FYI

Lisa Williams will be live in downtown Denver Sunday at the Temple Buell Theatre, 1031 13th St., at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets. Visit for more information.

Lisa Williams has a very unique talent. She can talk to the dead.

The British medium and clairvoyant is gaining international notoriety for her ability to contact “the other side.” Her series “Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead” was such a huge hit on the Lifetime cable network, that the psychic is now getting ready to host a daily TV talk show. Williams will also be heading out to Colorado this weekend to promote her new book and perform readings for local fans.

Williams isn’t your typical medium. She sports a multi-colored, spiked haircut — which makes her appear more like the female wizard, Tonks, in the “Harry Potter” novels than your typical TV psychic. She’s also very approachable and honest in her observations. Williams says she instantly picks up on personalities the moment she meets someone. These days, that means the multitude of people on the street that come up to meet the very-recognizable TV medium.

It’s all in a day’s work for Williams. The medium says she’s even had celebrity visits by the likes of Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe. When she’s not busy contacting spirits, the medium works as a psychic, clairvoyant and healer. It’s a tradition that was passed onto her by her British family.

“I grew up in Birmingham, England and my grandmother had mediumship abilities,” says Williams. “It followed in my family and we considered it normal. I never really questioned it. As a kid I always saw things, but I didn’t really grow into my abilities until my grandmother died. Before she died, she said I’d continue her work, go to America and be very well-known there!”

However, Williams didn’t become known as a talented medium and clairvoyant, until she went through several difficult patches in her life.

The medium has faced cancer, poverty and the life of a single mother. All those circumstances haven’t phased Williams. Instead, the psychic says those experiences made her really appreciate life.

Williams never planned on working as a medium. When she was in her 20s, a friend called her up to ask about boyfriend problems. From that moment on, the readings never stopped.

“I told my friend that her boyfriend was cheating on her,” explains Williams. “Two weeks later she called me and said that everything I told her happened! She also said that someone else wanted a reading. The next thing I knew I was doing readings for a living. I never advertised – I just kept getting calls and I had waiting lists that were for six months!”

A strange thing started happening while Williams was giving her psychic readings. Yes, dead people started showing up.

“They would just come forward in my readings,” said Williams. “I don’t go into a trance, but I’m able to give messages from people that have died. I really take on the personality of that person coming through. Yes, I do see dead people. I could be anywhere and they’ll pop in. I was at the grocery store and a woman’s mother popped in. I was able to tell the woman in the store that it was her mother’s birthday and that she was wearing her mother’s necklace.”

As Williams’s fan base grew, she was called on to help with paranormal investigations in England and the U.S. The medium says she’s been asked to check out unusual sightings and her job often entails traveling to haunted houses.

Williams has also spotted famous celebrity spirits at these haunted locations – including a “visit” with famed actress Marilyn Monroe.”I was sitting in a hotel and Marilyn came down the staircase,” says Williams. “I asked the bartender about the Marilyn sighting and he said she was known to visit the hotel. I got the impression that she had really wanted to be loved and was quite sad. That’s why she hadn’t moved on.”

Williams was living the life of a successful medium when she decided to visit the U.S. She had planned to stay here three or four months, but she had to extend her stay due to a serious operation. During her recovery, Williams received a request to do a reading for a member of TV mogul Merv Griffin’s staff.

Griffin was putting together a TV pilot about psychics and he was intent on meeting Williams.

“I met Merv Griffin the following day,” said Williams. “He asked me why wasn’t I famous, so we did the pilot about the psychics. He ended up hating it — and said we should just do a show on me. He sold it to Lifetime and my show ‘Life Among the Dead’ was first seen in October 2006. We did a second season and people loved it. It’s all about the readings, haunted houses and my investigation of accidents — so people can get closure.”

One of the most moving episodes on “Life Among the Dead” took place as Williams performed a reading for an Iraq war widow. On the show, Williams tells the woman that she sees the late soldier giving her a teddy bear. The widow breaks down as she says that her husband had given her a teddy bear right before he left for Iraq.

That’s the kind of stuff that has audience begging for more of Williams’ talents. The Lifetime TV show sparked the idea of using the medium’s talents for a new daily talk show.

“The show will be based on my readings, but we’ll have topics like love, healing and transitions,” says Williams. “We’ll look at certain topics each day. It will be just like a regular talk show – I wanted to make it like Larry King meets Oprah, but we won’t have a live studio audience. We start filming in August and I can’t wait for it!”

Williams is one busy psychic. Besides developing her new TV show, she’s traveling to promote her new autobiography called “Life Among the Dead.” The book covers Williams’ discovery of her talents and her fast-rising career. The medium will be in Denver Sunday to promote her book and tap into the “other side.”

“I’m going to go out into the audience and give random readings,” says Williams. “I could give a long talk, but people can find out that information in the book. I think people are really coming for the readings. I just want to spread the word and get people to expand their minds about the possibilities out there.”