Will Downing und Chrisette Michele

Will Downing was born Wilfred Downing on 29 November, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He studied as a music producer in a school whose alumni included Kedar Massenburg, the president of Motown, and Barbara Streisand. Downing graduated in 1981 and went on to later record for the music company, Motown.

Downing has enjoyed enormous success throughout his music career. He has worked on albums by a number of highly acclaimed artists, including Jennifer Holiday, Kool & the Gang, Gerald Albright, Billy Ocean, Regina Belle and Mica Paris. His discography consists of a staggering 23 albums, which are a mix of R&B and Jazz and were all released by several different record labels. In 2002, Downing received the International Association of African-American Music Diamond Award and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2000. Some of his most well-known songs include is 1991 hit ‘I Try’, ‘A Million Ways’, ‘A Love Supreme’, ‘Wishing on a Star’, ‘Free’, ‘After Tonight’ and ‘You Were Just Meant For Me’, amongst many many others.

Artists that he is often compared to or can be thought of a similar to include Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Osborne, Freddie Jackson, Keith Washington and Phil Perry.

He has produced a steady stream of music from the early 80s right up to today, despite suffering from polymyositis.

Chrisette Michele developed her wonderful talent through singing gospel songs with her church congregation, starting at just four years old. The church was a very important part of Michele's upbringing, as her dad was the organist and deacon, with her mother directing the church choir.

At the age of seventeen, Michele moved away from gospel, having listened to Brazilian jazz vocalist, Astrud Gilberto, in the song "The Girl From Ipanema." She then dedicated herself to learning jazz standards by the jazz greats, emulating Bille Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole.

Michele began doing small gigs and open mics, through which she was spotted by neo-soul singer India Arie, who invited her to be her opening act. Def Jam representatives had also began to take note of Michele's extraordinary voice, siging her to their label in 2006. From there, she went on to feature in recordings by Jay Z and Nas, in the "Lost Ones" and "Can't Forget About You" respectively.

In 2007, she released her debut album, "I Am," which established her talent in he world of R & B, with her delightful blend of gospel, pop and hip hop influences assisted by production skills of Babyface, Salaam Remi and John Legend. The album was received well but it was her second album, "Epiphany" in 2009 that really cemented her prowess in the contemporary music scene, topping the R & B and Billboard 200 charts.

Her 2010 album, "Let Freedom Reign," produced entirely by Harmony, also charted well, reaching number 25 on the US Billboard 200. This was followed by 2013's "Better," which was released on Motown records. The album reached number 12 on the US Billboard 200, selling 27,000 copies in its first week.