Wesley Willis

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Wesley playin' the keys

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Biography

Wesley Willis (May 31, 1963 – August 21, 2003) was a 6-foot-6-inch tall, 350 lb. African-American musician from Chicago, Illinois and a diagnosed schizophrenic who gained a rather large underground following in the 1990s after releasing several hundred songs of bizarre and simplistic music which became internet phenomena during the early days of P2P file sharing.

Willis and his siblings spent most of their childhoods in various foster homes. In 1989, Willis began hearing “demon voices” and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He often mentioned that his demons were named “Heartbreaker,” “Nervewrecker,” and “Meansucker”. He called his psychotic episodes “hell rides”. Alternatively, rock-and-roll was “the joy ride music” and Willis often indicated that listening to and performing music helped him battle the voices.

In the early 1990s, Willis became creatively active, selling marker drawings of the Chicago cityscape on the street. Some of the drawings would later appear on the covers of his albums. In 1992, Willis joined musicians from the city’s alternative rock scene to form the hard rock band, The Wesley Willis Fiasco, which produced such future file sharing favorites as “Jesus is the Answer” and “Casper the Homosexual Friendly Ghost”. Although few took him seriously, Willis created a buzz in the Chicago music scene and soon caught the attention of American Recordings, a major record label.
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  • MadThespian

    Wesley Willis is now the half brother of Wonder Woman. Rock on Gotham! Rock over Metropolis! LexCorp, we make life better. http://www.comicsalliance.com/2013/01/31/wonder-woman-comic-wesley-willis-azzarello-chiang/

    Yesterday 2:15am Reply

  • Munckeyz

    wesley you wonderful madman. r.i.p.

    4 May 3:47pm Reply

  • Sosen

    Dinosaur Comics owes a great debt to Wesley Willis.

    7 Apr 5:21am Reply

  • Sosen

    Don't kill people you don't know! Don't shoot them with guns!

    7 Apr 5:16am Reply

  • acclamationsun

    My favorite Wesley song - It has "lick" and "bulldog" in the title. Definitely his most "metal" song.

    22 Mar 5:34pm Reply

  • acclamationsun

    Thanks to The Phroo for introducing me to Wesley - I still am wishing you the best Drew. -Joe

    22 Mar 5:32pm Reply

  • acclamationsun

    Wesley's best two albums - Metal Clink Punishment Jail and Dead End Street. Very inspired and great beats.

    22 Mar 5:32pm Reply

  • acclamationsun

    The most interesting music of Wesley's was between 1998 and 2000, for a while he was a bit new wave or acid rock.

    22 Mar 5:31pm Reply

  • acclamationsun

    Yes can you please put a full discography on the torrent sites

    22 Mar 5:30pm Reply

  • nemu_no_mune

    Sad that Ford Windstar is not on Spotify. :(

    27 Feb 6:08am Reply

  • Chirurg666

    My life got infinitely better when I started listening to Wesley.

    5 Feb 6:33pm Reply

  • LiamEBM

    Brought here by GameGrumps

    19 Jan 4:18pm Reply

  • HouseOfAsh

    McDonalds hamburgers are the worst They are worse than Burger King A Big Mac has 26 grams of fat A Quarter Pounder has 28 grams of fat ROCK AND RO' McDOH-NO'S! ROCK AND RO' McDOH-NO'S! ROCK AND RO' McDOH-NO'S! ROCK AND RO' McDOH-NO'S!

    15 Jan 1:41am Reply

  • NurVerzweiflung

    Jump into your hotrod and hit the road asshole.

    6 Jan 8:21am Reply

  • danmarzella24

    His music is god awful, but for some reason I can't stop listening to it right now. It's oddly hypnotizing.

    7 Nov 2012 Reply

  • Leonardo4lan

    carinho

    6 Nov 2012 Reply

  • brewpunk74

    It was an honor to head-butt Wesley on his final tour. Rest in piece, my brother... no more hellrides.

    13 Oct 2012 Reply

  • NurVerzweiflung

    Genius.

    25 Sep 2012 Reply

  • amijayt

    The world of Wesley Willis is intriguing, disturbing, fascinating, sometimes infuriating, hilarious, and inspirational, and I'm damn glad to be a part of it.

    12 Sep 2012 Reply

  • UncleDavenage

    You are a good friend of mine. You are a good person to the max.

    24 Jul 2012 Reply
    • All 365 shouts

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