Michelle Willis (born November 6, 1986) is a British-born, Canadian-raised singer/songwriter and keyboard player. She performs regularly as a solo artist and as a side musician with David Crosby and Becca Stevens. [1] She has also worked with Iggy & The Stooges, Laura Mvula, Snarky Puppy, The Parachute Club, and the Zac Brown Band. [2]
After graduating from Humber College's Jazz program, Willis became a regular performer in Toronto's piano bars. In 2009, Three Metre Day, a modern roots band was formed with Willis on pump organ and vocals, Hugh Marsh on violin, and Don Rooke on slide guitar. In 2012, the band recorded the album Coasting Notes and wrote the score for the film Still Mine for which Willis, Rooke, and Marsh were nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. [3] Marsh and Willis also recorded on Iggy & The Stooges final album, 2013's Ready to Die . [1]
After building her résumé through a variety of collaborations and work as a session keyboardist and background singer, Willis signed a recording contract with groundUPmusic. Her debut solo album, See Us Through was released in Spring 2016. [4] In a very positive review of the album, Cashbox Magazine Canada's Lee Fraser commented, "The fact that it’s her debut is pretty surprising, given the fact that Michelle has toured Europe, Canada and the US, and that every show she plays in her hometown of Toronto is filled to capacity with her adoring fans." [5]
Willis was featured along with Laura Mvula on Snarky Puppy's Family Dinner – Volume 2 . Among others also featured on that album were David Crosby and Becca Stevens. Producer Michael League then used himself, Willis, and Stevens to back Crosby on the Crosby-Stevens song "By the Light of Common Day" on Crosby's 2016 album Lighthouse . The quartet reunited as a real performing band on Crosby's 2018 Here If You Listen album, then toured for six weeks in late 2018. [6] When speaking about "Janet", a song Willis wrote for that album, Crosby praised her as a singer:
Michelle Willis is... so startlingly talented, I don't even know where to start. She's probably one of the best singers I've ever heard in my life. Of all. Ever. Anybody. One of the very best, one of the top handful. I'm talking about, I live in the same world with Joni and Aretha, Bonnie, women who could sing. She's in that league. She's that good. She's an unbelievably talented singer. [7]
David Van Cortlandt Crosby was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelia in the mid-1960s, and later as part of the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, who helped popularize the California sound of the 1970s. In addition to his music, Crosby was known for his outspoken personality, politics, and personal troubles; he was sometimes depicted as emblematic of the counterculture of the 1960s.
Väsen is a Swedish folk music band from Uppsala, founded in 1989, consisting of Olov Johansson (nyckelharpa) and Mikael Marin (viola). Previous members include André Ferrari (percussion) and founding member Roger Tallroth (guitar), the latter of whom announced his departure from the band in 2020 to focus on new projects. As of 2021 they have released 20 albums, featured on others, and have toured every year also outside of Europe. Since 2002, however, performances outside Sweden have tended to not include André Ferrari, owing to his reluctance to tour internationally and the economic advantage of a trio. Since then, Väsen has released eight albums in this “strings-only” format.
Hugh Marsh is a violinist from Toronto, known for his electric violin sound. Marsh was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award in the best contemporary jazz album category.
The Henrys is a Toronto-based, "nearly instrumental" quartet. Their music features the sound of an antique slide guitar called a kona, along with various other instruments, including pump organ, conch shell, guitars, vocals, trumpet, drums, the sonar zombie, and steel drums. The band consists of leader Don Rooke along with a large cast of Toronto musicians that includes or has included Paul Pasmore, John Sheard, Hugh Marsh, Davide DiRenzo, David Piltch, Jorn Anderson, Michael White, Joey Wright, Joe Phillips, Mike Billard, David Trevis, Monte Horton, Jonathan Goldsmith. Vocals have been contributed, over the years, by guest vocalists such as Mary Margaret O'Hara, Becca Stevens, Gregory Hoskins and Martina Sorbara.
Lucy Woodward is an English-American singer-songwriter. She has released records on Atlantic, Verve, and GroundUP and has sung with many artists including Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Snarky Puppy, Celine Dion, Pink Martini, Gavin DeGraw, Joe Cocker, Chaka Khan, Nikka Costa, and Randy Jackson. She co-wrote Stacie Orrico's Top 40 hit "(There's Gotta Be) More to Life".
Snarky Puppy is an American jazz fusion band led by bassist Michael League. Founded in 2004, Snarky Puppy combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won five Grammy Awards. Although the band has worked with vocalists, League described Snarky Puppy as "a pop band that improvises a lot, without vocals".
Becca Stevens is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who draws upon elements of jazz, chamber pop, indie rock, and folk.
Laura Mvula is a British singer. A native of Birmingham, England, Mvula gained experience as a member or leader of a cappella, jazz/neo-soul and gospel groups and choirs. She was classically trained. In 2012, she signed with RCA Records and released an extended play, She, to critical acclaim.
Sing to the Moon is the debut studio album by English singer Laura Mvula. It was released on 1 March 2013 by RCA Victor. The album includes the singles "She" and "Green Garden". The album debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart. It was nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize.
Ready to Die is the fifth and final studio album by American rock band The Stooges. The album was released on April 30, 2013, by Fat Possum Records. The album was the band's biggest success on the Billboard 200 chart, where it debuted at number 96.
Mai Leisz is an Estonian bass player and composer.
Julian "Jules" Buckley is an English conductor, composer, and arranger.
Family Dinner – Volume 2 is an album by American jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy that was released on February 12, 2016.
Michael League is an American composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the bandleader of instrumental band Snarky Puppy and the international music ensemble Bokanté. He also founded the band Forq with keyboardist Henry Hey, and is also an owner and founder of the record label GroundUP Music. League has won five Grammy Awards.
Sky Trails is David Crosby's sixth solo album, released on September 29, 2017, by BMG Music. It is Crosby's third album in less than four years, whereas his first three solo albums appeared over a span of 22 years. Musicians on the album derive in part from Crosby's various 21st Century collaborations. Producer James Raymond and Jeff Pevar were Crosby's bandmates in CPR; Andrew Ford and Steve DiStanislao were respectively that band's touring bassist and drummer. Michael League of Snarky Puppy and Becca Stevens had appeared on Crosby's previous album, and Dean Parks had played on the 2004 album Crosby did with long-time partner Graham Nash.
GroundUP Music is an American record label known for recordings in a variety of genres including jazz, world music, folk, rock, and gospel. The label was founded in 2012 by Michael League as a home for his band Snarky Puppy. The roster of acts on the label has since expanded, with several artists and bands being tied to Snarky Puppy and/or members of that band.
Malika Tirolien is a Montreal-based singer-songwriter and pianist. She sang on the Grammy Award winning album Family Dinner – Volume 1 by Snarky Puppy.
Here If You Listen is an album by David Crosby and his collaborators Michael League, Becca Stevens, and Michelle Willis, who perform on tour together backing Crosby as The Lighthouse Band, and was released on October 26, 2018 by BMG Music.
Larnell Lewis is a Canadian drummer, composer, producer, and educator. He is best known for playing drums with the Brooklyn-based jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy.
Bill Laurance is an English composer, producer, and multi-instrumental musician. Laurance is a member of jazz fusion and funk band Snarky Puppy, as well as founder and CEO of London-based record label Flint Music.
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