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. 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. 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.
On December 21, 2018, Wills was invited to become the 218th member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted on January 11, 2019.
Early life
Wills was born in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Finishing off the single releases was the number-five "Places I've Never Been". and was repeatedly pushed back due to the poor chart performance of "Take It All Out on Me" and "Days of Thunder." Tenacity Records then acquired the album and released it in 2008, issuing "The Things We Forget" as its third single. After this song came "Entertaining Angels", co-written by Willie Mack. In late 2009, he released then a fifth single, "Crazy White Boy", written by Brett James and Blair Daly. Wills released the compilation album 2nd Time Around in July 2009, which comprises re-recordings of several Mercury singles.
Wills released a new single in January 2011 called "Looking for America", written by Bernie Nelson, Philip Douglas, and Jeremy Bussey. It served as the title track to his 2011 album of the same name, released June 21, 2011, from Big Red Records and Tenacity Records.
He was invited by Vince Gill to become the 218th member of the Grand Ole Opry on December 21, 2018, and was inducted on January 11, 2019
In November 2010, Wills was hospitalized for surgery after his large intestine ruptured. He was told that had he waited any longer to seek medical help, he would have died.
Discography
- 1996: Mark Wills
- 1998: Wish You Were Here
- 2000: Permanently
- 2001: Loving Every Minute
- 2003: And the Crowd Goes Wild
- 2008: Familiar Stranger
- 2011: Looking for America
Awards and nominations
Academy of Country Music Awards
|-
|rowspan=2| 1999
|Mark Wills
|Top New Male Vocalist
|
|-
|"Don't Laugh at Me"
|Song of the Year
|
|-
|2003
|"19 Somethin'"
|Single Record of the Year
|
|}
Country Music Association Awards
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|rowspan=2| 1999
|rowspan=2| "Don't Laugh at Me"
|Single of the Year
|
|-
|Video of the Year
|
|}
Filmography
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;"
! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Film
|-
! Year
! Film
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 2000
| Tom Sawyer
| Huckleberry Finn
| Direct-to-video
|-
|}