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Carl William at the Wolf Theater at the Clarion

French Canadian singing legend, Carl William, has been bringing his signature style to new audiences at the Wolf Theater at the Clarion.  After a break for the holidays, William is back to blow spectators at One Voice… Music of Legends away with his four octave range and to sit down with Sin City Uncut for his first English interview.

William has had a stellar career, with his first gold album, “Les Enchaînés” when he was only 23, a long-running duet partnership with Chantal Pary, and performing all over the world with the high-end cruise line, Celebrity Cruises.

On Authenticity

Growing up, Carl William had to do a lot of lying.  He always knew that he wanted to sing when he grew up, but “when you say you want to sing, people just don’t take you seriously.”  As a result, “I started saying lawyer—I had to pretend at that time.”

As he got older, William realized that the voice in his head, the same one that told him that he wanted to sing professionally, was always right and that he needed to follow his own instincts and his own heart.   When he first started singing professionally, his curly hair and skinny build made people want to put an image out there that he didn’t agree with; “I don’t like to pretend to have a squeaky image.”

It’s the voice in his head that led him to record his first gold record, “Les Enchaînés,” the French version of “Unchained Melody.”  Recounting his experience recording it, “My first record deal was in 1992 around the time that the movie Ghost was released.  I had heard a French version of ‘Unchained Melody’ and I said ‘listen Gilbert (my first producer), I have recorded all the songs you want me to, I want to record this one.’  He said, ‘Go ahead, record your f*cking song.’”

On whether or not he was surprised that “Les Enchaînés” went gold, he makes a face that seems to express as much surprise today as then, “Oh God yes… I didn’t expect that I ever.  I don’t think people expect that ever,” trailing off “…no, I didn’t expect that.”

The Legendary Voice

On his mind-blowing four octave range and whether or not it came naturally or with training, William says, “It was natural, but don’t take me wrong, I took singing lessons when I was nine years old.  When my voice changed, I remember my singing teacher asked my parents: ‘Now that his voice is changing do you want to go classic or pop?’  My dad was trying to convince me to sing classic and my mother was trying to convince me to sing pop.  It’s not that I don’t like classic, but I never saw myself singing classic, so I went pop even though my base training is classic.”  He also says that while “I’m not a voice slave, I do try to avoid smoke, air-conditioning, and, if I’m singing the next day, drinks.”