Mark Wills

Mark Wills (born Daryl Mark Williams; August 8, 1973) is an American country music artist.

Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – Mark Wills, Wish You Were Here, Permanently, Loving Every Minute, and And the Crowd Goes Wild – as well as a greatest hits package.

In that same timespan, he charted sixteen singles on the Billboard country charts, all of which made the top 40.

Wills's self-titled debut album was released in 1996 under the production of Chamberlain and Stegall.

Its lead-off single, "Jacob's Ladder", went to number six on the country charts.

"High Low and in Between", the B-side to "Jacob's Ladder", was the next single, reaching number 33.

Finishing off the single releases was the number-five "Places I've Never Been".

Despite the success of its first and third singles, the album did not sell well, and it peaked at number 38 on the country albums charts.

Wish You Were Here, Wills's second album, was his most commercially successful, earning a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

The lead-off single "I Do (Cherish You)" and its follow-up, "Don't Laugh at Me", both reached number two on the country charts, with the former bringing him to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.

Following the pair of number two-peaking songs was the album's title track.

In 1998, Wills received an Academy of Country Music award for Top New Male Vocalist.

Wills's eighth chart entry was a cover of R&B singer Brian McKnight's 1998 hit single "Back at One".

Co-written by Bill Anderson, Skip Ewing, and Debbie Moore, it became Wills's first number-one country hit in 1999.

Later that year, the boy band 98 Degrees covered "I Do (Cherish You)" on their album 98 Degrees and Rising.

Following "Wish You Were Here" was "She's in Love", the final single from Wish You Were Here, which peaked at number seven.

Following "Back at One" was another R&B cover, this time of Brandy's 1999 single "Almost Doesn't Count".

This cover reached the top 20, and was followed by "I Want to Know (Everything There Is to Know About You)", which reached number 33.

Permanently was certified gold by the RIAA.

In 2000, he voiced the character of Huckleberry Finn in MGM's animated remake of Tom Sawyer, Wills's only film role to date.

Also for the film, Wills and Lee Ann Womack, who plays the singing voice of Becky in the film, sing the end title song "Never Ever and Forever" as a duet.

This cover was a top-five country hit for Wills in early 2000 and the first single from his third album, Permanently.

This album was Wills's highest entry on the country albums charts, peaking at number three.

Unlike his previous albums, this album was produced entirely by Carson Chamberlain, as Stegall had left Mercury in 2000.

Loving Every Minute was the title of Wills's fourth studio album and its lead-off single.

This song, co-written by Michael White, only peaked at number 18, however, and the album's other single – the Jamie O'Neal duet "I'm Not Gonna Do Anything Without You", which was also on O'Neal's debut album Shiver – reached number 31.

This album's title track and the late 2002-early 2003 release "19 Somethin'" both reached No. 1; on the Hot Country Songs charts.

Besides these, six more of his singles have reached top 10 on the chart: his debut single "Jacob's Ladder", "Places I've Never Been", "I Do (Cherish You)", "Don't Laugh at Me", "She's in Love", and a cover version of Brian McKnight's "Back at One".

Two songs originally recorded by Wills, "Somebody" and "What Hurts the Most", were later hit singles for Reba McEntire, Jo O'Meara, Rascal Flatts, and Cascada respectively.

After leaving Mercury in 2003, he signed to Equity Music Group and charted three more singles.

Two of these were later included on his sixth studio album, Familiar Stranger, which was released on the Tenacity label in 2008.

Of his albums, Wish You Were Here is the best-selling, with a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

On December 21, 2018, Wills was invited to become the 218th member of the Grand Ole Opry.

He was inducted on January 11, 2019.

Wills was born in Blue Ridge, Georgia.

In his teenaged years, Wills played in garage bands, taking inspiration from rock groups such as Bon Jovi.

During his young adulthood, however, he began to take an interest in country music.

He entered a local talent contest in Marietta, Georgia, at age 17, and after winning the contest, he began to perform locally.

From there, he went to work as a demo singer in Atlanta, Georgia, before doing the same in Nashville, Tennessee.

While in Nashville, he was discovered by record producers Carson Chamberlain and Keith Stegall, who helped him sign to a recording contract with Mercury Records Nashville.