Billy Gilman
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| Billy Gilman | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Wendell Gilman III |
| Born | May 24, 1988 |
| Origin | Hope Valley, Rhode Island, United States |
| Genre(s) | Country |
| Occupation(s) | former child singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 2000-2001 |
| Label(s) | Unsigned |
| Website | Official site |
Billy Gilman (born William Wendell Gilman III, May 24, 1988) is a former American child country music singer-songwriter. In 2000, he debuted with the single "One Voice", a Top 20 hit on the Billboard country music charts; twelve years old at the time of the single's release, he became the youngest singer to chart a Top 40 hit on the country music charts. An album of the same name was released later that year, and was certified platinum in the United States.
Although he has not charted a single since 2001, Gilman has continued to record; his most recent, a self-titled disc, was released in 2006.
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[edit] Biography
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Born in Westerly, Rhode Island, he now lives in Hope Valley, Rhode Island with his parents Bill and Fran Gilman and his younger brother Colin.
At 8, he attracted the attention of a local vocal coach, Angela Bacari, who later became his manager. He met and worked with Ray Benson (of Asleep at the Wheel) who helped record demos, including "Roly Poly". He was then signed to Sony Music Nashville. Shortly before his debut album was released, Billy sang "Roly Poly" with Asleep at the Wheel at the ACM awards on May 8, 2000. This was Billy's first televised performance. The performance earned Billy a standing ovation.
Billy's first single, One Voice was released on May 20, 2000 and quickly rose to #1 on the Billboard Country Singles Sales Chart, staying there for 5 weeks.
On June 20, 2000, Billy's debut album, also named One Voice was released. When the album was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 19, Billy became youngest country artist ever to accomplish this. On September 12, One Voice album received Platinum certification making him the youngest solo artist of any music genre to achieve this. The album was eventually certified double-platinum status and earned Gilman a Grammy nomination. In January 2001, he was voted the American Music Awards' favorite new country artist, becoming the youngest contender to ever win that prize. He was also given entry into Guinness Book of World Records for being the youngest singer to reach #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, eclipsing the record set by 1960's star Brenda Lee. [1]
Gilman released a Christmas album in 2000 titled Classic Christmas which was certified Gold by the RIAA. By the end of the year, Billy was selling 65,000 albums per week.
In 2001, Billy released his third album Dare to Dream which was certified Gold by the RIAA. Since then he has released 3 more albums including one based on the poems of Mattie Stepanek, a 13-year old boy with Muscular Dystrophy. Because of puberty, at age 14 Billy was put on vocal rest when his voice began changing.
Gilman has appeared on various talk shows, such as The Oprah Winfrey Show as well as performing at the opening ceremonies of the 2006 International Career Development Conference in Dallas, TX, the 2007 ICDC in Orlando, FL & the 2008 ICDC in Atlanta, GA. Both conferences were held by the DECA high school marketing education club. He also performed at a benefit for The Station nightclub fire.
He is the national youth chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and is on the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Telethon every year as a co-host.
Now, he's starting to write his own songs, and the first song is called "This Time", other songs also include "D@mn" and "I've Changed"
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | RIAA | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US 200 | US Indie | |||
| 2000 | One Voice | 1 | 22 | 2× Multi-Platinum | |
| Classic Christmas | 4 | 42 | Gold | ||
| 2001 | Dare to Dream | 6 | 45 | Gold | |
| 2003 | Music Through Heartsongs: Songs Based on the Poems of Mattie J.T. Stepanek |
15 | 109 | ||
| 2005 | Everything and More | 39 | 17 | ||
| 2006 | Billy Gilman | 55 | 29 | ||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Hot 100 | US AC | |||
| 2000 | "One Voice" | 20 | 38 | 29 | One Voice |
| "Warm and Fuzzy" | 50 | Classic Christmas | |||
| 2001 | "Oklahoma" | 33 | 63 | One Voice | |
| "There's a Hero"A | |||||
| "She's My Girl" | 50 | Dare to Dream | |||
| "Elisabeth" | 56 | ||||
| 2005 | "Everything and More"A | Everything and More | |||
| "Hey, Little Suzie (The Cause of All That)"A | |||||
| 2006 | "Gonna Find Love"A | Billy Gilman | |||
| "Southern Star"A | |||||
| 2007 | "Crying"A | TBD | |||
| 2008 | "When You Come Home"A | ||||
- A Failed to chart.
