- Chris Willis
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This article is about the American singer. For the film composer, see Christopher Willis.
Chris Willis 
Background information Birth name Christopher Willis Genres Gospel, R&B, pop, EDM, house, electronica, Eurodance Occupations Singer-songwriter, record producer, vocal producer Instruments Vocals, piano Years active 1986–present Associated acts David Guetta, Marc Mysterio Website chriswillismusic.com Christopher "Chris" Willis is an American singer-songwriter and producer.[1] Although initially a gospel singer, he later received international attention for his collaborations with house music artist David Guetta, including on the songs "Just a Little More Love", "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away), "Love Is Gone", "Tomorrow Can Wait", "Everytime We Touch" (with Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso) and "Gettin' Over You", all with Guetta.[2][3]
Contents
Biography
Originally a gospel singer, he was featured on the pop-classical album Handel's Messiah – A Soulful Celebration in 1993, singing a contemporary version of "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted".[4] His first job after college in Alabama was touring with a group that sang hundreds of shows in churches over a two-year period.[5] In the mid-1990s, he toured as backup vocalist for Twila Paris.[6] In 1996, he released his debut self-titled album, for which he wrote or co-wrote eight of the eleven songs,[7] and earned a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 1996 Nashville Music Awards.[8] That year, he opened on tour for Mark Lowry,[9] and was one of several featured singers in the musical showcase Emmanuel, a national tour put together by Nashville producer Norman Miller.[10] The tour spawned an album, which won a GMA Dove Award in 1998 for Special Event Album of the Year.[11] He did mostly gospel until 1998 when he signed with a small music label.[5] The label was bought out by a large corporation and Willis took that as a cue to move on.[5] During this time he also worked to resolve the "angst" from being closeted about his sexuality, "I always felt like God really understood—but that wasn't the message I was receiving in the church.[12] So, when I moved out on my own I really internalized that message that God makes us who we are and that it's up to us to embrace that or not. I chose to embrace all those things as freedom, and that freedom begat the freedom I experience now."[5] He cites his being gay as important to his transitioning out of gospel music,"I think there's this unspoken denial that you go through in gospel—maybe so in other musical art forms too—but I just felt for me it just wasn't easy to keep perpetuating that."[5] Willis is now openly gay and resides in Atlanta, GA.[1][5] He now sees both his color and sexuality as assets rather than liabilities.[13]
In 2000 he was working with the french boys band 2Be3 and when doing some publicity for their album in Paris one of the bandmates introduced him to house musician and producer David Guetta.[1] Guetta invited Willis to the studio and the next day they wrote 'Just a Little More Love.'[1] Willis co-wrote and provided most of the vocals on Guetta's debut album Just a Little More Love, including the hit title track.[14]
His music genres have included gospel music, disco, pop rock, and R&B. Willis is active on social networks including MySpace, Facebook and recently Twitter. He often adds live photos and videos from his tours and answers questions from fans.[15] Throughout 2009 he toured with David Guetta through Europe in support of One Love. He has also been doing solo European dates.[16] In November 2009 he performed at Danceclub C4 in Steyer, Austria for their 2nd Anniversary Party.[17] A documentary about him, Inside Out, directed by Robert Jason and Eric Miclette for Complete World Domination is to be released early 2010 alongside the "Gettin' Over" single.[18]
His solo single "Louder (Put Your Hands Up)" was released on October 12, 2010.[19] Willis co-wrote the song with Cutfather and Jonas Jeberg.[20][21] The video premiered on DailyMotion October 26, 2010.[22] Shot in Los Angeles, the video was directed by Billie Woodruff. The video now has nearly 2 million views on his YouTube page.[23] The song reached number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs on the issue dated January 8, 2011.[24]
Discography
Chris Willis[25] (1996)
Inside Voice (2011)
As lead artist
