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Kelly Willis | |
|---|---|
 Kelly Willis at theAustin City Limits Music Festival, 2007. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1968-10-02)October 2, 1968 (age 56) |
| Origin | Annandale, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | Honky Tonk,Country,Americana,Alt. Country |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | MCA A&M Rykodisc Premium Records |
| Spouse | |
| Website | Kelly Willis |
Kelly Diane Willis[1] (born October 2, 1968) is an Americancountry music singer-songwriter, whose music has been described asalternative country andnew traditionalist.
Born inLawton, Oklahoma, United States, Willis was the youngest of three children. While her father was aU.S. Armycolonel, Willis's mother had a strong interest in music and sang and acted in amateur musicals. Willis began singing when she was nine as a way to comfort herself after her parents divorced. After the divorce, Willis and her siblings lived with her father and moved around the country to accommodate her father's military job. She spent her middle school years inNorth Carolina and her high school years inAnnandale, Virginia.[2]
Heavily influenced by her mother, who used to sing in local musicals, Kelly became interested in music. One day during a high school visit to the beach, she entered a nearby pay recording booth and sang her own version ofElvis Presley's "Teddy Bear." With the demo in hand, Willis impressed her then boyfriend, drummer Mas Palermo, and joined his rockabilly band at the age of 16. The band took her on as the lead vocalist and soon rechristened the band Kelly Willis & the Fireballs. After Willis's high school graduation, the band decided to move toAustin, Texas, to participate in the vibrant Austin music scene. After a few months in Austin, however, the band broke up. Willis and Palermo, married in 1989, formed a new band called Radio Ranch. In Austin, Willis attracted the notice of several influential Texas singer-songwriters includingNanci Griffith andLyle Lovett. Griffith introducedMCA producerTony Brown to Willis. Brown was very impressed with Willis's vocal abilities and signed her to the MCA label in 1989.
MCA embarked on a big marketing campaign to tout Willis after she recorded her first album on the label, the 1990 albumWell Travelled Love. MCA ensured that Willis was interviewed by several national magazines including unusual venues likeVogue andMademoiselle. Her voice appeared in the 1991Ridley Scott-produced movieThelma and Louise, singing "Little Honey" and "I Don't Want to Love You (But I Do)." Willis also had a small part inTim Robbins’ 1992 filmBob Roberts. Willis appears as the young woman standing in a shallow stream inDwight Yoakam's video of "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere," as well as a member ofVince Gill's "pickup band" in hisDon't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away video. She was also nominated for Top New Female Vocalist of the year at the 1993ACM Awards along withFaith Hill andLari White (Hill wound up winning the award).[3] Despite all the publicity and positive reviews from most reviewers,Well Travelled Love and Willis's subsequent albums for MCA (Bang Bang in 1991 andKelly Willis in 1993) sold modestly and received very little radio play. During this time, Willis felt uncomfortable with the way she was marketed by MCA. In 1994, MCA released Willis from her contract.
In 1995, Willis collaborated with Jay Farrar on the song "Rex's Blues", which appeared on the AIDS benefit albumRed Hot + Bothered produced by theRed Hot Organization.
Willis continued to pursue her music career after leaving MCA. In 1996, she recorded anEP forA&M Records entitledFading Fast. However, her relationship with A&M was short-lived; after working with two major labels, Willis decided to record her next album on her own. Her efforts resulted in the 1999 albumWhat I Deserve, which Willis sold toRykodisc after finishing the album.What I Deserve received quite a bit of press after the album's release. It was commonly seen as Willis's response to her history with MCA, and was uniformly praised by critics, becoming a hit for Willis.
Willis was also a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[4]
In 2003, Willis andBruce Robison, her husband and fellow country musician, released the recordHappy Holidays, a cover album of Christmas songs. Starting in 2005, Willis and Robison appeared in television and radio commercials for the anti-allergy product Claritin.[5]
In Fall 2007, Willis releasedTranslated From Love. It was recorded at Robison's studio, Premium Recording Services, in Austin, TX.[6] and produced byChuck Prophet, formerly of the bandGreen On Red. The album is co-written by Willis, Prophet and notable songwriterJules Shear, and includes a cover version ofIggy Pop's "Success."
In early 2008, Willis announced she would take an indefinite hiatus from live performances due to family obligations. Said Willis in a website announcement, "Being a traveling musician with four kids may not make an extremely compelling reality TV show but it is kicking my butt. I plan to continue making records. And I may do the occasional holiday show/song swap/benefit here and there.... Happy trails...until we meet again." Her winter / spring 2008 scheduled dates continued as planned until the final show May 2, 2008.
