BUFFALO, N.Y. — Will Downing, an R&B sensation, has been in the music business over 35 years. He's coming to Buffalo and the audience will hear the best of what he has recorded on 27 albums.
Later this month on his birthday, he will release album number 28 called "Luscious". The new single is called "Power of Love."
When it comes to his show, he told 2 On Your Side's Claudine Ewing the audience will "get the best of what I've done for all of those years."
Downing will perform on Thursday, Nov. 14 at Kleinhans in Buffalo.
"We have a very musical show, and we take people down memory lane with all that great music," Downing said with a big smile.
"When we do live shows, it ain't about what I want, it's about what the people want. There are certain songs that if we don't do them in concert, there will be some furniture moving as Charles Barkley says, the songs like Nothing's Ever Felt Like This. If we don't do that song in a concert, trust me, it's going to be some angry folks. So we do all the hits, so we do I Go Crazy, all the all the smashes that I've had over the years and I'm grateful to have in a mass of songs that people kind of know and love."
Downing hasn't performed in Buffalo in a few years, and now he is ready to return to the Queen City. "I am looking forward to the audience and sharing the experience of music with the audience there as well."
When asked about music today, Downing said "it's a generational thing. You know, I remember when I was coming up, my parents would listen to what I was listening to and they would call it garbage. I remember my father saying about Luther Vandross that he was OK. He said he ain't no Lou Rawls, so it's a generational thing. I think that good music has always been here. I think that yes, it's coming back into the forefront and I'm one of the people that still, you know, waves the flag for traditional R&B. The way that I kind of grew up on it. So I feel like I got my own lane. I ain't mad I ain't mad at all," he said.
Downing has also used music to live through the many challenges and hardships of life. He's experienced health issues and deep loss in life.
"I lost my daughter about two years ago in January of 2023, suicide. So you know, of course, when something like that traumatic happens, you know, for me, the release and the comfort in it for me and my family was to speak on it and to celebrate her life. So I did that musically on the last album, which is Soul Rising. But if you put together and go back and listen to all the albums that I've released. You gotta put a composite of who I am as a human being, and you could find out when things were going really well in my life and when things were not going as well. So it's kind of like a roller coaster. And I've always kind of put it out for the public to kind of listen to," Downing said.
Will Downing's performance with special guest Will Holton is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, there are resources in Western New York to help. Click here for a link of resources in WNY.
