Kelly Willis

Kelly Diane Willis (born October 2, 1968) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Her music has been described as being new traditionalist and alternative country.

Early life Born in Lawton, Oklahoma, Willis was the youngest of three children. Her father was a U.S. Army colonel. Her mother had a strong interest in music in addition to singing and acting in amateur musicals. Willis began singing when she was nine, around when her parents divorced. After the divorce, Willis and her siblings lived with her father and moved to Kansas, North Carolina, and then northern Virginia for her father's military career. Her father worked at the Pentagon while she was in high school. She went to middle school in North Carolina and attended a high school in Annandale, Virginia.

Career During a high school visit to the beach, Willis entered a pay recording booth and sang a version of Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear." Willis showed this demo to her boyfriend, drummer Mas Palermo, and joined his rockabilly band, the Vibrato Brothers, at 16. The band took her on as the lead vocalist and soon renamed themselves Kelly Willis & the Fireballs. After Willis's high school graduation, the band decided to move to Austin, but then broke up after a few months in Austin. Willis and Palermo, who had gotten married in 1989, formed a new band called Radio Ranch. In Austin, Willis attracted the notice of several influential Texas singer-songwriters including Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett. Griffith introduced MCA producer Tony Brown to Willis. Brown was impressed with Willis' vocal abilities and signed her to MCA in 1989.

MCA embarked on a big marketing campaign for Willis after she recorded her first album on the label, Well Travelled Love. She was interviewed by several national magazines including more unusual publications like Vogue and Mademoiselle. She sang on the soundtrack of the 1991 film Thelma and Louise. She also had a small part in Tim Robbins’ 1992 film Bob Roberts. Willis appeared in Dwight Yoakam's video for "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" and as a member of Vince Gill's pickup band in his "Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away" video. She was nominated for Top New Female Vocalist of the year at the 1993 ACM Awards. Despite publicity and positive reviews from most reviewers, Well Travelled Love and Willis' later albums for MCA (Bang Bang in 1991 and Kelly Willis in 1993) sold modestly and received very little radio play. In 1994, MCA released Willis from her contract. In 1995, Willis collaborated with Jay Farrar on the song "Rex's Blues", which appeared on the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization.

In 1996, Willis recorded an EP for A&M Records entitled Fading Fast. Willis then decided to record her next album on her own, resulting in the 1999 album What I Deserve, which Willis sold to Rykodisc after finishing it. What I Deserve was commonly seen in the press as Willis's response to her history with MCA and was praised by critics, becoming a hit for Willis. She was also a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards. In 2002, Willis released Easy.

In 2003, Willis and her husband Bruce Robison released the record Happy Holidays, a cover album of Christmas songs. Beginning in 2005, Willis and Robison appeared in television and radio commercials for the anti-allergy product Claritin. In the fall of 2007, Willis released Translated From Love. and produced by Chuck Prophet. The couple followed up their first album together 14 months later, releasing Our Year.

In 2018, Willis released Back Being Blue, her first solo album in more than a decade. The album was produced by Robison. A year later a third collaborative album with Robison, Beautiful Lie, came out.

Personal life Willis married her high school boyfriend Mas Palermo in 1989; they divorced in 1991. In 1992, Willis met Austin singer-songwriter Bruce Robison. After dating for several years, Willis and Robison married in 1996.

Willis went through in vitro fertilization treatments and gave birth to her son Deral Otis in January 2001. Her experience with raising a child led to a different sort of album than the earlier What I Deserve. In 2002, Willis became pregnant again and gave birth to twins Abigail Esme and Benjamin James on March 24, 2003. On January 10, 2006, Willis had her fourth child, Joseph Willis Robison.

On January 21, 2022, Willis and Robison announced their upcoming divorce via their Facebook pages.

