Will Downing is a singer-songwriter and producer. Downing is known in the contemporary jazz and R&B music genres for his rich baritone vocals, and his interpretations of R&B and pop classics that stretch back to the early 1980's.
Downing was born in November, 1963 in Brooklyn, NY. Downing enrolled in Erasmus Hall High School and attended college at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. In the mid-1980s he moved back to New York City, and worked on albums by Jennifer Holiday, Kool & the Gang, Gerald Albright, Billy Ocean, Regina Belle and Mica Paris. In 1988, Downing signed a recording contract with 4th & Broadway Records, and his first solo album, Will Downing, was released that same year. Downing's release in 1993, Love's the Place to Be, scored his best-selling album to date with about 235,000 copies sold in the United States and over 300,000 copies in the UK.
In December 2006, Downing suffered from polymyositis. Despite the debilitating aspects of the disease, he worked towards releasing a new album in 2010. Love, Lust, & Lies: An Audio Novel was released in September that year. Beyond performing, Downing is a spokesperson for the American Stroke Association.