Willy William

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Willy William is a French DJ, producer and rapper, born in Fréjus in 1981. His father comes from Guadeloupe and his mother from Eritrea. He grew up in Champagné, in the Sarthe department. In 2003 he made his name with the club hit B Boyz Shake da Body, made with DJ Flex. In 2004 he produced Tragedie under the name Lord William. He then joined the French collective Collectif Métissé, which scored summer hits with cheerful, melodic songs, and made work of his own.

Music and breakthrough

William collaborated with many artists, as a producer and as a guest vocalist. He made the charts with DJ Assad, Les Jumo, Keen'V and Ridsa. His big French hit came in 2015 or 2016 with Ego, produced and sung by himself, the main single from the album Une seule vie. Ego reached the charts of France, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Poland, among others, and in the Netherlands reached number four in the Top 40.

Influence

In 2017 he became internationally known with Mi Gente, a collaboration with the Colombian star J Balvin. A version with Beyoncé followed. The song won a Latin Billboard Music Award and in 2018 an MTV Video Music Award for best Latin video, and spent twelve weeks at number one on Spotify's global chart. In 2018 he also co-wrote and sang on Goodbye by David Guetta and Jason Derulo with Nicki Minaj. Willy William showed that a French club producer with a Latin American sound could reach the whole world.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2016Une seule vie