| William Francis | |
| Birth Name: | William Roy Francis |
| Birth Date: | 8 January 1982 |
| Birth Place: | Kent, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Singer, songwriter, producer, author, artist |
| Associated Acts: | Aiden, William Control, A Midnight Tragedy, Ashestoangels, Vampires Everywhere! |
| Years Active: | 2003–present |
| Current Member Of: | William Control |
| Past Member Of: | Aiden |
William Roy "wiL" Francis (a.k.a. William Control) (born January 8, 1982) is an American musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the horror punk band Aiden.[1]
Francis joined the original lineup of Aiden in 2003 as their bassist and replaced Steve Clemens as lead vocalist later that year. He became the creative force behind Aiden and, for the 2015 final album and tours, was the only member of the original lineup still in the band. During Aiden's hiatus from 2012 to 2015, Francis' primary musical output was William Control, and he has returned to this project full-time.
He has also released four albums (Hate Culture, Noir, Silentium Amoris, and The Neuromancer) under the name William Control, featuring a synthesizer driven darkwave, synth-pop style, as well as two live albums (Live in London Town and Babylon, two acoustic albums (Skeleton Strings and Skeleton Strings 2), an EP (Novus Ordo Seclorum), and a remix album (Remix). The fifth album, Revelations, has been split into four EPs: The Pale EP (October 2016), The Black EP (February 2017), and The Red EP (July 2017) and The White EP (November 2017).
Francis also acts as producer to bands such as Fearless Vampire Killers, A Midnight Tragedy and Ashestoangels, as well as producing his own William Control and Aiden music, and formed his own record label, Control Records. In May 2009, Kerrang! called Francis "one of the most enigmatic and talismanic frontmen in rock music today."[2] [3] [4]
He has released two books of poetry (Flowers & Filth (with Lisa Johnson) (2009) and Prose + Poems (2011)), and three novels (Revelator Book One: The Neuromancer (2013), Revelator Book Two: The Hate Culture (2014), and Revelator Book Three: The Hell of Heaven (2016)). The latter two make up part of a trilogy. In spring 2016, it was revealed that a trilogy of films was to be made from the Revelator books.[5] [6]
In 2018, Francis was accused of multiple rapes and the organization of a sex cult.[7] According to accusations made by multiple women, Francis only purported to practice BDSM; in fact, they claim, he physically and emotionally abused women, ordered many of them to get matching tattoos of his initials, and even demanded contracts from his sexual partners or “slaves,” signed in their own blood. An excerpt from a pledge obtained by The Daily Beast reads, “My body is His to use in any way He should choose, and I will never object to any actions He chooses to perform, or have myself perform on Him. There is no limitation to what kind of pain I am willing to endure for my Master.”
Controversy for his project William Control also occurred when he faced more accusations of creating a "sex cult" that included sexual abuse, date rape, extortion, grooming underage girls, and the tattooing of his name and initials on girls' genitalia as a form of "branding".[8] [9] [10] Francis has denied all allegations and the police declined to prosecute.[11]