Travel & Tourism

Carolyn Michael-Banks is the owner and founder of A Tour of Possibilities (ATOP), LLC, an African American History Tour of Memphis, TN.  She is a native of the Bronx, New York and lived there until she attended Clark University in Worcester, MA.

She relocated to Washington DC and began working for a sightseeing company in various capacities.  She quickly rose through the ranks and became General Manager of one of the largest themed-sightseeing tour companies in the country.

As GM, she chose to include African American history in the script which was woefully missing.  These changes were not readily accepted by the CEO. The company moved her to develop and launch operations in Savannah, GA; and then Philadelphia, PA.

Michael-Banks was downsized and decided to develop ATOP in Philadelphia.  She married the man of her dreams who lived in Memphis.

A Tour of Possibilities, LLC will celebrate its 6th anniversary on August 6, 2020.  ATOP has been ranked the #2 tour in Memphis and has received TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence for 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Paulette McWilliams is best known for her deep, sultry, silky, liquid velvet tones, her melodic interpretation, as well as her wide vocal range. She has a range that Luther totally utilized from singing with the males on the bottom to singing with sopranos on top!

Hers is one of the iconic voices behind Michael Jackson”s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” — Michael’s biggest hit! Aretha Franklin’s “Jump To It,” Billy Idol’s No. 1 hit “Mony Mony,” Luther Vandross’s many hits including “Stop To Love,”” “Wait For Love,” “Bad Boy/Having A Party,” and Power of Love. She has a beautifully long and extensive music history. A discography with far too many to mention all here. 

Hailed from Chicago, Paulette became the lead singer with Ask Rufus and was solely responsible for introducing the group to her dearest friend, Chaka Khan. For a period of time, Paulette and Chaka shared the lead in Ask Rufus until Paulette left. 

Moving from gig to gig, Paulette worked feverishly and then, thanks to a recording produced by Donny Hathaway and Phil Upchurch, she was “introduced” to Quincy Jones. Upchurch, the world-famous jazz guitarist, sent a studio recording to Quincy. Shortly thereafter, Paulette became solo/lead singer with Quincy during his “Body Heat” tour and he featured her on his Mellow Madness album – the title song co-written by Paulette. Next, they toured Japan where one of Paulette’s dreams came true: singing a duet live with the legendary Sarah Vaughan while Quincy conducted the orchestra. 

After moving to New York City, Paulette also toured and sang live with Luther Vandross and recorded with Luther on every album he recorded from “Forever For Always For Love” to the last album. Paulette and Luther met when she was a Harlette with Bette Midler and became fast friends because Luther loved Paulette’s voice and said she and he had the most incredible blend.  

Paulette performed all of the Tammi Terrell duets with Marvin Gaye on his last tour which was recorded live. She has worked with some of the best artists, performers and producers in the business, such as Quincy Jones, Luther Vandross, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Joan Osborne, Billy Idol, David Bowie, Keith Emerson, The Brecker Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez, Lauryn Hill, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston,Jennifer Lopez, Patty LaBelle, Deborah Cox, Michael Jackson, Gino Vanelli, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Herbie Hancock, Anastacia, Teri Lynne Carrington. She also recorded duets with Johnny Mathis and sang a solo Noel Pointer’s last CD as well as arranged the background vocals and sang on them for Noel Pointer.

Paulette has performed at jazz festivals /clubs in London, Japan, Monterey, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Trinidad, Milan, Amsterdam, Moscow and Bern, Switzerland, including Ronnie Scotts in London and the Blue Note in Milan and Tokyo. Recently at the Blue Note in Beijing,China asked back for the second time… 

Paulette performed at the International Jazz Festival in The Netherlands and Thailand, and was introduced to the Dutch Ambassador who loved her work!! She then recorded a “Live” CD with the fabulous Beets Brothers in Europe which is being played on jazz stations throughout the world! 

It is also very important to note that Paulette has sung solo/ group on numerous TV commercials such as for Folgers Coffee, Kellogg, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Diet Pepsi (with Britney Spears), Cadillac, Cover Girl, American Express, Celebrex, MasterCard, United Airlines, Budweiser Beer, Coors, eBay, and Mercedes. Recently she sang on the Nike spot and appeared on tv in the spot with Kobe Bryant for his last game!! She has also sung on feature film soundtracks, TV theme songs etc. 

Recently Paulette sang at LACMA where her third return increased by thousands She performed songs from her new album as a sneak peek.. Paulette received a beautiful standing ovation and was heard live on K-Jazz FM -88 in Los Angeles.   

Currently Paulette has completed her new album titled appropriately “A Woman’s Story” with two time Grammy Award winning producer Kamau Kenyatta ( Gregory Porter). Kamau and Paulette collectively has come up with an incredible project that has taken 3 years to complete. . With Kamau’s awesome arrangements of both original and cover songs paying special tributes to Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, and Luther Vandross.. Great artists that Paulette shares the joy through her choices of working with these innovative artists. 

The players on “A Woman’s Story" are as follows. 

Hugo Suarez amazing young well sought after pianist 

Curtis Taylor Grammy award winning trumpeter! 

Trevor Ware Grammy nominated and in demand. Playing with the Count Basie Orchestra 

Terreon Gully one of the most sought after drummers to play any genre 

Dianne Reeves and many others call on Terreon… 

David Casteñeda is an innovator of sound in his percussive field.. He is the director of the Afro Cuban Ensemble… 

Gregoire Maret is a harmonica player known to be truly one of the best in the business. 

Keith Fiddmont saxophonist has played on many recordings from name artist… 

Alex Budman multiinstrumentalist 

Etienne Charles Horn arrangements