Chris Willis | |
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 Willis in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher Kevin Willis |
| Born | (1969-02-26)February 26, 1969 (age 56) Dayton,Ohio, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1986–present |
Christopher Kevin Willis (born February 26, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.[1] Although initially agospel singer, he later received international attention for his collaborations with Frenchhouse music disc jockeyDavid 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" (withSteve Angello andSebastian Ingrosso), "Would I Lie to You" (withCedric Gervais) and "Gettin' Over You".[2][3]
Originally agospel singer, with theHeritage Singers and others, he was featured on the pop-classical albumHandel'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 forTwila 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 forMark Lowry,[9] and was one of several featured singers in the musical showcaseEmmanuel, a national tour put together by Nashville producer Norman Miller.[10] The tour spawned an album, which won aGMA 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 beingcloseted 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 band2Be3 and when doing some publicity for their album in Paris one of the bandmates introduced him tohouse musician and producerDavid 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 albumJust a Little More Love, including the hit title track.[13]
His music genres have includedgospel music,disco,pop rock, andR&B. Willis is active onsocial 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 withDavid Guetta through Europe in support ofOne 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 withCutfather andJonas Jeberg.[19][20] The video premiered onDailyMotion October 26, 2010.[21] Shot in Los Angeles, the video was directed byBillie Woodruff. The video now has nearly 2 million views on his YouTube page.[22] The song reached number one onBillboard'sHot 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 ofLenny 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 oniTunes.[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]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Chris Willis[28] |
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| Premium: Songs From The Love Ship Vol. 1 |
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| Title | Year | Peak 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" (withDavid Guetta vs.Tocadisco) | 2008 | — | — | — | 19 | 7 | — | 21 | — | 43 | 84 | ||
| "Everytime We Touch" (withDavid Guetta,Steve Angello andSebastian Ingrosso) | 2009 | — | — | — | 43 | — | — | 46 | — | 97 | 68 | ||
| "Gettin' Over You" (withDavid Guetta featuringFergie andLMFAO) | 2010 | 31 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 31 | 28 | 11 | 1 | ||
| "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 featuringAkon) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Don't Cry (Remember My Name)" (withJoachim Garraud) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Blood in my veins"[35] (The Vinyljackers (MikeNova)) | 2016 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Would I Lie to You" (withDavid Guetta andCedric Gervais) | 2016 | — | — | — | 30 | 20 | 71 | — | 80 | 35 | — |
| |
| "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] (withMarc Benjamin) | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Work It Harder"[39] (withZight and Maximals) | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak 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) | — | — | — | 29 | 29 | — | 80 | — | 59 | 19 | Just a Little More Love | ||
| "Love Don't Let Me Go" (David Guetta featuring Chris Willis) | 2002 | — | — | — | 7 | 4 | — | 37 | — | 13 | 46 | ||
| "People Come People Go" (David Guetta featuring Chris Willis) | — | — | — | 47 | 42 | — | — | — | 54 | — | |||
| "Money" (David Guetta featuring Chris Willis andMoné) | 2004 | — | — | — | 52 | 63 | — | — | — | 52 | — | Guetta Blaster | |
| "Stay" (David Guetta featuring Chris Willis) | — | — | — | 19 | 18 | — | — | — | 82 | 78 | |||
| "Love Is Gone" (David Guetta featuring Chris Willis) | 2007 | 98 | — | — | 9 | 3 | 28 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 9 | ||
| "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 andMC Lyte featuring Chris Willis) | 2014 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Colors" (Celestal featuring Chris Willis) | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "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. | |||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Gettin' Over" | 2009 | David Guetta | One Love |
| "Still Don't Have You"[45] | 2013 | Duane Harden, Bimbo Jones | NB4U (Naked Before You) |
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