Grand Ole Opry member Mark Wills has built a career on recording timeless story songs. For more than two decades, Wills has been a mainstay both on the road and on airwaves with his engaging live show and poignant ballads. Enduring hits “19 Somethin,’” “Wish You Were Here,” “Jacob’s Ladder” and “I Do (Cherish You)” cemented his country status in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and Wills promises to expand his repertoire with new music in 2022. Music is Wills’ first love. One of his earliest memories includes listening to Conway Twitty’s Greatest Hits record at age 4. George Jones, Merle Haggard, Alabama and Ronnie Milsap also are influences and inspired Wills to pursue a music career of his own. During high school he sang in talent contests and upon graduation he’d perform around Atlanta. In the early 1990s Wills would play several times a month at The Buckboard in Smyrna, GA. He’d open for Nashville acts like Jerry Jeff Walker, Kris Kristofferson and Gene Watson when they came through town and shared that same stage with some of the biggest names in country music including Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. “I really got my feet wet and realized that I wanted it to be more about the music,” Wills says. “I look back on my career after 25 years and I really don't second guess any of the songs I ever recorded.” An early supporter was John Gallichio, Wills’ then-manager and owner of the Buckboard. Gallichio was well connected in Nashville and introduced Wills to Tony Martin, a songwriter looking for a demo singer. Soon Wills was making weekend trips to Nashville to sing demos for Martin. An early demo recording was “Jacob’s Ladder,” a coming of age song about a poor farm boy in love with a land baron’s daughter. Upon hearing Wills’ demo, Gallichio said it should be his first single. He immediately called Martin and asked to put the song on hold for Wills. “Sure enough, that was the first song we found for my first record,” Wills, 48, recalls of the song he recorded when he was just 21. “Jacob’s Ladder” was released via Mercury Nashville in May 1996 as Wills’ debut single, and it became the singer’s first of eight Top 10 hits. It peaked at No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and was a glimpse into the memorable song catalog Wills would release in the coming years.
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“Jacob’s Ladder” also is a song that has grown in meaning for Wills, who will become a first-time grandfather this year. “It'll be five years September/ Since her daddy found that ladder and a note on her windowsill/ Swear he’d never forgive them, but nothing melts a heart like a grandchild will,” he sings on the song’s second verse. His debut self-titled album followed and saw praise from Entertainment Weekly. “Mark Wills’ shimmering debut of country rock is full of rambunctious good-time songs teeming with sly wit and bittersweet ballads — all in a baritone that throbs with emotion,” the publication wrote upon the record’s release June 1996. “From the Dennis Robbins-like ‘High Low and In Between’ to the radio-ready ‘Jacob’s Ladder,’ Mark Wills practically flashes, A star is born.” His star only continued to rise in the coming years. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart Top 5 hits “Places I’ve Never Been,” “I Do (Cherish You),” “Don’t Laugh at Me,” and No. 1 single “Wish You Were Here” followed between 1997-1999. Fittingly, Wills’ early chart success earned him an Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Male Vocalist in 1998. “I think what put us over the edge that year was we had the top level of success for the songs,” he says. “I've had some really big hits. I've had some songs that are still really big songs in today's world, but I never put the emphasis on me. I always put the emphasis on the song.” Billboard praised the songs featured on his fourth album, Loving Every Minute, with the publication noting: “Wills’ fourth Mercury set finds the singer in familiar territory, with a well-produced mix of radio-ready ballads and meaty midtempos.” The publication added that Wills “charms with a down-home vocal style” on the 2001 project. “A high point is the Skip Ewing/Donny Kees homesick ballad ‘Back on Earth,’ which features a strong, heartfelt Wills vocal,” Billboard commented. “Wills has always had a knack for tear-jerkers, and he offers a real weeper here with ‘The Balloon Song.’ In sum, it’s a solid commercial effort.” The Georgia native’s illustrious career includes 19 Billboard-charting singles. Several songs he recorded early on also became hits for other artists including Reba McEntire (“Somebody”), Rascal Flatts (“What Hurts the Most”) and 98 Degrees (“I Do”). Wills’ biggest hit to date is the RIAA Gold-certified “19 Somethin’” – a six-week No. 1 in 2003. Released 20 years ago as part of Wills’ Greatest Hits collection, the upbeat feel-good track stretched the singer both musically and vocally. An in-demand singer and performer, Wills’ nostalgic “19 Somethin’” showcased his fun side as he continued to record relatable songs. “Everything in that song was me,” Wills says of the song. “It’s important to find songs that if you didn’t write it, it sounds like you did. That’s why I fell in love with that song. … Our theory is to find songs that we wanted to sing night after night.” Billboard praised fan favorite “19 Somethin’” for its nostalgic references in its Chart Beat feature in early 2018 – 15 years after the song began its first of six weeks atop the publication’s Hot Country Songs chart. “‘19 Somethin’’ succeeded thanks to its upbeat hook and sentimental callback to simpler times, in the ’70s and ’80s, specifically,” Billboard wrote. “Among its pop culture shout-outs: Roger Staubach, Daisy Duke, Rubik’s Cube and ‘big hair and parachute pants.’” “Oh, man, did I look cheesy, but I wouldn’t trade those days for nothin,’” Wills sings. Throughout his career, Wills has put an emphasis on performing for U.S. Military. With a long lineage of veterans in his family, the singer has taken more than a dozen trips to entertain troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Korea and Italy. He also released a patriotic album in 2011 titled Looking for America. What you see is what you get with Wills. A singer who prides himself on preserving the musical integrity on each record and in every concert, Wills offers music fans longing for ’90s country exactly what they want to hear. “You can give a certain group of fans what they want and still be successful,” he says. “If I give them what I think they want and they don't want it that's on me, but if I don't offer it to them that's on me, too. “Music is my first love and I know that I would never be as happy doing something else as I am when I'm on stage,” he adds. “When I look out there and I see people singing my songs or singing the songs that I've brought to them, that is a fulfillment and nothing else fills that void.”
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