Nicole Willis facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Daniele Willis
Daniele Willis fka Nicole Willis, Charmed Life 1997
Born	Nicole Daniele Willis 1963 (age 61–62) New York City
Occupation	scriptwriter / director / visual & sound artist / singer / songwriter / producer / vocal coach & mentor / A&R
Years active	1983–present
Children	Phoebe Lehto, Astrid Lehto
Musical career
Origin	New York City

Daniele Nicole E. Willis, also known as Nicole Willis or Daniele Willis, is an American artist, writer, singer, and director. She was born in 1963 and now lives and works in Helsinki, Finland.

About Daniele Willis

Early Music Career

Daniele Willis started her music career in the 1980s. She sang with different groups in New York City and London.

She became the main singer for the neo soul band Repercussions. Their songs and albums were released by big record labels. Their song Promise Me Nothing reached number 6 on a Billboard chart in 1995. The band also recorded a song called Let's Do It Again with the famous singer Curtis Mayfield in 1994.

In 1999, Willis worked with the electronic music group Leftfield. She sang and wrote the main vocals for their song "Swords". This song was on their album Rhythm and Stealth, which sold very well in the United Kingdom. It was also featured in the movie Go.

Art and Exhibitions

After moving to Finland, Willis studied fine arts from 2005 to 2009. She became a visual artist.

She worked with artist Sophie Calle on an art project called Take Care Of Yourself in 2007. This project was shown at a big art event called the Venice Biennale. Willis also contributed to a performance art piece called Rinologia by a group of artists from Barcelona.

Willis had her first solo art shows in 2012 in Helsinki, Finland. These shows featured her oil paintings and were called Gatherings. In 2014, she had another solo exhibition in Tampere, Finland, called Talking Trash.

Music Releases and Collaborations

Willis released her first solo albums, Soul Makeover (2000) and Be It (2003), on Puu/Sähkö Recordings.

In 2005, she teamed up with a group called The Soul Investigators. They released the album Keep Reachin Up, which was very popular. Their song Feeling Free was even chosen as a worldwide winner on a BBC radio show.

The song Keep Reachin' Up was picked by former US president Barack Obama for his re-election campaign playlist in 2012. Other songs by Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators were used in TV shows like Brothers & Sisters and Ray Donovan.

In 2013, Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators released another album called Tortured Soul. It was well-received and reached number 8 on the Official Finnish Music Charts.

Willis also started a new music project called Cola & Jimmu with Jimi Tenor. They released albums like Enigmatic (2013) and I Give To You My Love & Devotion (2014). Their song Open Up Your Chakra was popular in Japan.

In 2015, Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators released their third album, Happiness in Every Style. It received excellent reviews.

More recently, Willis released the EP Big Fantasy (For Me) / Tear It Down in 2017. Her album My Name Is Nicole Willis came out in September 2017. This album was a collaboration with the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra.

In 2019, she released My Soul Sensation with her band Banda Palomita. She also released an instrumental version of the album.

In 2022, Willis released electronic music under the name Daniele Willis, including the album Polymer or PARA [Seasoned]. She also sang on the song Space Disco Muysic by the Finnish electronic group Aavikko.

In October 2023, Willis performed a new art piece called Phobos & Deimos Contemplate Reception in Helsinki, Finland. She wrote, voiced, and performed this dramatic monologue.

On July 12, 2024, Willis released My Name Is Nicole Willis, Instrumentals. This album features instrumental versions of her songs.

Solo Art Exhibitions

• Talking Trash; Oil Paintings, Digital Film, Textiles, Gallery Emil, Tampere, Finland, February 2 – February 28, 2014.
• Gatherings; Oil Paintings, Galleria Pirkko – Liisa Topelius, Helsinki, Finland, November 2 – December 1, 2012.
• Gatherings; Oil Paintings, Galleria Kingi Kongi, Helsinki, Finland, April 6 – April 27, 2012.

Sound and Performance Art

• Hunajanjyvä, Salama ja Maa; at Mad House in Helsinki, Finland, October 7, 2023. This included Phobos & Deimos Contemplate Reception, a dramatic monologue written and performed by Daniele Willis.
• Listen to a mushroom, listen to a bike; a music and sound art project in Turku, Finland, October 1 – October 31, 2020. It featured her time-based media piece “Seasoned – Six Compositions”.

