Christopher Kevin Willis (born February 26, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Although initially a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

singer, he later received international attention for his collaborations with house music artist

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

, including the songs " Just a Little More Love", " Love Don't Let Me Go, "

Love Is Gone "Love Is Gone" is a song by French house DJ David Guetta and American singer Chris Willis. It is the second single from Guetta's third studio album, '' Pop Life''. The single was released in France in June 2007 and in the UK in August 2007. T ...

", " Tomorrow Can Wait", " Everytime We Touch" (with

Steve Angello Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...

and Sebastian Ingrosso), " Would I Lie to You" (with

Cedric Gervais Cédric DePasquale (, born 7 June 1979), better known by his stage name Cedric Gervais (), is a French DJ, record producer and actor residing in Miami Beach, Florida. In 2013, he produced a remix of Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness", for whic ...

) and "

Gettin' Over You "Gettin' Over You" (originally titled "Gettin' Over") is a song by French DJ David Guetta and American singer Chris Willis, from Guetta's fourth studio album, '' One Love''. "Gettin' Over You" features additional vocals by Fergie and hip hop ...

Biography

Originally a

singer, with the

Heritage Singers Heritage Singers are an American gospel group founded by Max Mace and his wife Lucy, with their two children Valerie Ann and Gregory James. Based near Placerville, California, the group has traveled to over 65 countries, performed over 7,000 co ...

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". His first job after college in Alabama was touring with a group that sang hundreds of shows in churches over a two-year period. In the mid-1990s, he toured as backup vocalist for

Twila Paris Twyla (also Twila) is a given name. Notable people with the name include: Twyla * Twyla Hansen (born 1949), American poet, a Nebraska State Poet * Twyla Herbert (1921–2009), American songwriter * Twyla King (1937-2022), American newspaper editor ...

. In 1996, he released his debut self-titled album, for which he wrote or co-wrote eight of the eleven songs, and earned a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 1996 Nashville Music Awards. That year, he opened on tour for

Mark Lowry Mark Alan Lowry (born June 24, 1958) is an American singer, comedian, minister and songwriter. He is best known for co-writing the song " Mary, Did You Know?" and being a member of the Gaither Vocal Band from 1988 to 2001, and 2009 to 2013, al ...

, and was one of several featured singers in the musical showcase ''Emmanuel'', a national tour put together by Nashville producer Norman Miller. The tour spawned an album, which won a

GMA Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

in 1998 for Special Event Album of the Year. He did mostly gospel until 1998 when he signed with a small music label. The label was bought out by a large corporation and Willis took that as a cue to move on. During this time he also worked to resolve the "

angst Angst is fear or anxiety ('' anguish'' is its Latinate equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin). The dictionary definition for angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity. Etymology The word ...

" 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." 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." On June 2, 2014, Willis married Jacqueline Leiske. In 2000 he was working with the French boy band

2Be3 2Be3 was a French boy band that was active from 1996 to 2001. History 2Be3 was formed in 1996 and comprised three childhood friends from Longjumeau (a suburb of Paris): Filip Nikolic, Adel Kachermi and Frank Delay. Inspired by English bands li ...

and when doing some publicity for their album in Paris one of the bandmates introduced him to house musician and producer

. Guetta invited Willis to the studio and the next day they wrote 'Just a Little More Love.' Willis co-wrote and provided most of the vocals on Guetta's debut album '' Just a Little More Love'', including the hit title track. His music genres have included gospel music, disco,

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

, and R&B. Willis is active on

social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...

including MySpace, Facebook and recently Twitter. He often adds live photos and videos from his tours and answers questions from fans. Throughout 2009 he toured with

through Europe in support of ''

One Love One Love may refer to: Music * One Love (record producer), Timothy Sommers, American record producer, half of the duo Kinetics & One Love * ''One Love: The Bob Marley Musical'', a 2015 stage musical Albums * One Love (Blue album), ''One Love'' (B ...

''. He has also been doing solo European dates. In November 2009 he performed at Danceclub C4 in Steyer,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

for their 2nd Anniversary Party. 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. His solo single "Louder (Put Your Hands Up)" was released on October 12, 2010. Willis co-wrote the song with

Cutfather Mich Hedin Hansen (born 9 April 1968), known professionally as Cutfather, is a Danish music producer, songwriter, remixer and DJ based in Copenhagen. Cutfather has a studio on Njalsgade, Copenhagen. Career Cutfather is perhaps best known for hi ...

and

Jonas Jeberg Jonas Jeberg (born January 28, 1975), is a Danish songwriter and music producer residing in Los Angeles. He has written and produced hit songs including Panic! at the Disco's " High Hopes", Selena Gomez's " Fetish" featuring Gucci Mane, Fifth Har ...

. The video premiered on DailyMotion October 26, 2010. Shot in Los Angeles, the video was directed by Billie Woodruff. The video now has nearly 2 million views on his YouTube page. The song reached number one on '' Billboard''s Hot Dance Club Songs on the issue dated January 8, 2011. His second single "Too Much In Love" was released digitally August 16, 2011. 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. Many remixes have been created and released on iTunes. 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 ChrisWillis

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Chris Living people 20th-century African-American male singers African-American male singer-songwriters American male pop singers American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters 1978 births LGBT Christians LGBT people from Ohio LGBT singers from the United States Musicians from Dayton, Ohio Singer-songwriters from Ohio Bisexual men Bisexual musicians 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century LGBT people