Chanteuse Country US née le 2 octobre 1968 à Annandale
(Virginie). Kelly Willis est la femme de
Bruce Robison.
Although the
work of new traditionalist singer/songwriter Kelly Willis earned widespread
critical acclaim, she found little in the way of comparable commercial success;
her sound, a smart hybrid of country and rock, simply assimilated both musical
styles too well to gain acceptance in either camp. Born in Oklahoma and raised
in the Washington, D.C., area, she began performing in her boyfriend (and future
husband) Mas Palermo's band at the age of 16. Her powerhouse vocals were so
popular with club audiences that soon the group was renamed Kelly & the
Fireballs in her honor. After Willis graduated high school, the band moved to
Austin, Texas, only to break up six months later.
As a result, Willis began learning to play guitar while drummer Palermo honed
his songwriting chops. The duo started a new band, Radio Ranch, with guitarist
David Murray, steel player Michael Hardwick, and bassist Michael Foreman. One of
Radio Ranch's performances so impressed singer
Nanci Griffith that she began lobbying her label, MCA, to sign to group,
leading to Willis' 1990 debut, Well-Travelled Love. In an attempt to capitalize
on Willis' stunning looks, she was marketed as a girl-next-door type, and
despite the presence of the full band, only her name appeared on the album
jacket. Despite the glowing reviews, the LP fared poorly, and so, for her 1991
sophomore effort, Bang Bang, she was depicted as a coquettish pinup. Again,
however, the good publicity the record received did not translate to radio
airplay, let alone chart sales.
For her third album, comprised largely of her own songs, Willis joined forces
with pop producer Don Was; the self-titled 1993 effort suffered the same fate as
its predecessors, however, and she was dropped by MCA shortly after its release.
Following a few years of relative inactivity, she resurfaced in 1995 duetting
with Son Volt's Jay Farrar on the Red Hot & Bothered compilation, and after
issuing a 1996 independent label EP, Fading Fast, announced plans for a 1997 LP
on A&M. In late 1996, she married fellow Austin musician
Bruce Robison.
As the '90s drew to a close, Willis inked a deal with Rykodisc. Her fourth
album, What I Deserve, appeared in 1999 and it was a breakthrough hit for
Willis. Time Magazine hailed the album as "the smartest, most consistently
worthwhile country CD" to have been released that year. Three years later,
Willis returned to the scene with Easy, which included collaborative efforts
with
Vince Gill, Union Station's
Dan Tyminski, and
Nickel Creek's
Chris Thile. Willis tossed her hat into the crowded yuletide scene in 2006
with the amiable Happy Holidays, followed by her seventh album, the Chuck
Prophet-produced Translated from Love in 2007. In 2008, Willis announced she was
taking some time off from the road. She made only sporadic appearances, usually
as a guest with
Robinson, but otherwise kept a low profile. She finally emerged from her
long silence with Cheater's Game, a collaborative album with her husband. The
set featured songs by Dave Alvin, Robert Earl Keen, Hayes Carll, and others; it
was released in in time for Valentine's Day in 2013.