Year Single Peak Positions US DAN AUS BEL FR ITA SWI NL SWE UK 2006 "My Freedom"[26] — — — — — — — — — 2010 "Louder (Put Your Hands Up)" 1 — — — — — 27 — — 2011 "Too Much In Love" 23 — — — — — — — — With David Guetta
- Singles:
Year Single Peak position Album US UK FR ITA BEL SWI NL AUS SWE Hot 100 U.S. Dance 2001 "Just a Little More Love"
(with David Guetta)— — 19 29 — — 59 38 — — Just a Little More Love 2002 "Love Don't Let Me Go"
(with David Guetta)— — 46 4 — — 13 19 — — "People Come People Go"
(with David Guetta)— — — 42 — — 54 — — — 2004 "Money"
(with David Guetta & Mone)— — — 63 — — 52 — — — Guetta Blaster "Stay"
(with David Guetta)— — — 18 — — 82 — — — 2006 "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)"
(with David Guetta vs The Egg)— 3 3 11 9 42 19 43 32 25 Fuck Me I'm Famous - Ibiza Mix 06 2007 "Love Is Gone"
(featuring David Guetta)46 1 9 3 32 9 11 14 — 9 Pop Life "Give It All You Got"
(with Ultra Naté)81 1 — — — — — — — — Grime, Silk, & Thunder 2008 "Tomorrow Can Wait"
(with David Guetta vs. El Tocadisco)— 21 — 8 — — 44 21 — — Pop Life 2009 "Everytime We Touch"
(with David Guetta, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso)— — 68 — — — — 19 — — "Gettin' Over"
(with David Guetta)— — 41 — — — — — — — One Love "Sound of Letting Go"
(with David Guetta & El Tocadisco)— — — — — — — — — — 2010 "Gettin' Over You"
(with David Guetta, Fergie & LMFAO)31 1 1 1 3 15 14 47 5 28 References
- ^ a b c d Celebrity City Guide: Chris Willis PlanetOut, September 11, 2009.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/judgejules/tracklistingarchive.shtml?20090116
- ^ http://www.dmcupdate.com/sow/index.asp?IssueID=303
- ^ Stark, Judy (1993-11-26). "Our Annual Holiday CD Roundup Series". St. Petersburg Times. p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e f Chris Willis: He has the music in him Mikey Rox, Windy City Times, 2008-08-06.
- ^ Bialczak, Mark (1995-04-04). "For the love of God: Twila Paris' Christian music electrifies crowd". The Post-Standard. p. C4.
- ^ Hytche, C. J. (1996-09-21). "Chris Willis". Houston Chronicle. p. 3.
- ^ Gray, Michael (1996-11-12). "Nashville Music Awards taps eclectic collection". Nashville Banner. p. A1.
- ^ Price, Deborah Evans (1996-09-14). "Higher ground". Billboard 108 (37): 46.
- ^ Hogan, Susan (1996-12-01). "Emmanuel: A seasonal showcase for Christian singers". Star Tribune. p. F1.
- ^ "Dove list". The Times-Picayune. 1998-04-25. p. B4.
- ^ Mikey Rox, "Chris Willis Interview: Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?", Gay & Lesbian Times [1], August 7, 2008, issue 1076.
- ^ "Gay Singer Chris Willis Has Soul", interview with Andrew Belonsky [2], July 29, 2008.
- ^ Paoletta, Michael (2004-02-07). "Beat Box". Billboard 116 (6): 33.
- ^ http://www.facebook.com/chriswillismusic
- ^ http://www.myspace.com/chriswillismusic
- ^ http://www.party.at/Photos/Archiv.2009/Streifen.2009.11.07.001/
- ^ A teaser is available on YouTube [3] peacebisquit.com.
- ^ http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/louder-put-your-hands-up-ep/id390644008
- ^ "GEMA - Members - Online Database - Musical Works" (in German). GEMA. https://online.gema.de/werke/detailPage.do?dbkey=28383307&title=LOUDER+%28PUT+YOUR+HANDS+UP%29&pdf=false. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- ^ Cooke, Buck (2011-01-05). "We like it when Chris Willis gets 'Louder'". Project Q Atlanta. http://www.projectqatlanta.com/news_articles/view/we_like_it_when_chris_willis_gets_louder. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
- ^ http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfdjl5_chris-willis-louder-put-your-hands-up_music
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t01hZNTV-m0
- ^ Dance/Club Play Songs Chart at Billboard.com for the Week of January 8, 2011 [4]
- ^ Chris Willis album in Allmusic http://www.allmusic.com/album/chris-willis-r242648
- ^ iTunes Music http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/my-freedom-ep/id179552261
Featured singles "Just a Little More Love" · "Love Don't Let Me Go" · "People Come People Go" · "Money" · "Stay" · "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)" · "Love Is Gone" · "Give It All You Got" · "Tomorrow Can Wait" · "Everytime We Touch" · "Gettin' Over You"Related articles Categories:- Living people
- African American male singers
- African American singer-songwriters
- American male singers
- American pop singers
- American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters
- American singer-songwriters
- LGBT musicians from the United States
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