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Written by Gregg Shapiro, Staff writer
Feb 10, 2012
Chris Willis. – Photo: Courtesy
Chris Willis, an out electronic music artist with roots in the gospel music scene, first came to prominence on the dance charts as the voice of David Guetta hits such as "Getting' Over," "Love Is Gone," "Love Don't Let Me Go" and "Stay," among others. With his solo debut "Premium/Songs from the Love Ship, Volume 1," Willis comes to the fore. Primarily a dance disc, the album also shows Willis has the ability to branch out in pop and rock directions without losing credibility. I spoke with Chris earlier this year.
Gregg Shapiro: How did you come up with the title of your new full-length disc "Premium/Songs from the Love Ship, Volume 1"?
Chris Willis: If you remember Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill," that's a line she took from one of her songs. I wanted to find a catchy phrase like that to attach to my title. "Premium" comes from the line in my song "Louder" that says "take another sip of the premium," which, in my mind, infuses something really refined, top-of-the-line and something superior, elegant. "The Love Ship" typifies a reference to the Titanic. As morbid as that might sound; it wasn't my intention to be morbid. You find buried treasure in a ship, under water, classic, incredible, beautiful music that might never have seen the light of day if not for putting them on this collection. That convoluted explanation is where "Premium/Songs from the Love Ship," volumes one, two and three have come from.
Including the four remixes, a majority of the tracks are in the dance music genre, similar to your early work with David Guetta. What role has the Grammy-winning producer and DJ played in your music career?
David Guetta, I love so much. He played an enormous role in the influence not only of the work I do now, but the work I plan to release in the future. Until meeting David, I was heavily involved in gospel music. I had recorded several albums and had backed up just about every artist that came out of Nashville. At the time that I met David, I was in the process of shifting and going in a new direction in my career. Needless to say, meeting David was a major change, a major revival of just about everything that Chris Willis is about, plus more. Before that I was mostly known in America. And it shined an incredible light on my vocal ability, melody writing and songwriting ability such as never before. To this day, I still continue to participate in and am involved in the electronic music genre and have witnessed an incredible evolution for other artists – Usher, Nicki Minaj, Kelly Rowland – and it continues to be a part of my musical and creative evolution.
"Faded" is what I would describe as a hardcore break-up song. Have you ever had a relationship that drove you to such extremes or was it based on what you'd heard from others?
This song was really fun to write. It was written with Kimberly Cole and Jean-Yves (Ducornet), a writing team in L.A. We stumbled across the concept for "Faded" and built the story around it. I'm in the clubs so much and so much of what we do in electronic music is designed for the party, the after-party. The lifestyle of clubbers and commitment to the club scene is rife with break-up, make-up and love stories. This is just an homage to that sort of story. I hope that I never have to feel that feeling of drinking my pain away. I think I've come close a time or two. I hope this song will connect with the fans and listeners.
Of all the songs to cover, why did you choose to record a version of "Stand By Me"?
Nicola Fasano invented this concept and they had this reinvented track of "Stand By Me." I happily collaborated with them on the song. It's always been one of my favorites. I grew up on music from '50s, '60s and '70s. To include this updated, new-and-improved "Stand By Me" was a wink to my parents and their peers and all the music lovers who love classic music.
I think your pop side comes to the surface on "Be There." What was the inspiration for that song?
Thank you. My inspiration for that song was Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry." I was lucky enough to see her perform in Atlanta. The contrast between everything she'd been doing with the Black Eyed Peas, and then she came out with this mellow pop ballad. I wanted a moment like that. I wrote this song, pitching it to another artist. But my management thought it was a good song for me and we kept it (laughs).
