minor in music. In October of 2013, Joy was the performance drummer for BET’s Black Girls Rock, performing with artists such as Patti LaBelle, Janelle Monae, Ledisi, and more.

Currently, Joy is an independent artist and touring musician. She recently began a series of female drum clinics entitled “Glamour, Glitz and Drumsticks” which debuted at NAMM 2012 and was hosted by Chris Coleman. In 2012, Joy was a featured drummer, along with Chris Coleman, in other clinics in Toronto, Canada. In August 2013, she was a clinician, at Guitar Center, Atlanta, GA as well as at Guitar Center, Rochester, NY the following month.

In February 2014, Joy became the drummer for Mrs. Beyonce’ Carter, and joined the all-female band for the “Mrs. Carter World Tour”. Shortly after returning from the tour, Joy hit the road again on the “Mr. and Mrs. Carter: On The Run Tour”.

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