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It seems there's no stopping preteen country sensation Billy Gilman. He began singing when he was 3 years old, and by the tender age of 11, he'd already performed in front of thousands on the George Strait Country Music Festival. He released his debut disc, One Voice, at age 12, and within three months it sold more than one million units, establishing Gilman as the youngest solo performer in musical history to achieve platinum status. He also made history as the youngest artist in country music to see his debut album enter the Billboard chart in the top five, and he's only the third country artist in SoundScan history--behind Billy Ray Cyrus and LeAnn Rimes--to have a first album debut at that sales level. LAUNCH caught up with the busy prepubescent to discuss his career and newfound fame. Here's how it went: LAUNCH: You certainly are one of the busiest 12-year-olds I've ever met... BILLY: Yeah, I know! I'm just like, "Where do I go? What do I sing? Can I do it right now? When we can do it?" I just love to sing. LAUNCH: When did you first start performing professionally? BILLY: I first started performing when was almost 8. I sang at a local festival. It was called Swamp Yankee Days, and I sang seven, eight songs. And I was like a stick-boy, 'cause I didn't know what to do. I'm like, 'I better just stay here and do my thing and get off.' You know? I used to sing all songs with the people singing in the background, you know, like karaoke. I sang "Never Again, Again" by Lee Ann Womack, "Blue" by LeAnn Rimes, Patsy Cline's "Crazy." It was funny! LAUNCH: Who are some of your biggest influences? BILLY: I always grew up listening to country music from Pam Tillis, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Hank Williams, Conway Twitty. You know, all the stars. Garth Brooks is the best entertainer in the world! As well as a singer. I bought his video of the New York live concert. It is just awesome! How he runs across that long stage 10 times in a row...wouldn't your stomach hurt? I did that in gym and almost fainted! LAUNCH: Any other favorites? BILLY: Probably LeAnn Rimes, of course. But I also like Pam Tillis, Chad Brock, Ty Herndon, Collin Raye, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney--all the '90s artists. LAUNCH: Talk a little bit about your single, "One Voice." BILLY: I love that song! "One Voice" is basically about a kid coming home from school and looking out the window and seeing all the violence in the world, and he turns and asks for help. And at the end of the song, the prayer that he prayed was answered. LAUNCH: That song is starting to get airplay on the pop charts as well... BILLY: I love all pop. I mean, I love all the voices of pop, like Marc Anthony, Celine Dion, Britney Spears--her dancing, holy mackerel!--and Jessica Simpson--her voice is incredible. I mean, I can't wait to cross over to pop. I am starting to, and it is just really an experience. It is just really, really fun. LAUNCH: You release your first holiday album, Classic Christmas, this month. What type of material will we find on it? BILLY: Lots of different stuff. Ray Benson wrote a cool song. It's called "Santa.Com," which is a real website! And like, part of the verse goes, "Oh man, Santa's gotta make a lotta toys/ Gotta make a lotta toys for all the girls and boys/ So he's likin' it and taking care of all the kids' needs/ He's got the fastest computer with the fastest speed. America Online or the World Wide Web/ Our elves are standing there ready to get it there on time. I'm gonna email Santa." It's really neat. We have also thought about doing some Italian songs, Latin songs, because that would be cool to do a different language of a Christmas song. We might do "Silent Night" and "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" and "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bell Rock." There is a lot of variety of songs for Christmas, you know? LAUNCH: So now that you are in the thick of things, so to speak, what is your impression of the music business? BILLY: Whoa! This is the big time! [laughs] It wasn't what I thought it would be. It's a lot bigger. LAUNCH: Any goals for the future? BILLY: My next goal is I'm striving to get an award, because I've never won something like that before. That would be really, really neat to win an award. That would be cool. But I'm just happy to be doing what I'm doing, and if this is as far as I can go, it's as far as I can go. |
