Vince Hill

Vince Hill (born Vincent Hill, 16 April 1937, Holbrooks, Coventry) is a British popular music singer.

Biography

He first sang professionally in a public house, when he was just fifteen. But the decision to become a full time musician came after he had worked as baker, teamster (truck driver), and coal miner.

When he called up for military service, Hill received the deciding trigger for a professional career. He went on to be a singer with the Royal Signals Band. After leaving the military service he toured with a musical called 'Floradora', and he then became a singer with the Teddy Foster's Band, a big band based in London.

At the beginning of the 1960s, he joined the critically acclaimed British vocal group, The Raindrops, which gave him his first opportunity to perform in television and radio shows, especially on the BBC radio show "Parade Of The Pops". The Raindrops also had in its ranks Jackie Lee and Johnny Worth. After leaving The Raindrops, Lee went on to record the popular singles "White Horses", and "Rupert", whilst Johnny Worth worked as a songwriter (under his pen-name, Les Vandyke he wrote many hits including the early successes of Eden Kane and Adam Faith). By late 1961 however, Hill left The Raindrops for a fledgling solo career.

His debut entry in the UK Singles Chart was "The River's Run Dry", which went to #41 in June 1962. In 1963, he participated in A Song for Europe, the UK heat of the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "A Day at the Seaside". His first song in the Top 20 was "Take Me To Your Heart Again". Hill's cover of the Édith Piaf hit, "La Vie En Rose" climbed to #13 in 1966. "Roses Of Picardy" was another Top 20 success, reaching #13 in the summer of 1967. Further notable songs that he recorded included "Heartaches" (#28, 1966); "Mercie Cherie" (written by the Austrian singer Udo Jürgens which was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, (#36, 1966); "Love Letters In The Sand" (#23, 1967); "Importance of Your Love" (music by Gilbert Becaud; English lyric by Norman Newell) and "Look Around (And You'll Find Me There)". The latter track was another Top 20 hit, but proved to be his chart swansong, reaching a pinnacle of #12 in the latter half of 1971.

His most successful hit was "Edelweiss". This song, from the soundtrack to the musical film, "The Sound of Music", was a #2 hit in the UK Singles Chart in March 1967. His album of the same name was his only hit album for Columbia, but between 1966 and 1973 he recorded many albums normally including hits of the time mixed with current hits and his own title song.

Another notable Vince Hill recording was "Pray for Love", based on a melody by Mascagni, with a lyric by Norman Newell. He also made a vocal recording of the Russ Conway favourite "Always You and Me" which became the title of an album.

Once the hits had dried up, Hill continued to perform regularly in clubs, cabaret, and various stage productions. He still recorded albums and moved to CBS Records in 1975, his first album for them "Mandy" proved that he could still take contemporary material like "Streets of London" and make them convincing but the albums did not sell.fact|date=May 2008 However he was a regular on TV shows in the 1970s, and beyond. His later career took his voice on to work on cruise ships. In 1982 he appeared on the Children's TV show "Rainbow".

In the mid 1980s he also appeared in an episode of "Jim'll Fix It" performing a ballad called "Sharon", requested by a viewer who claimed nobody had ever written a love song of that name.

Hill currently lives in Lower Shiplake which is a village in Oxfordshire, England on the River Thames, near Henley-on-Thames and opposite the village of Wargrave.

Discography

at Columbia Records
*"At the Club"
*"Edelweiss"
*"Always You and Me"
*"Look Around (And You'll Find Me There)"
*"And I Love You So"

at CBS
*"Mandy"

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2005/04/04/pop_into_past_vince_feature.shtml BBC Biography]
* [http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirv/vinceh.htm Biography and Discography]