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After five years of chart-topping hit singles and achieving platinum status, Mark Wills has taken his vocal talents to a new level of maturity and creative solidity. The Academy of Country Music's “Top New Male Vocalist” of 1999 (known for his genre-bending diversity with his interpretations of such R&B songs as "Back at One" and "Almost Doesn't Count”) demonstrates with insight, ease and finesse that he is just getting started.
Loving Every Minute unfolds as a collection of heartfelt songs, filled with universal themes to which we all can relate. The nicely constructed story song "One of These Days" lets him get inside its blue-collar characters while providing a soaring tenor chorus. "Back on Earth," revisits the lament of the traveling musician, where he sings of aching for a family he misses on the road. The swooning Latin-flavored arrangement of "Lost in a Kiss" gives him a setting to emote as a romantic balladeer. The wonderfully sing-able melody of "Somebody" allows him to pour his heart into a tale of loneliness and longing as he addresses the fears and hopes of every single person who has wondered if there really is somebody out there just for them. Vaulting up toward the top of his tenor range in the mid-tempo romantic invitation "Love Can't” and on "In My Heaven" he uses urgency and idealistic punch to put across message songs that yearn for a better world. "I'll Be Around" has a vocal that is packed with personality. Perhaps the most commented upon song in this collection is "The Balloon Song," which tells the bittersweet tale of a little boy pining for his mother who's passed away. Mark holds his heart in his throat for the inspirational ballad "Universe." "I Hate Chicago" shows a playful sense of humor that will entertain more than offend. "Loving Every Minute," the collection's first single, fuses his earthy country vocal with some pop production touches. So does the lilting "I'm Not Gonna Do Anything Without You," his duet with labelmate Jamie O'Neal, who recently made her mark on the country charts with her breakthrough single, “There Is No Arizona.” That collaboration is one of several projects that have kept the young Georgia resident busy during the past year. In addition to participating on Jamie's CD, Wills also teamed up for duets with Chad Brock and Lee Ann Womack, the latter on the Tom Sawyer movie soundtrack (for which he also did the voice of Huck Finn in the 2000 animated film). He has worked tirelessly for several charity events, starred in his own Showcase special on CMT, sang at the Miss U.S.A. pageant on CBS and collected Gold and Platinum awards for his albums Permanently and Wish You Were Here. Mark Wills found both personal and professional success in Georgia's capital city. He met his wife Kelly there. They married in 1996, the same year that "Jacob's Ladder" jump-started his country career on Mercury Records. That single was followed by a string of top-10 smashes: "Places I've Never Been" (1997), "I Do (Cherish You)" (1998), "Don't Laugh at Me" (1998), "Wish You Were Here" (1999), "She's in Love" (1999) and "Back at One" (2000). Mark-Wills.com (Opens New Window) Source: Mercury Nashville Label Profile |
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