Billy Newton-Davis is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 R&B, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

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Newton-Davis grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio

Shaker Heights, Ohio

Shaker Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population was 28,448. It is an inner-ring streetcar suburb of Cleveland that abuts the city on its eastern side.-Topography:Shaker Heights is located at...

 a suburb of Cleveland. He was one of two lead singers in a local soul band called The Illusions. After working as a singer and dancer on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, he moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1980. His debut album, Love Is a Contact Sport, won the Juno Award

Juno Award

The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...

 for best R&B/soul recording in 1986 and included the hits "Deeper", "Right Beside You" and "Find My Way Back".

His 1989 follow up, Spellbound, included his biggest Canadian chart hit, "I Can't Take It", as well as the almost Top 40 hit Celine Dion

Celine Dion

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...

 duet "Can't Live With You, Can't Live Without You

Can't Live With You, Can't Live Without You

"Can't Live with You, Can't Live Without You" is a duet between Billy Newton-Davis and Céline Dion, released as a single in 1989 in Canada.The song was featured on Newton-Davis' album Spellbound...

" and again won the Juno for best R&B/soul recording.

Newton-Davis subsequently joined The Nylons

The Nylons

The Nylons are an a cappella group founded in 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Best known for their covers of The Turtles' "Happy Together", Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", and The Tokens' version of the traditional "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"....

 in 1991. Since leaving the Nylons, he has primarily concentrated on songwriting and live jazz and gospel performances.

In 2008, Newton-Davis won the Juno Award

Juno Award

The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...

 for All You Ever Want as Best Dance Album. Openly

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, his On A Boy's Life (2008) is a "celebration of all the naughty things men can get up to when left to their own devices."

During 2009, Newton-Davis also featured in two songs of At Play 2

At Play 2

At Play, Vol. 2 is a compilation album from the progressive house artist deadmau5, following from the success of the first At Play album. The album features ten "DJ friendly" tracks. However, unlike its predecessor At Play, the album is mixed, yet the track markers are divided in a manner that...

, a progressive electronic

Progressive electronic music

In electronic dance music the term progressive is often used to denote a novel stylistic development within a specific genre of dance music. According to the DJ and producer Carl Craig, the term "progressive" was used in Detroit in the early 80s in reference to Italo Disco...

 album made by musician Deadmau5

Deadmau5

Joel Thomas Zimmerman , better known by his stage name deadmau5 , is a Canadian progressive, electro, and house producer based in Toronto...

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