Event

Soul'd Out Presents
Michelle Willis
Thu March 2, 2023
( Doors: 7:00 pm ) SHOW: 8:00 pm PST
Jack London Revue
529 SW 4th Ave., Portland, OR
Ages 21 and Up
$20.00 - $150.00

Notes on Seating: The Jack London provides two options for ticket purchasers. Reserved Seating is purchased on a table-by-table basis in the central part of the venue and is only available for select shows. Seating in the General Admission section is limited, first come first served, and may be standing room only.

 

Michelle Willis is a Canadian singer, songwriter and keyboard player based in New York City.

As a kid growing up, singing and playing was a way of communication; a pathway to self expression. “I grew up in the 90s, when the hits on the radio were women like Shawn Colvin, Lauryn Hill, Amanda Marshall, Jann Arden, Whitney Houston, Alanis Morissette, Janet Jackson and Sarah McLachlan. These women dominated my emo-brain. They said how they felt; their songs felt deep, harmonically and lyrically. Their music was a place where all my teenage emotion could live and be perfectly expressed. Around the same time, I was singing Brahms, Mozart and Bach in the choir I sang in with my family, so all that music was circling around in my brain.”

She later grew to learn the vocabulary of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s songwriters, a sound she has grown quite close to given her fixed position in two bands led by David Crosby. After studying jazz in college, she began taking inspiration from heavyweights Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Donny Hathaway, CSNY, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Jimmy Webb and The Beatles.

Since moving to New York, Willis has cemented her place as an in-demand keyboard player and singer, touring and recording with a diverse array of artists such as the aforementioned Crosby, Becca Stevens, Zac Brown Band, Iggy Pop, Laura Mvula and Michael McDonald. 

Willis’ sophomore release, Just One Voice (2022), follows her full length debut, See Us Through (2016). The new album, out now on GroundUp Music, is an ambitious studio record plus a live and filmed concert. It showcases eleven new songs and features guest performances by Crosby, Michael McDonald, Grégoire Maret, Becca Stevens, and Taylor Ashton.

Michelle Willis