Will Champlin

Will is indeed one to keep an ear on -- great vocals, keyboards, guitar work and stage presence with a humble spirit - Nashville Blend

Ask keyboardist and vocalist Will Champlin where he gets his inspiration, and he will answer, "It's in the blood." - Berklee Press

Second runner-up on season 5 of NBC’s The Voice Will Champlin is the first of the top three to release an album, and Borrowing Trouble exceeds any expectations that anyone may have had for a contestant who was stolen twice and needed the coach to save him at the beginning of the live rounds. With a successful career in songwriting (he won a Grammy in 2010) and the help of Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine coaching him through his journey, Champlin has released a commendable breakout album (he has two pre-Voice works) that deserves to to be recognized as more than a pop-rock album from a reality singing competition show.

The album starts off with the attention-grabbing current single “Eye of the Pyramid” (which I will get into later) followed by the country-rock-meets-Bollywood fusion title track. The next few tracks (“While You’re Young”, “Last Man Standing” and “Freezing Time”) are very much generic attempts at a radio-friendly pop-rock song, which causes them to be less memorable than the remainder of the album.

After the three weak link tracks, the songs only grow in genre-bending instrumentation and vocal ability. “One Shot” is a funk and blues-infused bar anthem you can dance to but is still far away from the cookie-cut pop-rock that you would assume his style to be, while “No Fair Game” dances around classic rock-style guitar riffs and harmonies. “Wasteland” is a pure-voiced song about an ongoing journey (most likely about his own personal musical journey) and it’s ironically followed by the sexiest song on the album, “Heat of Passion”. The emotional and piano-focused “Breathe” wraps up the album.

Almost all of the songs on Borrowed Trouble – minus two or three – are easy contenders for spotlight tracks and narrowing them down to the three that will be mentioned was a difficult process. “Eye of the Pyramid”, “Surgical Rewind” and “Diamond in the Fire” are all instrumentally and lyrically stimulating, and in each one Champlin showcases his impressive vocal versatility.

“Eye of the Pyramid” absolutely proves that he wants to be taken seriously as an artist. He plays around with his vocals in a way that gives the listener the idea to adapt to any style of music that’s thrown at him without being showoff-y. Hard drums with rhythmic guitars and a hint of organs give this anti-consumerism track an Imagine Dragons kind of feel to it while his voice almost takes the place of the guitars, acapella style. I wouldn’t be surpassed if this song gets featured in some big action flick.

“Surgical Rewind” is a contender because the fact that Champlin can practically match his Voice coach’s high range at each chorus is pretty damn impressive. There’s not a doubt in my mind that this particular track, with its Awolnation-esque quirk to its music, will become a future radio hit. “Diamond in the Fire” is another epically instrumented track that blends electric guitars and keyboards with strong drums and slight horns and strings without feeling musically cluttered. He goes reggae for a small moment, but then his voice reaches skyrocketing heights at the very end.

Honestly, I had low expectations for Borrowing Trouble purely based on his first released single “Last Man Standing” – it wasn’t necessarily the strongest track to start off your new career with. But the entire album proved to me, and probably other skeptics, that Will Champlin will dip his feet into pretty much any type of song and is willing to push his vocal talent to out-of-this-world heights. While it’s a shame it took him this long to finally get somewhere, this album is the product of years and years of never giving up. I can definitely see him reuniting with his coach Adam Levine on a tour in the very near future (#WillAndAdamDuet). An overall diamond in the rough that shouldn’t be looked over. - Heather Allen

On the flip side, Will Champlin from Adam Levine‘s team gets a gold star for his rendition of Etta James‘ “At Last,” an unusual choice for a male contestant that worked because he sounded rather feminine. In fact, for the first few lines you probably wouldn’t have guessed it was a guy. (Sorry, dude.) But the ballsy move (see what we did there) paid off in spades, as he hit every note and soared into the top 10 on the iTunes chart, ensuring his safety and putting him in the lead. For the time being, at least. - KATY KROLL

Will Champlin carries on his father's musical legacy with impressive artistry
NBC/YouTube
Will Champlin has music in his blood, literally. He's the only son of multiple Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bill Champlin, of the band Chicago and singer of the theme to the long-running TV series "In the Heat of the Night." Will also graduated from Berklee College of Music, the prestigious institution that counts Quincy Jones, Gavin DeGraw and Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine among its alumni.

But while he might possess the perfect pedigree for a musician, the younger Champlin has never coasted in his search for success. In his early career, he worked alongside a number of notable collaborators. He was the pianist on Michael Jackson's "(I Like) The Way You Love Me," released as the fourth single from the King of Pop's posthumous album Michael. As a songwriter, he co-wrote the track "Ordinary Me," which appeared on Heather Headley's Grammy-winning record Audience of One.

