Mark Wills at Rowdys Webster!

Mark Wills

It was “19(90) Somethin’” when Grand Ole Opry member Mark Wills went
from singing at Atlanta’s infamous Buckboard to releasing his first of 19 Billboardcharting
singles across seven albums. While climbing his musical ‘ladder,’ he has
recorded Gold and Platinum albums and released some of the most enduring and
recognizable Country Music hits of the last 25 Years.
“Wish You Were Here,” “Jacob’s Ladder” and “I Do (Cherish You)” cemented
his country status in the late ’90s and at the ‘dawning of a new decade’ in the early
’00s. “Jacob’s Ladder” was released via Mercury Nashville in May 1996 as Wills’
debut single, and it became the singer’s first of eight Top 10 hits. His debut selftitled
album followed “full of rambunctious good-time songs teeming with sly wit
and bittersweet ballads — all in a baritone that throbs with emotion” per
Entertainment Weekly. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart Top 5 hits: “Places I’ve
Never Been,” “I Do (Cherish You),” “Don’t Laugh at Me,” and No. 1 single “Wish You
Were Here” hit the airwaves between 1997-1999. Fittingly, Wills’ early chart success
earned him an Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Male Vocalist in
1998. One of his biggest hits to date is the RIAA Gold-certified “19 Somethin’” – a sixweek
No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
In 2022, Mark rerecorded and released his hit “Don’t Laugh at Me” with the
acapella recording group, Home Free featuring Mark’s daughter, Macey. In
conjunction with this release, a new music video was filmed staring 21 Pineapples’
Nate Smith and JennaLee Wasserman earning the collaborators 3 Gold Telly
Awards.
He also has taken more than a dozen trips to entertain U.S. troops in Iraq,
Kuwait, Afghanistan, Korea, and Italy. Wills continues to hit the road with his highenergy
show full of hits that were the soundtrack to so many people’s lives.