Chris Willis

Last updated

Chris Willis
Chris Willis.jpg
Willis in 2008
Background information
Birth nameChristopher Kevin Willis
Born (1969-02-26) February 26, 1969 (age 55)
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • piano
Years active1986–present

Christopher Kevin Willis (born February 26, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. [1] Although initially a gospel singer, he later received international attention for his collaborations with house music disc jockey David Guetta. Willis guest performed on his singles "Just a Little More Love", "Love Don't Let Me Go, "Love Is Gone", "Tomorrow Can Wait", "Everytime We Touch" (with Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso), "Would I Lie to You" (with Cedric Gervais) and "Gettin' Over You". [2] [3]

Contents

Biography

Originally a gospel singer, with the Heritage Singers and others, 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. 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 internalized struggle 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] On June 2, 2014, Willis married Jacqueline Leiske. [12]

In 2000 he was working with the French boy 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. [13]

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. [14] Throughout 2009 he toured with David Guetta through Europe in support of One Love . He has also been doing solo European dates. [15] In November 2009 he performed at Danceclub C4 in Steyer, Austria for their 2nd Anniversary Party. [16] A documentary about him, Inside Out , directed by Robert Jason and Eric Miclette for Complete World Domination was released in early 2010 alongside the "Gettin' Over" single. [17]

His solo single "Louder (Put Your Hands Up)" was released on October 12, 2010. [18] Willis co-wrote the song with Cutfather and Jonas Jeberg. [19] [20] The video premiered on DailyMotion October 26, 2010. [21] Shot in Los Angeles, the video was directed by Billie Woodruff. The video now has nearly 2 million views on his YouTube page. [22] The song reached number one on Billboard 's Hot Dance Club Songs on the issue dated January 8, 2011. [23]

His second single "Too Much In Love" was released digitally August 16, 2011. [24] The song features a guitar sample of Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way". A video was shot in Los Angeles and released on January 10, 2012. [25] Many remixes have been created and released on iTunes. [26]

An eight-song EP entitled "Premium – Songs From The Love Ship, Vol. 1" was released on November 29, 2011 and features several of his solo singles [27]

Willis performing in 2009. ChrisWillis.jpg
Willis performing in 2009.

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums
TitleAlbum details
Chris Willis [28]
Premium: Songs From The Love Ship Vol. 1

Singles

As lead artist

List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name
TitleYearPeak position Certifications Album
US US
Dance 		AUS BEL FRA ITA NLD SWE SWI UK
"Out of My Hands"1996——————————
Chris Willis
"He's Mine" [29] 2004——————————Non-album singles
"My Freedom" [30] 2006—25————————
"Tomorrow Can Wait"
(with David Guetta vs. Tocadisco)		2008———197—21—4384
"Everytime We Touch"
(with David Guetta, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso)		2009———43——46—9768
"Gettin' Over You"
(with David Guetta featuring Fergie and LMFAO)		2010311512133128111
"Louder (Put Your Hands Up)"—1—27——————Premium - Songs from the Love Ship, Vol. 1
"Too Much in Love"2011—4————————
"People (Feel the Love)"
(with OtherView)		2013——————————Non-album singles
"Survivor"
(with Ben DJ)		2014——————————
"One Life"——————————
"Lonely One"
(with Crazibiza)		2015——————————
"No One Can Replace You"
(with Purple Aura featuring Akon)		——————————
"Don't Cry (Remember My Name)"
(with Joachim Garraud)		——————————
"Blood in my veins" [35]
(The Vinyljackers (MikeNova))		2016——————————
"Would I Lie to You"
(with David Guetta and Cedric Gervais)		2016———302071—8035—
"Warriors of the Night" [36]
(with Colin Crooks and Rob Styles)		2020——————————
"Warriors of the Night" [37]
(with The Vinyljackers and MikeNova)		2020——————————
"Not Afraid" [38]
(with Marc Benjamin)		2021——————————
"Work It Harder" [39]
(with Zight and Maximals)		2022——————————
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
List of singles as featured artist, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name
TitleYearPeak position Certifications Album
US US
Dance 		AUS BEL FRA ITA NLD SWE SWI UK
"Supersonic"
(Billyweb featuring Chris Willis)		2001——————————Non-album single
"Just a Little More Love"
(David Guetta featuring Chris Willis)		———2929—80—5919 Just a Little More Love
"Love Don't Let Me Go"
(David Guetta featuring Chris Willis)		2002———74—37—1346
"People Come People Go"
(David Guetta featuring Chris Willis)		———4742———54—
"Money"
(David Guetta featuring Chris Willis and Moné)		2004———5263———52— Guetta Blaster
"Stay"
(David Guetta featuring Chris Willis)		———1918———8278
"Love Is Gone"
(David Guetta featuring Chris Willis)		200798——9328109119
"Give It All You Got"
(Ultra Naté featuring Chris Willis)		—1————————
"My DJ Rock Superstar"
(Nicola Fasano featuring Chris Willis)		2012——————————Non-album singles
"Party 2 Daylight"
(Global Deejays featuring Chris Willis)		2013——————————
"Magnet"
(Hook N Sling featuring Chris Willis)		——————————
"This Is Your Life"
(Psyko Punkz and MC Lyte featuring Chris Willis)		2014——————————
"Turn Your Love Around" [44]
(Cedric Gervais featuring Chris Willis)		2019——————————
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Guest appearances

List of non-single guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name
TitleYearOther artist(s)Album
"Gettin' Over"2009 David Guetta One Love
"Still Don't Have You" [45] 2013 Duane Harden, Bimbo JonesNB4U (Naked Before You)

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References

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  4. ↑ Stark, Judy (November 26, 1993). "Our Annual Holiday CD Roundup Series". St. Petersburg Times . p. 18.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Rox, Mikey (August 6, 2008). "Chris Willis: He has the music in him". Windy City Times. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  6. ↑ Bialczak, Mark (April 4, 1995). "For the love of God: Twila Paris' Christian music electrifies crowd". The Post-Standard . p. C4.
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  8. ↑ Gray, Michael (November 12, 1996). "Nashville Music Awards taps eclectic collection". Nashville Banner. p. A1.
  9. ↑ Price, Deborah Evans (September 14, 1996). "Higher ground". Billboard . Vol. 108, no. 37. p. 46.
  10. ↑ Hogan, Susan (December 1, 1996). "Emmanuel: A seasonal showcase for Christian singers". Star Tribune . p. F1.
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  17. ↑ CHRIS WILLIS "Inside Out" Teaser!, archived from the original on April 29, 2017, retrieved July 19, 2021
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  27. ↑ "Premium – Songs from the Love Ship, Vol. 1". iTunes. November 29, 2011. Archived from the original on July 19, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
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  33. 1 2 "Gold—/Platin-Datenbank (David Guetta)". Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
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  37. ↑ "Warriors of the Night - Single by Chris Willis, The Vinyljackers (MikeNova) on Spotify". Spotify. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  38. ↑ "Not Afraid - Single by Marc Benjamin & Chris Willis on Apple Music". Apple Music. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
  39. ↑ "Work It Harder - Single by Zight, Chris Willis & Maximals on Apple Music". Apple Music.
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  45. ↑ Harden, Duane. "#NB4U (Naked Before You) – Duane Harden". AllMusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved December 14, 2023.
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