Mark Wills
Mark Wills | |
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Website | markwills |
Mark Wills (born Daryl Mark Williams; August 8, 1973)[3] is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – Mark Wills, Wish You Were Here, Permanently, Loving Every Minute, and And the Crowd Goes Wild – as well as a greatest hits package. In that same timespan, he charted sixteen singles on the Billboard country charts, all of which made the top 40. After leaving Mercury in 2003, he signed to Equity Music Group and charted three more singles. Two of these were later included on his sixth studio album, Familiar Stranger, which was released on the Tenacity label in 2008.
Of his albums, Wish You Were Here is the best-selling, with a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. This album's title track and the late 2002-early 2003 release "19 Somethin'" both reached No. 1; on the Hot Country Songs charts. Besides these, six more of his singles have reached top 10 on the chart: his debut single "Jacob's Ladder", "Places I've Never Been", "I Do (Cherish You)", "Don't Laugh at Me", "She's in Love", and a cover version of Brian McKnight's "Back at One". Two songs originally recorded by Wills, "Somebody" and "What Hurts the Most", were later hit singles for Reba McEntire, Jo O'Meara, Rascal Flatts, and Cascada respectively.
On December 21, 2018, Wills was invited to become the 218th member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted on January 11, 2019.[4]
Early life
Wills was born in Blue Ridge, Georgia.[2]
Career
In his teenaged years, Wills played in
Wills's
Wish You Were Here, Wills's second album, was his most commercially successful, earning a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The lead-off single "I Do (Cherish You)" and its follow-up, "Don't Laugh at Me", both reached number two on the country charts, with the former bringing him to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.[1] Following the pair of number two-peaking songs was the album's title track. Co-written by Bill Anderson, Skip Ewing, and Debbie Moore, it became Wills's first number-one country hit in 1999.[1] Later that year, the boy band 98 Degrees covered "I Do (Cherish You)" on their album 98 Degrees and Rising. Following "Wish You Were Here" was "She's in Love", the final single from Wish You Were Here, which peaked at number seven. In 1998, Wills received an Academy of Country Music award for Top New Male Vocalist.
2000–2003
In 2000, he voiced the character of Huckleberry Finn in MGM's animated remake of Tom Sawyer, Wills's only film role to date. Also for the film, Wills and Lee Ann Womack, who plays the singing voice of Becky in the film, sing the end title song "Never Ever and Forever" as a duet.
Wills's eighth chart entry was a cover of
Wills's biggest chart hit, "19 Somethin'", was released in late 2002. It topped the country charts in early 2003, and stayed at number one for six weeks. The song was also his highest Hot 100 entry, peaking at number 23. This song was the first of two newly recorded songs on his 2003 greatest hits album, which reprised all of his chart singles to that point except "High Low and in Between" and "I Want to Know (Everything There Is to Know About You)". The other new song on this album, "When You Think of Me", was a number-28 country hit in early 2003. Wills produced these two new tracks with Chris Lindsey.
And the Crowd Goes Wild, his fifth studio album, came later in 2003. This was his first full studio album, which he co-produced, again doing so with Chris Lindsey. Although the album itself peaked at number five on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, its two singles only made the middle and lower top-40 regions on the Hot Country Songs chart. Its Jeffrey Steele-penned country rock and country rap-generated title track was the lead-off single, reaching number 29 on the country charts. Following it was "That's a Woman", which stopped at number 40. Like his previous studio release, this album included a song that later became a number-one hit for another artist: "What Hurts the Most", which was a number-one country and adult contemporary hit for the group Rascal Flatts when they covered it on their 2006 album Me and My Gang. This song was also a single for Jo O'Meara in 2005 and Cascada in 2007. Wills's own rendition was a minor hit on the Hot Digital Songs charts in 2006. Also included on And the Crowd Goes Wild was a cover of Ronnie Milsap's hit "Prisoner of the Highway", recorded as a duet with Milsap.
2006–present
Due to the poor performance of And the Crowd Goes Wild, Wills left Mercury in 2004. In 2004, Wills also recorded a cover of Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" for the southern rock tribute album Southern Rock Country Style. He did not record again until country singer Clint Black signed him to his Equity Music Group label in 2006. Wills's first release for the label was "Hank", which peaked at number 49 and was never included on an album. His first album for the label, titled Familiar Stranger, was originally slated for release in September 2007,[5] and was repeatedly pushed back due to the poor chart performance of "Take It All Out on Me" and "Days of Thunder." Tenacity Records then acquired the album and released it in 2008, issuing "The Things We Forget" as its third single. After this song came "Entertaining Angels", co-written by Willie Mack. In late 2009, he released then a fifth single, "Crazy White Boy", written by Brett James and Blair Daly. Wills released the compilation album 2nd Time Around in July 2009, which comprises re-recordings of several Mercury singles.
Wills released a new single in January 2011 called "Looking for America", written by Bernie Nelson, Philip Douglas, and Jeremy Bussey.[6] It served as the title track to his 2011 album of the same name, released June 21, 2011, from Big Red Records and Tenacity Records.
He was invited by Vince Gill to become the 218th member of the Grand Ole Opry on December 21, 2018, and was inducted on January 11, 2019[4]
Personal life
In 1996, Wills married his wife, Kelly, whom he met at Atlanta's music club, Buckboard. They have two daughters.[7]
In November 2010, Wills was hospitalized for surgery after his large intestine ruptured. He was told that had he waited any longer to seek medical help, he would have died.[8]
Discography
- 1996: Mark Wills
- 1998: Wish You Were Here
- 2000: Permanently
- 2001: Loving Every Minute
- 2003: And the Crowd Goes Wild
- 2008: Familiar Stranger
- 2011: Looking for America
Awards and nominations
Academy of Country Music Awards
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | Mark Wills | Top New Male Vocalist | Won |
"Don't Laugh at Me" | Song of the Year | Nominated | |
2003 | "19 Somethin'" | Single Record of the Year | Nominated |
Country Music Association Awards
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | "Don't Laugh at Me" | Single of the Year | Nominated |
Video of the Year | Nominated |
Filmography
Film | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
2000 | Tom Sawyer | Huckleberry Finn | Direct-to-video |
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
- ^ Allmusic. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- ^ "Songwriter/Composer: Wills, Mark; Current Affiliation: GEMA CAE/IPI #: 247006588". BMI.
- ^ a b "Wills Invited To Join The Opry, Capps Celebrates 60". Nashville.com. December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
- CMT. Archived from the originalon September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2007.
- ^ "Mark Wills Releases New Song, "Looking For America"". Looking For America. Archived from the original on November 12, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
- ^ "Mark Wills". January 2020.
- ^ "Mark Wills Recovering After Life-Saving Surgery". The Boot. November 22, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2016.