Steve "Blast" Wills is an American,

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, born

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

and music publisher, recognised for his production work for urban artists

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal R ...

Chingy Howard Earl Bailey Jr. (born March 9, 1980), known professionally as Chingy, is an American rapper. Chingy grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and began rapping in his late teens. He toured as an opening act with Nelly in the summer of 2002 and the ...

and

Murphy Lee Torhi Harper (born December 18 1979), better known by his stage name Murphy Lee, is an American rapper, best known as a member of the hip hop group St. Lunatics. His debut album, '' Murphy's Law'', peaked at number 8 on the ''Billboard'' 200 mu ...

. He owns the urban music publisher Blast Music Publishing. He is known as one of the originators of the "

St. Louis Bounce St. Louis ("Blues") Bounce is a hip-hop music sound made popular in the first decade of the 2000s by hip-hop artists and musical production teams in St. Louis, Missouri. The style is distinguished primarily by melodic sing-song rapping over rhyt ...

" sound which was popularized in hip hop music and videos in the first decade of the 2000s.

Biography

Wills first recognised for his production skills when, at the age of 14, he produced demos for two local acts that went on to win first and second place in a high school talent show. His contribution to their success was acknowledged when the winning two groups thanked Wills on stage in front of over 2,500 people. After that Wills became the "go-to guy for production and songs". The name 'Blast' came from when a local group Wills regularly worked with publicly gave props to "Stevie Blast" for the "explosive" tracks he had just created for them. Wills has said that his chief ambition was not to be a famous producer but a wealthy businessman, telling

HitQuarters HitQuarters was an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It was noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song ...

, "I always wanted to be ... the guy with the mansion and the yacht." At the start of his career the business he planned to make his fortune from was music publishing. As "businessmen that pioneered eras of urban music with no blueprint and still found success and acceptance", Wills credits

L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He is the founder and served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of E ...

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons ...

and

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

as inspirational figures on his career. In 2000, Wills produced the single "

Batter Up "Batter Up" is a song by American hip hop group St. Lunatics, with member Nelly credited as a featured artist. The track was produced by Steve "Blast" Wills and first appeared on Nelly's debut solo album, '' Country Grammar'' (2000). It was lat ...

" for Nelly's

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artist ...

topping debut album ''

Country Grammar ''Country Grammar'' is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Nelly. It was released on June 27, 2000, by Universal Records. The production on the album was handled by Jason "Jay E" Epperson, with additional production by C-Love ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Steve Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Record producers from Missouri American hip hop record producers