Discography Albums Title Album details Peak chart positions US Country US Heat US Indie Well Travelled Love Release date: May 25, 1990 Label: MCA Records 64 — — Bang Bang Release date: April 16, 1991 Label: MCA Records — — — Kelly Willis Release date: July 6, 1993 Label: MCA Records — — — Fading Fast (EP) Release date: 1996 Label: A&M Records — — — What I Deserve Release date: February 23, 1999 Label: Rykodisc 30 24 — One More Time:The MCA Recordings Release date: September 12, 2000 Label: MCA Nashville — — — Easy Release date: August 20, 2002 Label: Rykodisc 29 17 19 Happy Holidays Release date: 2003 Label: Rykodisc — — — Translated from Love Release date: June 26, 2007 Label: Rykodisc 46 12 37 Cheater's Game(with Bruce Robison) Release date: February 12, 2013 Label: Spunk Records 29 3 31 Our Year(with Bruce Robison) Release date: May 27, 2014 Label: Premium Records 40 13 — Back Being Blue Release date: May 19, 2018 Label: Premium Records/Thirty Tigers — 7 30 Beautiful Lie(with Bruce Robison) Release date: July 11, 2019 Label: Next Waltz "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles Year Single Peak chart positions Album US Country CAN Country CAN AC 1990 "I Don't Want to Love You (But I Do)" —A — — Well Travelled Love "River of Love" —B — — "Looking for Someone Like You" — 85 — 1991 "Baby Take a Piece of My Heart" 51 65 — Bang Bang "The Heart That Love Forgot" — — — "Settle for Love" — — — 1993 "Whatever Way the Wind Blows" 72 73 — Kelly Willis "Heaven's Just a Sin Away" 63 81 — 1996 "Fading Fast" — — — Fading Fast 1998 "Take Me Down" — — — What I Deserve 1999 "Not Forgotten You" — — 80 2002 "If I Left You" — — — Easy 2003 "Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!" — — — 2007 "Teddy Boys" — — — Translated from Love "The More That I'm Around You" — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Notes: A "I Don't Want to Love You (But I Do)" did not chart on Hot Country Songs, but peaked at No. 3 on Hot Country Radio Breakouts. B "River of Love" did not chart on Hot Country Songs, but reached No. 10 on Hot Country Radio Breakouts.

Music videos Year Video Director 1990 "I Don't Want to Love You (But I Do)" "River of Love" Coke Sams 1991 "Baby Take a Piece of My Heart" Mark Lindquist "The Heart That Love Forgot" Mark Lindquist 1993 "Whatever Way the Wind Blows" Jim Glander "Heaven's Just a Sin Away" Wayne Miller 1999 "Not Forgotten You" Roger Pistole 2002 "If I Left You" Steven Goldmann 2003 "Don't Come the Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim!" Trey Fanjoy/Traci Goudie 2007 "Teddy Boys" 2014 "Harper Valley PTA" Bruce Robison/Glenn Seale 2014 "Motor City Man" Bruce Robison/Glenn Seale

Appears on 1991: Various Artists – "Thelma & Louise" (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), vocals on track 6, "Little Honey" 1994: Monte Warden – "Monte Warden" (Watermelon Records), vocals on track 5, "The Only One" 1995: Aaron Neville – The Tattooed Heart (A&M Records), vocals on track 11, "For the Good Times" 1998: Various Artists – Real: The Tom T. Hall Project (Sire Records) -- Track 2, "That's How I Got to Memphis" 2000: Robbie Fulks: "The Very Best of Robbie Fulks" (Bloodshot Records) -- duet vocals on track 7, "Parallel Bars". (Note: the record is not a "best of", despite the title, but a cheekily named collection of tracks.) 2005: Various Artists – "A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver (Live)" (Compadre), vocals on track 3, "Ride Me Down Easy" 2012: Martin Zellar – "Roosters Crow" (Label: Owen Lee Recordings), vocals on track 1, "Took the Poison" and track 3, "Running on Pure Fear" 2012: Mark Collie & His Reckless Companions – "Alive at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary" (Ranch Records), vocals on tracks 4, 5, 9