Wils (singer)

Willie Tay (born November 27, 1988), also known as Wils is a Singaporean singer, songwriter, and record producer. Wils specializes in soulful pop music and incorporates a unique style that is inspired by the multiple genres of music. Some of his popular songs are Back To Life, Hola, and Hurting.
Wils is regarded as one of the genre's most prolific Singaporean artists. Wils has gained much popularity in the country and is the recipient of the Los Angeles Music Awards Best International Pop Artist Award. He also firmly advocates for rights in the LGBTQ+ community, especially underrepresented Gay Asian individuals.
Wils music is available on his website as well as on all the music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Discogs, and YouTube. He has been featured in several media outlets such as Billboard, Pink News, Yahoo, HuffPost, MSN, Gay Times, South China Morning Post, Los Angles Blade, Out Magazine, New York Times Magazine, and others.
==Early life and education==
Wils was born on November 27, 1988, in Singapore. His mother hails from Taiwan and his father from Singapore. Wils grew up with two elder sisters. From an early age, Wils was passionate about music and composed his own music, along with assisting many other artists with their musical pursuits in writing and composing their music. He was also a vocalist in a 3-man band in his formative years. 
Later, Wils pursued his college education at Monash University. During his last year there, he wrote an essay to his tertiary education professors on why he should complete his last semester at the Hollywood Musicians Institute, a privately-owned, for-profit college of contemporary music in Los Angeles. 
==Career==
Wils has been singing since he was a teenager but was discovered by a music agent in Retiro park on a holiday. He released his first music video Hola which became viral in Spain. Soon Wils started gaining popularity for his songs. Wils met Randy Jackson from American Idol when he was filming his music video "Back to life" in Downtown Los Angeles and became his Protege. Randy also produced and released the single with Wils - What are we waiting for, which topped at #2 on the Swiss dance charts. Wils took Randy Jackson to Taiwan for a press tour about bridging the East and West cultures.
Wils has shown a promising career in music and has performed at several concerts and events including the National Stadium of Singapore at the SG50 concert. He was even featured on the cover of Men's Health magazine, New York Times, and other prolific media outlets.
Wils came out of the closet to his record label, who dropped him for being Gay, losing over 300,000 followers on social media. His debut single, Open up babe, after its release, was featured on Billboard and was backed by thousands of LGBTQ+ members who supported him during this act of inequality.
==Discography==
S.No.	Name 	Year	Type
1 	Open Up Babe 	2019	Single
2 	Empty 	2019	Single
3 	Weirdo 	2019	Single
4 	Don’t Leave Too Soon	2020	Album
5 	This Is It 	2020	Single
6 	Basic Betch 	2020	Single
==Awards==
* Los Angeles music awards Best international pop artist of the year (Asia, Singapore)
==Personal life==
Wils is fluent in English and Chinese. He was a closeted gay man for over eight years. Due to the lack of awareness in the Eastern community regarding the LGBTQ+ community, Wils faced several adversities in accepting himself as a person. Having a strong voice in the community, Wils is dedicated to represent the underrepresented LGBTQ+ individuals and bring equality to this community in Asia.
==In the media==
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==References==
==External links==
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Category:1988 births
Category:Singaporean singers
Category:Singaporean songwriters
Category:Singaporean record producers
Category:Monash University alumni