Talents : Vocal, Guitar, Songwriter
Style musical : Contemporary Country, Traditional Country
AREN'T I
TRUE (1996)
FADING FAST
(1999)
TEDDY
BOYS (2007)
|
|
Années en activité :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 |
DISCOGRAPHY
Singles & EP
| 02/1990 | SP MCA 53807 (US) | . | I Don't Want To Love You / Drive South |
| 06/1990 | SP MCA 75053 (US) | . | River Of Love / Red Sunset |
| 10/1990 | SP MCA S7-53944 (US) | . | Looking For Someone Like You / I'm Just Lonely |
| 04/1991 | SP MCA S7-54050 (US) | . | Baby Take A Piece Of My Heart / Standing By The River |
| 10/1991 | SP MCA S7-54198 (US) | . | Heart That Love Forgot / Too Much Too Ask |
| 01/1992 | SP MCA S7-54251 (US) | . | Settle For Love / Bang Bang |
| 06/1993 | SP MCA S7-54678 (US) | . | Whatever Way The Wind Blows / World Without You |
| 09/1993 | SP MCA S7-54733 (US) | . | Heaven's Just A Sin Away / Get Real |
| 1996 | CD A & M 584854-2 (US) |
 |
FADING FAST - Fading Fast / What World Are
You Living In? / He Don't Care /
Aren't I True
|
| 2007 | CD RYKODISC ? (US) | . |
Teddy Boys
|
Albums
| 05/1990 | CD MCA 6390 (US) |
 |
WELL TRAVELLED LOVE - My Heart's In Trouble Tonight / Hole In My Heart / Don't Want To Love You (But I Do) / Looking For Someone Like You / Don't Be Afraid / River Of Love / I'm Just Lonely / One More Time / Drive South / Well Travelled Love / Red Sunset |
| 04/1991 | CD MCA 10141 (US) |
 |
BANG BANG - I'll Try Again / Too Much To Ask / Heart That Love Forgot / Sincerely (Too Late To Turn Back Now) / Baby Take A Piece Of My Heart / Bang Bang / Hidden Kings / Not Afraid Of The Dark / Standing By The River / Settle For Love |
| 1993 | CD MCA 10789 (US) |
 |
KELLY WILLIS - Take It All Out On You / Heaven's Just A Sin Away / One More Night / That'll Be Me / Whatever Way The Wind Blows / Get Real / I Know Better Now / Up All Night / World Without You / Shadows Of Love |
| 02/1999 | CD RYKODISC 10458 (US) |
 |
WHAT I DESERVE - Take Me Down / What I Deserve / Heaven Bound / Talk Like That / Not Forgotten You / Wrapped / Cradle Of Love / Got A Feelin' For Ya / Time Has Told Me / Fading Fast / Happy With That / They're Blind / Not Long For This World |
| 09/2000 | CD MCA 170153 (US) |
 |
ONE MORE TIME - Looking For Someone Like You / River Of Love / Don't Want To Love You (But I Do) / Sincerely (Too Late To Turn Back Now) / Baby Take A Piece Of My Heart / Heart That Love Forgot / I'll Try Again / Hidden Things / Little Honey / Heaven's Just A Sin Away / Get Real / Take It All Out On You / I Know Better Now / Whatever Way The Wind Blows |
| 08/2002 | CD RYKODISC 10622 (US) |
 |
EASY - If I Left You / Easy (As Falling Apart) / What Did You Think / You Can't Take It With You / Getting To Me / Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim / Wait Until Dark / Find Another Fool / Not What I Had In Mind / Reason To Believe |
| 08/2006 | CD RYKODISC RCD 10882 (US) |
 |
HAPPY HOLIDAYS - KELLY WILLIS & BRUCE ROBISON - Santa Baby / Winter's Tale / In The Bleak Midwinter / Baby, It's Cold Outside / Christmas Waltz / Please Daddy, Don't Get Drunk / Blue Christmas / Shut In At Christmas / Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy / Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas / Oklahoma Christmas |
| 06/2007 | CD RYKODISC 10886 (US) |
 |
TRANSLATED FOR LOVE - Nobody Wants To Go To The Moon Anymore / Sweet Little One / Don't Know Why / Teddy Boys / Losing You / Too Much To Lose / The More That I'm Around You / Sweet Sundown / Success / Stone's Throw Away / I Must Be Lucky / Translated From Love |
| 02/2013 | CD PREMIUM / THIRTY TIGERS 499093 (US) |
 |
CHEATER'S GAME - KELLY WILLIS - BRUCE ROBISON - Cheater's Game / Border Radio / We're All The Way / Long Way Home / 9,999,999 Tears / Leavin' / But I Do / No Kinda Dancer / Lifeline / Ordinary Fool / Born To Roll / Waterfall / Dreamin' |
© Rocky Productions 8/03/2013
