Wednesday, July 25th, 2007  |  NO COMMENTS

Willis set to release first full-length CD

From singing at church to opening for opening for the Stylistics, singer Wanda Ray Willis has a versatile voice.

That versatility, she says, is reflected on her new CD, Here I Am.

The CD, her first full album, is a mix of songs – from calypso style rhythms to jazz melodies.

Willis is the daughter of Barbara and Eldon Raynor. Born in Bermuda, she began singing while she was a young girl attending Vernon Temple AME Church.

She fell in love with singing and continued to perform onstage, opening for acts at the Rosebank Theatre and Clay House Inn.

She also aspired to be an actor and left Bermuda in 1989.

She worked as a teacher in the U.S. for ten years, then decided to work as an actor and singer full time.

Since then, she’s been and extra in several movies, including Dreamgirls, and has had parts in TV shows including General Hospital. She also opened for the Stylistics at the Bermuda Music Festival last year, and performed at the New Year’s Eve Extravaganza at the Fairmont Southampton.

Right now, she is concentrating on her album. Living in LA, she just finished Here I Am – the CD release party will be at the G Spot in Greg’s Steakhouse on Wednesday, August 1 from 7pm to 11pm.

This will be a double release party with artist Marcus Dagan also issuing his CD, Bermuda Sessions at the same time.

There are 13 tracks on Willis’ CD – 11 of them are written by her while two are cover songs: Let’s Stay Together by Al Green and Now and Forever by Carole King.

One song, While We Are Waiting, came to Willis while she was watching the World Cup Match where Bermuda played Bangladesh earlier this year.

She describes the song as a Cup Match/cricket song.

“The lyrics are about the cricket game and Cup Match is used in the lyrics as well. I am so proud that Bermuda is the only country in the world, that I know of, that celebrates the emancipation from slavery with a two-day holiday,” she said.

Willis released a two-track album in the late 1980s on Peach Tree Records, but says that her newest album shows her growth as a singer.

She collaborates with several other artists on the CD as well, including her brother, Eldon Raynor, Jr.

“There’s a variety of material on the CD. There’s jazz, some R&B, some dance and it even has some island music, calypso-type music,” she said. “You can snap your fingers to it, you can dance to it, you can cuddle with someone if you want or they can get rowdy and do a little dance. It’s versatile material.

“The music and the lyrics are really awesome. There’s a lot of meaning to the lyrics and you have these different flavours to the CD.”

Here I Am also includes her single, Why do the Children Have to Cry. “People really love that sing as well, ” she said.

Just because the album is completed, it doesn’t mean Willis is done. She’s already started work on her next album and is in the process of writing songs for that.

Source: Bermuda Sun

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