Scripts Written

• Data Collector | Tietojen Kerääjä, a screenplay for a fiction feature film, in development (2024).
• Iloinenmaa | Happyland, a screenplay for a fiction short film (2024).
• Phobos & Deimos Contemplate Reception, a dramatic monologue for a performance (2023).

Films Directed

• My Friend Keke (Daniele Willis, 4 min. 50 sec), a short film about a music producer (2023).
• Atoning for Gen Alpha, Discussions on Religious Pluralism with Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen (Daniele Willis, 72 min. 25 sec), a discussion with a theologian (2023).
• 1 418 Inhabitants Per Square Kilometre (Daniele Willis, 5 min. 06 sec), a short film (2022).
• Jimi Tenor & Felix Kubin Kontula Electronic (Daniele Willis, 8 min 15 sec), documentation of a performance (2017).
• Felix Kubin & Jimi Tenor Kontula Electronic (Daniele Willis, 14 min 4 sec), another documentation of the same performance (2017).

Artist Collaborations

• About us (refrain to refrain), a performance for artist Jani Ruscica, exhibited in Helsinki, Finland, April 30 - May 29, 2022.
• Between Paths I, a sound piece for a video installation by Juan Kasari, Tampere, Finland, October 17 – November 3, 2020.
• Take Care of Yourself, a performance for artist Sophie Calle, shown at the Venice Biennale, Italy, June 10 - November 21, 2007.
• Rinologia, a vocal performance for artists Los Rinos, performed in Burgos, Spain, March 3, 2007.

Music Discography

Solo Albums

• Polymer or PARA [Seasoned] – (as Daniele Willis) digital (Sampson 2022)
• Banda Palomita's My Soul Sensation – (as Banda Palomita, Nicole Willis) digital (Persephone 2019)
• My Soul Sensation – (as Nicole Willis & Banda Palomita) LP/digital (Persephone 2019)
• My Name Is Nicole Willis – (as Nicole Willis & UMO Jazz Orchestra) LP/CD/digital (Persephone 2017)
• Be It – LP/CD/digital (Puu/Sähkö 2004)
• Soul Makeover – LP/CD/digital (Puu/Sähkö 2000)

Albums with The Soul Investigators

• Happiness in Every Style – LP/CD/Digital (Timmion 2015)
• Tortured Soul – LP/CD/MC (Timmion 2013) (peak FIN #8)
• Keep Reachin' Up Remixed – (as Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators) LP/CD (Above The Clouds 2007)
• Keep Reachin Up – LP/CD/MC (Lifesaver | Timmion 2005)

Albums with Cola & Jimmu

• I Give To You My Love & Devotion – LP/CD/Digital (Herakles 2014)
• Enigmatic – LP/CD/Digital (Herakles 2013)

Albums with Repercussions

• Charmed Life – (Repercussions) CD (Pony Canyon)
• Earth and Heaven – (Repercussions) LP/CD (Warner Brothers/Reprise)

Music Videos

• One In A Million (as Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators) directed by Aleksi Raij, 2015.
• Earthly Delights (as Cola & Jimmu) directed by Cola & Jimmu, 2014.
• Open Up Your Chakra (as Cola & Jimmu) directed by Cola & Jimmu, 2014.
• Transcend Our Love (as Cola & Jimmu) directed by Cola & Jimmu, 2014.
• No More Wars (as Cola & Jimmu) directed by Cola & Jimmu, 2014.
• 369° Grind (as Cola & Jimmu) directed by Nicole Willis, 2013.
• Enigmatic (as Cola & Jimmu) directed by Jimi Tenor, 2013.
• Brooklyn Girl (as Cola & Jimmu) directed by Jimi Tenor, 2013.
• Time To Get Business Straight (as Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators) directed by Tony Sheng, 2013.
• Break Free (Shake a Tail Feather) (as Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators) directed by Tony Sheng, 2013.
• If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is) (as Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators) directed by Vincent Scotet, 2007.
• Let's Do It Again (as Curtis Mayfield & Repercussions) directed by Kevin Bray, 1994.
• Make No Mistake (as an extra; Keith Richards) directed by Paula Greif, 1988.
• Keep On Movin (as an extra; Soul II Soul) directed by Paula Greif, 1988.
• Happy Ever After (as an extra; Julia Fordham) directed by Paula Greif, 1988.
• Rock Box (as an extra; RUN-DMC) directed by Steve Kahn, 1984.