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
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
Studio albums
- Love Is a Contact Sport (1986)
- Spellbound (1989)
Singles
As lead artist
- "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
- 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
- ^ "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
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
- 1951 births
- 20th-century Black Canadian male singers
- 20th-century Canadian LGBT people
- 20th-century Canadian male singers
- 20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters
- 21st-century Black Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian LGBT people
- 21st-century Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters
- 21st-century Canadian singers
- American emigrants to Canada
- American expatriate musicians in Canada
- Canadian contemporary R&B singers
- Canadian gay musicians
- Canadian gospel singers
- Canadian jazz singers
- Canadian LGBT singers
- Canadian LGBT 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
- LGBT people from Ohio
- Living people
- Musicians from Cleveland
- Musicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio
- The Nylons members
- People with HIV/AIDS