Will Wheaton

While not a household name by any means, Will Wheaton has over the past decade established a reputation in the music industry as a fantastic deep-voiced singer and a talented artist. His baritone has graced the work of such artists as Natalie Cole, Kenny Loggins, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder, and he has written songs for Will Downing, Earth Wind & Fire and the Manhattans, among others.

Born in Mississippi and raised in L.A. as the child of Gospel singer Juanita Wheaton, Will began singing as a child and studied music as a teenager. He made his first national mark as the winner of Dick Clark's talent contest, the USA Music Challenge, in 1992.  He then signed with super-producer David Foster's 1995 group project Next Millennium.  Foster became a mentor for Wheaton, and soon Wheaton worked on a number of Foster projects as a backing vocalist and became a sought-after singer for commercials.

Wheaton released his debut album, Consenting Adultz, in 1999.  It received some attention in indie soul circles as the kind of romantic album usually expected from Barry White and won a small, mostly female, audience for Wheaton. 

In the Summer of 2005, Wheaton released his sophomore disc, Old School Soul.  He also appeared singing backing vocals on the long-awaited Stevie Wonder album, A Time 2 Love.

By Chris Rizik