Will Downing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Will Downing | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1963 |
| Origin |  Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | R&B, Soul, Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter, Producer |
| Label(s) | Peak, Hip-O, GRP, Mercury, Motown, Polygram, Island, 4th & Broadway |
| Website | www.WillDowning.com |
Will Downing (b. 1963, Brooklyn, New York), is an American singer, songwriter, and producer. Downing's recording career has won a loyal audience of contemporary jazz and R&B fans with albums and concerts that have showcased his rich baritone vocals and unique interpretations of R&B and pop classics that stretches back to the early 1980s.
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[edit] Biography
Downing enrolled in the famed performing arts high school Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York. The high school had one of the strongest performing arts programs in the city and included among its alumni singers Barbra Streisand and Stephanie Mills, and record company executives Clive Davis, who founded Arista Records, and Kedar Massenburg, who later became president of Motown Records.[1] Downing, who eventually recorded for Motown, graduated with Massenburg in the class of 1981. Downing then attended college at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. In the mid-1980's he moved back to New York City worked on albums by Jennifer Holiday, Kool & the Gang, sax maestro Gerald Albright, Billy Ocean, Regina Belle, Mica Paris and others. Later he went onto singing with Arthur Baker's group, Wally Jump Junior, Downing then used Baker as a producer after he signed with Island Records.
In 1988 Downing signed a recording contract with 4th & Broadway Records, and his first solo album, Will Downing, was released that same year. The critics singled out Downing's version of the John Coltrane classic jazz piece A Love Supreme as one of its highlights. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Charts.[2] Downing stayed with 4th & Broadway for just one album and switched to Island Records for his second release, Come Together As One, in 1989. Like his first album, Come Together As One was a pop- and dance-oriented collection of R&B songs that also reflected Downing's love of jazz.
Switching labels to Mercury Records for his fourth outing, 1993's Love's the Place to Be, Downing scored his best-selling album to date with about 235,000 copies sold in the United States and over 300,000 copies in Great Britain.[3] He remained with Mercury for two more albums, Moods in 1995 and Invitation Only in 1997, both of which sold well to Downing's core fan base. The CD All the Man You Need received a Grammy Awards nomination for Best Traditional R&B Album in 2000. Since December 2006 Will has been suffering with a muscle disorder called polymyositis that has left him unable to walk and confined to a wheel chair.
In 2002 he received the International Association of African-American Music Diamond Award.[4]
[edit] Selective discography
| Year | Title | Genre | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | After Tonight | R&B | Peak | |
| 2006 | The Best Of Will Downing: The Millennium Collection | Jazz | Hip-O | |
| 2005 | Soul Symphony | R&B | GRP | |
| 2004 | Christmas, Love and You | R&B | GRP | |
| 2003 | Emotions | R&B | GRP | |
| 2003 | Collection [Import] | R&B, Jazz | Polygram Int'l | |
| 2003 | A Million Ways (Remix) | R&B | GRP | |
| 2002 | Sensual Journey | R&B, Jazz | GRP | |
| 2002 | Greatest Love Songs | R&B | GRP | |
| 2000 | All the Man You Need | R&B | Motown | |
| 1998 | Pleasures of the Night w/Gerald Albright | R&B, Jazz | Polygram | |
| 1997 | Invitation Only | R&B, Jazz | Mercury | |
| 1995 | Moods | R&B | Mercury | |
| 1994 | Nothing Has Ever Felt Like This w/Rachelle Ferrell | R&B, Pop | Capitol | |
| 1993 | Love's the Place to Be | R&B | Mercury | |
| 1991 | A Dream Fulfilled | R&B | Island | |
| 1989 | Come Together as One | R&B | Island | |
| 1988 | Will Downing | R&B | 4th & Broadway |
