Will Downing and Jeffrey Osborne

Will Downing was born Wilfred Downing on 29 November, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He studied as a music producer in a school whose alumni included Kedar Massenburg, the president of Motown, and Barbara Streisand. Downing graduated in 1981 and went on to later record for the music company, Motown.

Downing has enjoyed enormous success throughout his music career. He has worked on albums by a number of highly acclaimed artists, including Jennifer Holiday, Kool & the Gang, Gerald Albright, Billy Ocean, Regina Belle and Mica Paris. His discography consists of a staggering 23 albums, which are a mix of R&B and Jazz and were all released by several different record labels. In 2002, Downing received the International Association of African-American Music Diamond Award and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2000. Some of his most well-known songs include is 1991 hit ‘I Try’, ‘A Million Ways’, ‘A Love Supreme’, ‘Wishing on a Star’, ‘Free’, ‘After Tonight’ and ‘You Were Just Meant For Me’, amongst many many others.

Artists that he is often compared to or can be thought of a similar to include Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Osborne, Freddie Jackson, Keith Washington and Phil Perry.

He has produced a steady stream of music from the early 80s right up to today, despite suffering from polymyositis.

Osborne was born in Providence, Rhode Island, US to a very large and musical family. He is the youngest of 12 children (a sibling to 6 sisters and 5 brothers). Several of his brothers and sisters also pursued careers as musicians, one of them being his older brother Billy who was his fellow bandmate in L.T.D and is now a L.A. based producer/songwriter. Jeffrey’s oldest brother Clay Osborne is a professional pianist and vocalist.

Though Jeffrey’s father died when he was only 13 years old he inherited his strong skill and passion for music from him. Clarence “Legs” Osbourne was a jazz trumpet player whose past collaborators include Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton. Jeffrey’s father often sacrificed many important stints as a musician to be with his family and always encouraged his children's aspirations.

Jeffrey joined the group L.T.D. as the drummer and moved out to Los Angeles with them when he was in his early teens. While he was out in L.A. he also sat in as the drummer for the O’Jays when the band’s official drummer did not feel up to playing.

Jeffrey eventually filled in as the lead singer for L.T.D. and led the group to success with a string of hit R&B albums throughout the 70s and early 80s. Two of the band’s albums, 1977s “Something to Love” and 1979s “Devotion” were certified Gold and reached No.1 and No.5 on the US R&B charts consecutively. Their 1978 album “Togetherness” went Platinum and debuted at No.3 on the US R&B charts.

Osborne put out his self-titled debut album in 1982 and scored two top 40 hits on the pop charts with “On Wings of Love” and “I Really Don’t Need No Light”. His next release “Stay with Me Tonight” proved to be an even bigger success reaching Gold status and going on to claim Platinum certification. This album was well-received both in the US and the UK, with it’s single “Stay with Me Tonight” climbing to No. 18 on the UK charts.

In 1985 Osborne co-wrote the Whitney Houston single “All at Once”, which appeared on her monumental self-titled debut. That same year he contributed to the USA for Africa campaign, collaborating on the song “We Are the World”.

Throughout Osborne’s career he has recorded a total of 5 albums that went either Gold or Platinum. In 1990 he signed on with record label Artista and released the album “Only Human”. In 1997 Osborne released his Christmas album “Something Warm for Christmas” and two years later issued a greatest hits compilation entitled “Ultimate Collection”. During the 2000s Osborne entered into contracts with several independent labels and released albums such as 2000’s “That’s for Sure”, 2003’s “Music is Life”, 2005’s “From the Soul”, and 2013’s “A Time To Love”.