Billy Newton-Davis
Billy Newton-Davis | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 26, 1951 Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1980–present |
Billy Newton-Davis (born April 26, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States) is an American-Canadian R&B, jazz and gospel singer and songwriter.
Biography
[edit]Newton-Davis grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. He was one of two lead singers in a local soul band called The Illusions. After working as a singer and dancer on Broadway, he moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1980. His debut album, Love Is a Contact Sport, won the Juno Award for best R&B/soul recording in 1986 and included the hits "Deeper", "Right Beside You" and "Find My Way Back".[1]
His 1989 follow up, Spellbound, included his biggest Canadian chart hit, "I Can't Take It", as well as the Celine Dion duet "Can't Live With You, Can't Live Without You" and again won the Juno for best R&B/soul recording.
Newton-Davis subsequently joined The Nylons in 1991. Since leaving the Nylons, he has primarily concentrated on songwriting and live jazz and gospel performances. He also performed vocals on a number of deadmau5 tracks, including "All U Ever Want", and "R My Dreams" from At Play Vol. 2.[2]
In 2008, Newton-Davis won the Juno Award for All You Ever Want as Best Dance Album. Openly gay, his On A Boy's Life (2008) is a "celebration of all the naughty things men can get up to when left to their own devices."[3] Diagnosed HIV-positive in 1986 at the height of his career, he first went public with his status in a documentary by Sylvia Sweeney that aired on Vision TV in 2000.[2]
Discography
[edit]Studio albums
[edit]- Love Is a Contact Sport (1986)
- Spellbound (1989)
Singles
[edit]As lead artist
[edit]- "Romance" (1981)
- "Right Beside You" (1986)
- "Find My Way Back" (1986)
- "Deeper" (1986)
- "Spellbound" (1989)
- "Can't Live with You, Can't Live Without You" (1989) (with Celine Dion)
- "I Can't Take it" (1989)
As featured artist
[edit]- The Boomtang Boys – "The Promised Land" (1995)
- deadmau5 – "Outta My Life" (2007)
- Nino Anthony – "Everything I Wanna Do" (2008)
- deadmau5 – "I Like Your Music" (2008)
- Nino Anthony – "Our House World" (2009)
- deadmau5 – "All You Ever Want" (2009)
- Spekrfreks vs Melleefresh – "Candy" (2010)
References
[edit]- ^ "You oughta Juno: What happened to those artists voted most likely to succeed? Part 2 — 1986 – 1999". National Post, David Berry and Rebecca Tucker | March 14, 2015
- ^ a b "All you'd ever want" Archived March 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Xtra!, September 6, 2012.
- ^ Serafin LaRiviere (November 6 2008), "A lascivious turn for singer Newton-Davis" Archived December 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Xtra!
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1951 births
- 20th-century Black Canadian male singers
- 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- 20th-century Canadian male singers
- 20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters
- 21st-century Black Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- 21st-century Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters
- American emigrants to Canada
- American expatriate musicians in Canada
- Canadian contemporary R&B singers
- Canadian gay musicians
- Canadian gospel singers
- Canadian jazz singers
- Canadian LGBTQ singers
- Canadian LGBTQ songwriters
- Canadian male jazz musicians
- Canadian male singer-songwriters
- Gay singers
- Gay songwriters
- Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year winners
- Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year winners
- LGBTQ people from Ohio
- Living people
- Musicians from Cleveland
- Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
- The Nylons members
- People with HIV/AIDS