Everything exploded for Champlin when he appeared in season five of NBC's "The Voice" in the fall of 2013. His audition impressed three of the show's celebrity coaches, and opted to join the team led by Maroon 5's Adam Levine; he became the first artist in the show's history to be double stolen, when Christina Aguilera saved him from elimination in the first battle rounds and Levine picked him up a second time during the following battles. With his moving performances - including a showstopping rendition of the Etta James classic "At Last" - Will was the surprise contender of the season, and the public voted him all the way through to a third-place finish.

In the year since his reality TV experience, Champlin has finally enjoyed the larger exposure that he has always deserved. He independently released the album Borrowing Trouble in June 2014, performing the record's second single "Eye of the Pyramid" on "The Voice" stage to a national television audience; the record cracked the top 30 on the iTunes pop charts. In the summer of 2014, he participated in "The Voice Tour" with fellow season five finalists Tessanne Chin and Jacquie Lee.

Far from a reality show wonder, Will Champlin has used the platform of television to charge ahead with bringing his unique, techno-infused rock sound to audiences both in his native Southern California and around the country. His combination of musicanship and songwriting skill is not to be missed. To find out when and where he'll be playing near you, keep up with Will Champlin at AXS. - Brittany Frederick

Some artists find the constant glow of a collective audience’s cell phones annoying.

For Will Champlin, it’s “bring ’em on.”

“A lot of young people that know technology, all are on their phones filming you, streaming you and putting you on Instagram and Facebook,” reasons Champlin. “If 20 people are doing it, you’re going to make a big splash. If 20 people do that for a whole week of gigs, you’ll gain more music lovers.”

Champlin, 34, had a momentary break last week, hanging out in Houston before hitting the road for a handful of gigs opening with Joan “What if God Was One of Us?” Osborne. He hits Vallejo on Nov. 11, performing at the Empress Theatre as the opener for Davey Pattison and The 7th Sons.

Though Champlin has released three CDs — most recently, “Borrowing Trouble” in 2014 — he frets that he’s still leashed to his third-place finish on “The Voice” that same year. And, before that, it was always “son of Bill Champlin,” the rock icon and former Chicago multiple Grammy winner.

Though, inevitably, he’ll always be a star’s son, it would be nice to scratch off some of “The Voice” as his main introduction.

“I can’t seem to get rid of that,” Champlin said by phone. “Maybe I’ll have to change my stage name. But I’d lose a lot of followers.”

Hopefully, an upcoming album “will make a difference and overshadow the other stuff,” Champlin said. “Maybe it’ll have a life of its own and erase that association. Right now, I’m focused on finishing this product.”

A graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Champlin’s songwriting talents have been acknowledged years before he made his way into 15 million homes on “The Voice.” Credits include two Grammys for “Audience of One,” a 2010 gospel tune for Heather Headley.

Though writing may take patience, that’s one thing Champlin said he’s a bit short of these days.

“I’m 10 times more impatient” than earlier in his career, he said. “It’s ‘now-or-never’ type of thing. I have zero patience. And fans have no patience. They want to hear new stuff. So I’ve got to finish and get it out.”

Opening for a high profile artist such as Osborne is one way of gaining a few more rungs on the recognition ladder, Champlin said.

“I hope to make new fans I didn’t have before out of people and sell a lot of CDs,” he said. “You hope to get on their radar and hear what you have coming out. That’s what I hope to gain — new, loyal fans.”


As helpful as “The Voice” may have been a few years ago, “a large percentage associate you with the show. You’re ‘that guy.’ They don’t know your name,” Champlin said. “Their attention span is not on you. It’s on the show. What I’m doing now is getting people’s attention for what I’m bringing to the ball game and hopefully wow them with my guitar-playing.”

As much as Champlin’s passion is song writing and performing, he says the two are “a whole different animal.”

“Song writing and composing is all done at the desk. You don’t have an audience in front of you. Performance is all about giving them the song and the whole content of the song.”

Champlin has upped his YouTube exposure — 2.9 million views worth — covering Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” with Kurt Schneider. Champlin also has a YouTube of Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill,” with Champlin playing guitar, keyboard and drums.

Champlin said he can put as much emotional into a cover as an original by recreating the tune “with a different feel, different take, different instrumentation, different type of riff. Then it’s easier for me to play it,” said Champlin, who also paid tribute to the late Tom Petty with a video of Petty’s somewhat obscure “Angel Dream.”

“It wasn’t his most popular song. I looked for some rare stuff,” Champlin said. “I found it and thought, ‘This is cool. This is the one.’”

Will Champlin opens for The 7th Sons, Saturday, Nov. 11, 8 p.m., Empress Theatre, 330 Virginia St., Vallejo. $20 online, $25 box office and phone. For more visit, empresstheatre.org or willchamplin.com. - Richard Freedman