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To immediately listen to this month's Top Five vocalists, please Click Here Mark David Williams Named December “Best Vocalist Of The Month” With His Christmas SongBy Dale Kawashima Mark David Williams, an excellent Christian/pop vocalist & songwriter based in Minneapolis, MN, has won the December SingerUniverse “Best Vocalist Of The Month” Competition, for his performance of his song, “Christmas Is Only Christmas With You” (co-written by Matthew Garinger). This song is featured on his new CD release, Christmas This Year, which is a combination of original material and holiday standards.
“Christmas Is Only Christmas With You” is a beautiful ballad, and it’s a terrific showcase for Williams’ expressive, wide-ranging vocals. Williams (whose vocal style is in the pop/AC vein of Clay Aiken) sings with passion and emotion, and the song’s arrangement builds toward a soaring climax. This recording was expertly produced by Dennis Dearing & Kevin Stokes, and it includes a dramatic string arrangement by Gary Smith. Williams was born and raised in the Minneapolis area, and he started singing at an early age. He sang in a first grade talent show, and when he was 12, his teacher recommended him for the Metropolitan Boys Choir. Williams joined the choir for four years, which toured nationally and internationally. For college, Williams first attended Northwestern University in Chicago, then transferred to Belmont University in Nashville, where he graduated with a degree in Commercial Music (studying all styles of music). Williams subsequently moved to Houston, TX, where he joined a gospel trio called The Sound, which toured throughout the South. He then moved back to Minneapolis, where he began writing and recording songs for his first CD, Reality. In 2001, Williams returned to Nashville with the intention of forming a new group. However, he was critically injured (suffering 21 major fractures) in a car crash, when he was hit head-on by a drunk driver. “I was in a hospital for 64 days, and then in therapy for 10 months,” recalled Williams. “It was a traumatic period for me, but during my recovery, I had time to refine my songs, and get my voice strong again.”
By the following year, Williams was back recording his next CD, Bless The Day, which was released in September 2003. This album sold 5,000 units, and it established Williams as a CCM (Contemporary Christian) artist to watch. Another highlight came soon after, when he won a highly-publicized (throughout Minnesota) talent competition modeled after American Idol, where TV viewers voted him the winner. For his main prize, Williams won a recording contract with hit producer Bobby Z (who was also the drummer in Prince & the Revolution). Then another happy event took place in January 2005. Williams’ wife Leah became pregnant with twins, and to celebrate this event, Williams wrote “Christmas Is Only Christmas With You” for her. Now with the release in November of Christmas With You, and the birth of twins (a boy and girl), Williams is experiencing a hectic but joyful year. “It’s wonderful being a father – I feel very blessed,” he said. “Things are very busy with my music career, too. I have many concerts coming up, and I will be promoting both Christmas This Year and Bless The Day. I will also be releasing a DVD next fall, of a Christmas concert we recently performed in a huge auditorium.”
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