Will Champlin Explained

William Christopher Champlin (born April 24, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his appearance on Season 5 of the NBC singing competition The Voice as part of Adam Levine's team. He finished in third place behind Jacquie Lee, the runner-up, and Tessanne Chin, the winner of the season.^[1]

Career

Before his participation on The Voice, Champlin reached some success as a songwriter. He collaborated with Michael Caruso and provided backing vocals for Ace Young's self-titled album, and also played piano on Michael Jackson's posthumous compilation album Michael, on the song "(I Like) The Way You Love Me". He was nominated in the Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album category, for co-writing "Ordinary Me", which appears on Heather Headley's album Audience of One. Audience of One was awarded the 2010 Grammy in its category.^[2]

He is now the lead singer of the gritty rock band Valley of Wolves.^[3] They made their debut in 2018 with the release of the Album 'Out for Blood'. In 2019 they released 'Take it All' and in 2021 'Outlaws' was released.

The Voice

On the fourth episode of the Blind Auditions broadcast on October 1, 2013, he performed Gavin DeGraw's song "Not Over You". Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton turned their chairs but he opted to join Adam Levine.^{[4] [5]}

In the Battle Rounds, Wolpert won, and Champlin was stolen by Aguilera. In the Knockout Rounds, Schuler won, and Champlin was then stolen back from Aguilera by Levine.

– Studio version of performance reached the top 10 on iTunes

Stage	Song	Original Artist	Date	Order	Result
Blind Audition	"Not Over You"	Gavin DeGraw	October 1, 2013	4.1	Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton turned Joined Team Adam
Battle Rounds	"Radioactive" (vs. James Wolpert)	Imagine Dragons	October 21, 2013	9.6	Defeated Stolen by Christina Aguilera
Knockout Rounds	"When I Was Your Man" (vs. Matthew Schuler)	Bruno Mars	October 29, 2013	12.8	Defeated Stolen by Adam Levine
Live Playoffs	"Secrets"	OneRepublic	November 4, 2013	13.7	Saved by Coach
Live Top 12	"Demons"	Imagine Dragons	November 11, 2013	16.12	Saved by Public Vote
Live Top 10	"Love Me Again"	John Newman	November 18, 2013	18.3	Saved by Public Vote
Live Top 8	"At Last"	Glenn Miller and his orchestra, with vocals by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday	November 25, 2013	20.6	Saved by Public Vote
Live Top 6	"A Change Is Gonna Come"	Sam Cooke	December 2, 2013	22.4	Saved by Public Vote
	"Hey Brother"	Avicii		22.10
Live Top 5 (Semi-finals)	"Carry On"	Fun	December 9, 2013	24.2	Saved by Public Vote
Live Finale	"Not Over You"	Gavin DeGraw	December 16, 2013	26.2	Third place
	"Tiny Dancer" (with Adam Levine)	Elton John		26.6
	"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You"	Bryan Adams		26.8

Personal life

Champlin was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.^[6] He is the youngest son of Bill Champlin, former member of Chicago, and Tamara Champlin. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.^[7] He has one daughter, Harper.^[8]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [9]
Will Champlin	Release: January 10, 2008 Label: Goldmine Records Formats: Digital download	—
Borrowing Trouble	Release: June 21, 2014 Label: Independent Formats: CD, digital download	—

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions		Album
		US	CAN
"Last Man Standing"	2014	—	—	Borrowing Trouble
"Eye of the Pyramid"		—	—
"Picasso in My Pocket"	2018	—	—	Picasso in My Pocket

Releases from The Voice

Single	Year	Peak chart positions
		US	CAN
"At Last"	2013	83	73
"Carry On"		—	97
"—" denotes items which failed to chart.

External links

• Will Champlin on Twitter
• Will Champlin Interview – NAMM Oral History Library (2016)

Notes and References

1. Web site: 'The Voice' Finalist Will Champlin Felt 'Vindicated' By Third-Place Finish. https://web.archive.org/web/20131219155536/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1719354/the-voice-will-champlin-third-place-finish.jhtml. dead. December 19, 2013. MTV. Viacom. March 1, 2014. Sophie Schillaci. Natasha Chandel . December 18, 2013.
2. Web site: Will Champlin: The Reader's Digest Version of My Life . December 26, 2013 . March 6, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160306094019/http://willchamplin.com/the_readers_digest_version_of_my_life . dead .
3. Web site: Leiber. Sarah Jae. Valley of Wolves Release Their New Album 'Outlaws'. 2021-09-21. BroadwayWorld.com. en.
4. Web site: Will Champlin: "Not Over You". The Voice – Blind Auditions, Season 5. NBCUniversal. March 1, 2014. October 9, 2013.
5. Arellano. Jennifer. 'The Voice' recap: Second Time's A Charm. Entertainment Weekly. CNN. March 1, 2014. October 2, 2013. WILL CHAMPLIN, 30, of California, is the son of Chicago member Bill Champlin..
6. Web site: Will Champlin About W.C.. Will Champlin.
7. Web site: Nashville Notes. Alumni, Berklee Today. Kirschbaum. Megan. Berklee College of Music. Among the fresh faces in our Nashville Alumni Chapter are Ashley Farrell '05, Will Champlin '05... 2006.
8. News: Liberatore. Paul. 'Marin's love child' Will Champlin in top eight on 'The Voice'. March 1, 2014. Marin Independent Journal. November 21, 2013. Marin County, CA. November 27, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141127111807/http://www.marinij.com/lifestyles/ci_24574037/lib-at-large-marin-love-child-will-champlin. dead.
9. Web site: [{{BillboardURLbyName|artist=karmin|chart=Billboard 200}} Billboard Top 200 Albums for week ending May 26, 2012 ]. Billboard. May 17, 2012.