spotlight
ReveRed
Virtuoso
in the
Dance WorlD
by peter galvin
You might not be able to put a name to the voice—not yet anyway. But all of that is about to change. Pop
music fans are soon destined not only to recognize, but to revel in the gorgeous voice and emotional intensity
of Chris Willis, a performer who has been thrilling dance music aficionados, DJs and club denizens for the
better part of this decade. Beginning with his vocal performances on the debut album, Just a Little More Love,
by superstar DJ David Guetta in 2004, Willis has increasingly made a name for himself as that rare male vocal
sensation in a world normally populated with divas and sirens of the opposite gender. Perhaps it’s because
Willis has such a deep understanding of the emotional landscape of the dance floor—his voice is an affecting
instrument that speaks directly to the hearts of the love-seeking dance habitués—both gay and straight, who
populate clubs around the world hoping to find, in the ecstasy of the musical moment, that special someone
with whom they can escape all space and time.
The transcendental world of gospel music is where Willis first got his start, and it’s the spiritual and technical
training learned from numerous live performances and recordings—including his own debut album Chris
Willis—that has made him such a revered virtuoso in the dance world. It’s that inexplicable sensitivity that
emanates from Willis’ open heart that first caught Guetta’s ear on their first fateful meeting. The pair’s partner-
ship now spans four albums.
Willis is in stellar company as part of Guetta’s all-star roster of guest vocalists on the DJ’s recently released
fourth album, One Love, which also features Akon, Ne-Yo and Estelle, not to mention two of the summer’s big-
gest pop-dance hits, “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas and “When Love Takes Over” with Kelly Rowland.
With his profile justifiably raised by being involved in such a superstar project, it’s inevitable that the world will
soon get a chance to delight in the latest chapter in Willis’ ever-evolving musical career—his long-awaited
second album, the pop opus he’s been destined to make all these years.
Here, the singer talks about his musical journey from hardship to triumph, his take on the state of dance
music today, and the gay pride moment that he will never forget.
Rage: how did you first meet david Guetta?
Chris Willis: To be honest, it was such a fluke, a happy accident. I was in Paris after co-producing a band with
Desmond Child, and one of the guys in the group introduced me to David, who was in the process of recording
his first album. He invited me to come by the studio the next day to see if we might vibe together. The next day,
I show up and he played me this electro-dance track, something that was quite foreign to me at the time. But
I starting coming up with some melodies, and they recorded everything that I sang. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I
Have a Dream” speech was the catalyst. A few other melodies and lyric ideas later, “Just a little more love, just a
little more peace, is all it takes to live the dream.” That’s literally what came out.
Rage: And “Just a Little More Love” became the title track of david’s first album.
CW: Yeah, the Civil Rights Movement was already a sensitive spot with me and David is a big fan of the
Martin Luther King “I Have A Dream” speech. When I was done singing he and Joachim were just screaming
and shouting in the control room, “That’s it! That’s it!”
Rage: tell me more about the trajectory of your career up until the point when you met david.
CW: Well, the short version is that I started at a very young age. Music was an escape for me when I was
growing up in Ohio. I wasn’t good at sports and felt kind of like a misfit. Music was my way to communicate.
After high school, I started singing in choirs and playing piano. Ultimately, I ended up signing with a gospel
group called the Heritage Singers, and we toured all over the world. One of the members of Take 6 heard
about me and started producing me for Warner Brothers. I recorded a gospel album in Nashville, but it was
never released. It was one of the biggest disappointments of my life.
32 RAGE monthly | november 2009
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