Williams has performed at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Hotel Palmas in the Canary Islands, and on network television and film.

Her father, David P. Williams, was a social worker and organizer who worked with Cesar Chavez and Ralph Nader, and also performed professionally as a comedian in San Francisco in the early 1950s.

[2] At eighteen years old, Williams moved to Boston, Massachusetts and met "Stormin’ Norman" Zamcheck, a composer and boogie-woogie piano player with a degree in literature from Yale University.

Together they toured the U.S. east coast for 12 years, eventually playing Carnegie Hall[3][4] and receiving favorable reviews from the New York Times,[5][6][7] Rolling Stone,[1][8] and Cosmopolitan.

[12][13] Jazz pianist and composer Eubie Blake paid Williams an inspiring compliment in a handwritten letter: “I heard alot [sic] of white women try to imitate negroid singing, but you are the only one who has it down pat.

[2] Stormin’ Norman & Suzy was the house band for three years at New York City's Tramps night club, and have appeared on network television shows including Gabe Kaplan Presents the Future Stars[15] and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

[2] In the 1980s she starred on the off-Broadway stage with Sam Rockwell and Natasha Schulman in Bruno's Donuts: Dementos, written by Marc Shaiman and Robert I. Rubinsky; and in Dames in Hoagland, with Cathy Chamberlain and produced by Jerry Wexler.

[2] In 1986 Williams formed a duo with her then-husband Bill Burnett as The Boners and performed regularly at Heather Woodbury's Cafe Bustelo in New York City.

[2] Williams moved to Los Angeles in 1994 and started her solo jazz torch singing career with pianist Tommy Mars from Frank Zappa’s band.

[23] Joined by vibes player Kahlil Sabbagh, their diverse repertoire included cool jazz, hot torch, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and classical music.

In 2004 Williams and now-ex-husband Bill Burnett joined with married couple Ginger Smith and Kahlil Sabbagh to expand The Boners into The Backboners, with four-part harmonies reminiscent of The Mamas & the Papas.