Willis has recently begun to tour outside of Texas again; first she headlined the Northern Rockies Folk Festival in Hailey, Idaho on August 7, 2010. Next up, she performed at theHardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Speedway Meadow inGolden Gate Park in San Francisco on October 2, 2010. In 2011, Willis toured the United States with her husbandBruce Robison, performing new songs in preparation for an album with Robison. The album,Cheater's Game, was released on February 12, 2013. Willis and Robison began to tour to support the release on February 13, 2013, in New York City.[7] The couple followed up the success of their first album together 14 months later with the release ofOur Year.[8]
In 2018, Willis releasedBack Being Blue, her first solo album in more than a decade. The album was produced by her husband.[9] The following year saw a third collaborative album with Robison,Beautiful Lie.
Willis married high school boyfriend Mas Palermo in 1989, but they divorced in 1991. In 1992, Willis met Austin singer-songwriterBruce Robison. After several years of dating, Willis and Robison married in 1996.
After a decade focused on her music career, Willis turned to starting a family. She went throughin vitro fertilization treatments, and gave birth to son Deral Otis in January 2001. Willis's experience with raising a child led to a different sort of album than the earlierWhat I Deserve. In 2002, Willis releasedEasy. The album expresses Willis's contentment with her new life through songs with a relaxed, mellow vibe. After the album's release, Willis became pregnant again and gave birth to twins Abigail Esme and Benjamin James[10] on March 24, 2003[11][12] On January 10, 2006, Kelly welcomed 4th child Joseph Willis Robison; he weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and was 19.75 inches long.[13][14]
On January 21, 2022, Willis and Robison announced their upcoming divorce via their Facebook pages.[15]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [16] | US Heat [17] | US Indie [18] | ||
| Well Travelled Love |
| 64 | — | — |
| Bang Bang |
| — | — | — |
| Kelly Willis |
| — | — | — |
| Fading Fast (EP) |
| — | — | — |
| What I Deserve |
| 30 | 24 | — |
| One More Time: The MCA Recordings |
| — | — | — |
| Easy |
| 29 | 17 | 19 |
| Happy Holidays |
| — | — | — |
| Translated from Love |
| 46 | 12 | 37 |
| Cheater's Game (withBruce Robison) |
| 29 | 3 | 31 |
| Our Year (withBruce Robison) |
| 40 | 13 | — |
| Back Being Blue |
| — | 7 | 30 |
| Beautiful Lie (withBruce Robison) |
| |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [19] | CAN Country | CAN AC | |||
| 1990 | "I Don't Want to Love You (But I Do)" | —A | — | — | Well Travelled Love |
| "River of Love" | —B | — | — | ||
| "Looking for Someone Like You" | — | 85 | — | ||
| 1991 | "Baby Take a Piece of My Heart" | 51 | 65 | — | Bang Bang |
| "The Heart That Love Forgot"[20] | — | — | — | ||
| "Settle for Love"[21] | — | — | — | ||
| 1993 | "Whatever Way the Wind Blows" | 72 | 73 | — | Kelly Willis |
| "Heaven's Just a Sin Away" | 63 | 81 | — | ||
| 1996 | "Fading Fast"[22] | — | — | — | Fading Fast |
| 1998 | "Take Me Down" | — | — | — | What I Deserve |
| 1999 | "Not Forgotten You" | — | — | 80 | |
| 2002 | "If I Left You" | — | — | — | Easy |
| 2003 | "Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!" | — | — | — | |
| 2007 | "Teddy Boys" | — | — | — | Translated from Love |
| "The More That I'm Around You" | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||
Notes:
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | "I Don't Want to Love You (But I Do)" | |
| "River of Love"[25] | Coke Sams | |
| 1991 | "Baby Take a Piece of My Heart" | Mark Lindquist |
| "The Heart That Love Forgot" | Mark Lindquist | |
| 1993 | "Whatever Way the Wind Blows" | Jim Glander |
| "Heaven's Just a Sin Away" | Wayne Miller | |
| 1999 | "Not Forgotten You" | Roger Pistole |
| 2002 | "If I Left You" | Steven Goldmann |
| 2003 | "Don't Come the Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim!" | Trey Fanjoy/Traci Goudie |
| 2007 | "Teddy Boys" | |
| 2014 | "Harper Valley PTA"(withBruce Robison)[26] | Bruce Robison/Glenn Seale |
| 2014 | "Motor City Man"(withBruce Robison) | Bruce Robison/Glenn Seale |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
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