Chris Willis
Chris Willis |
|---|
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 "Love Don't Let Me Go", "Love Is Gone", "Gettin' Over You", "Tomorrow Can Wait", and "Everytime We Touch" (with Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso).
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".[2] His first job after college in Alabama was touring with a group that sang hundreds of shows in churches over a two-year period.[3] In the mid-1990s, he toured as backup vocalist for Twila Paris.[4] In 1996, he released his debut self-titled album, for which he wrote or co-wrote eight of the eleven songs,[5] and earned a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 1996 Nashville Music Awards.[6] That year, he opened on tour for Mark Lowry,[7] and was one of several featured singers in the musical showcase Emmanuel, a national tour put together by Nashville producer Norman Miller.[8] The tour spawned an album, which won a GMA Dove Award in 1998 for Special Event Album of the Year.[9] He did mostly gospel until 1998 when he signed with a small music label.[3] The label was bought out by a large corporation and Willis took that as a cue to move on.[3]
In 1998 he was working with a band from France 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.[10]
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.[11] Throughout 2009 he toured with David Guetta through Europe in support of "One Love". He has also been doing solo European dates.[12] In November 2009 he performed at Danceclub C4 in Steyer, Austria for their 2nd Anniversary Party.[13] 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.[14]
Discography
- Singles:
| Year | Single | Peak position | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | UK[15][16] | FR | ITA | BEL | SWI | NL | AUS | SWE | ||||
| U.S. Pop 100 | U.S. Dance | |||||||||||
| 2001 | "Just a Little More Love" (with David Guetta) |
— | — | 19 | 29 | — | — | 59 | 38 | — | — | |
| 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 | — | — | — | |
| "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 | |
| 2007 | "Love Is Gone" (featuring David Guetta) |
46 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 32 | 9 | 11 | 14 | — | 9 | |
| 2008 | "Tomorrow Can Wait" (with David Guetta vs Tocadisco) |
— | 21 | — | 8 | — | — | 44 | 21 | — | — | |
| 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 & Tocadisco) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010 | "Gettin' Over You" (with David Guetta, Fergie & LMFAO) |
40 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 15 | 14 | 47 | 5 | 28 | |
References
- ^ a b c Celebrity City Guide: Chris Willis PlanetOut, September 11, 2009.
- ^ Stark, Judy (1993-11-26). "Our Annual Holiday CD Roundup Series". St. Petersburg Times. p. 18.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c 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.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Hytche, C. J. (1996-09-21). "Chris Willis". Houston Chronicle. p. 3.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Gray, Michael (1996-11-12). "Nashville Music Awards taps eclectic collection". Nashville Banner. p. A1.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ 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.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Dove list". The Times-Picayune. 1998-04-25. p. B4.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Paoletta, Michael (2004-02-07). "Beat Box". Billboard. 116 (6): 33.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ A teaser is available on YouTube [4] peacebisquit.com.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 237. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Everyhit.com - accessed May 2009