Ronnie Hilton

Infobox musical artist
Name = Ronnie Hilton


Img_capt =
Img_size = 150px
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Adrian Hill
Alias =
Born = 26 January 1926
Died = 21 February 2001
Origin = Kingston upon Hull
Instrument = vocals
Genre = Crooner
Occupation = Musician
Radio presenter
Years_active = 1954-1989
Label = His Master's Voice
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments = vocals

Ronnie Hilton (26 January 1926 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=RONNIE|HILTON&sql=11:3bfwxqtaldae~T1 Allmusic.com biography - accessed August 2008] ] - 21 February 2001 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2001/feb/22/guardianobituaries Ronnie Hilton obituary from The Guardian - 22 February 2001] ] ) was an English singer and radio presenter. Hilton was one of those 1950s vocalists whose career coincided with rock and roll's 1956 onslaught on the ballad dominated hit parade. But for a time Hilton was a star - strictly for home consumption - with nine Top 20 hits between 1954 and 1957, that transitional era between 78 and 45rpm records. A quarter of a century later he became the voice of BBC Radio 2's 'Sounds of the Fifties' series.

Biography

Born Adrian Hill in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, Hilton left school at 14 and worked in an aircraft factory at the beginning of the Second World War, before being called up into the Highland Light Infantry. Following demobilisation in 1947, he became a fitter in a Leeds sewing plant.

Career

Ronnie Hilton seems to be almost forgotten by today's music industry but he was one of Britain's most popular singers of the 1950s.cite web | url = http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirr/ronnieh.htm | title = Ronnie Hilton | publisher = 45 rpm | accessdate = 2007-06-13] He started singing professionally under his adopted name during 1954 after leaving his safe job in a Leeds engineering factory. A true Yorkshireman, Hilton always remained loyal to his roots - especially to Leeds United. He composed, sung and recorded several anthems as tribute to the football club he loved.

He came to fame by supplying smoothly delivered cover versions, of popular American songs during the 1950s. His most enduring recordings were "No Other Love"; and his very last chart entry in 1965 which took him away from the romantic ballads of his earlier years - [http://www.poppyfields.net/poppy/songs/windmill.html "Windmill in Old Amsterdam"] - which eventually sold a million, and became a fixture across decades of "Children's Favourites". Hilton was a favourite 1950s balladeer in the UK. Despite the prominence of rock and roll in his recording career, he amassed a formidable array of best-sellers in the UK Singles Chart, albeit mainly with cover versions of U.S. hit records. It must be pointed out that this was common practice at the time, and many British recording artistes followed this trend. His chart single recording career alone spanned from 1954 to 1965, which flew in the face of the rapidly changing trends of pop music.

Nevertheless, Hilton's light operatic style, similar to fellow Hullensian, David Whitfield, was already by the mid 1950s being overtaken by events. By the time "No Other Love" dropped off the UK Singles Chart, Elvis Presley had clocked up his first three UK hit singles. Hilton also performed in three Royal Variety Performances. He also took part in the inaugural contest in 1957, failing in his attempt to represent to be the UK's first representative in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Hilton kept on performing well into the 1960s, in summer seasons and Christmas shows, but knew that his number was up. In 1967 he released a single with covers of "If I Were a Rich Man" and "The Laughing Gnome" on the A-side and B-side respectively. It did not chart. Whilst in June 1971 he appeared as a guest on the Morecambe & Wise Show on BBC Television. Hilton suffered a stroke in 1976, which hindered his progress for a time. He also encountered financial problems. Following his recovery, he presented 'Sounds of the Fifties' a nostalgic radio series for BBC Radio 2. The British Academy of Song Composers and Authors honoured him with its gold medal for services to popular music in 1989. He died in Hailsham, East Sussex from another stroke, aged 75.

* He was twice married:
**1) Joan (died 1985); three children - Geraldine, who has a daughter called Cheyenne; Jane, who has a daughter called Lili; and Derry, who has two daughters, Georgette and Sophia hill.
**2) Chrissy (1989 - 2001); one child - Simon.

Discography

* "I Still Believe" - (1954) - UK Chart High - Number 3
* "Veni Vidi Vici" (cover of The Gaylords) - (1954) - Number 12
* "A Blossom Fell" (cover of Nat King Cole) - (1955) - Number 10
* "Stars Shine In Your Eyes" - (1955) - Number 13
* "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" (cover of Mitch Miller/Johnny Desmond) - (1955) - Number 15
* "Young And Foolish" - (1956) - Number 17
* "No Other Love" (cover of Perry Como) - (1956) - Number 1
* "Who Are We" (cover of Gogi Grant) - (1956) - Number 6
* "A Woman in Love" - (1956) (cover of The Four Aces) - Number 30
* "Two Different Worlds" (cover of Jane Morgan) - (1956) - Number 13
* "Around The World" (cover of Bing Crosby) - (1957) - Number 4
* "Wonderful! Wonderful!" (cover of Johnny Mathis) - (1957) - Number 27
* "Magic Moments" (cover of Perry Como) - (1958) - Number 22
* "I May Never Pass This Way Again" (cover of Perry Como) - (1958) - Number 27 (with the Michael Sammes Singers)
* "The World Outside" (based on The Warsaw Concerto) - (1959) - Number 18 (with the Michael Sammes Singers)
* "The Wonder of You" (cover of Ray Peterson) - (1959) - Number 22
* "Don't Let The Rain Come Down" - (1964) - Number 21
* "A Windmill in Old Amsterdam" - (1965) - Number 23cite book
first= David
last= Roberts
year= 2006
title= British Hit Singles & Albums
edition= 19th
publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
location= London
pages= p. 253
id= ISBN 1-904994-10-5]

Career facts

1. From a comparatively unknown Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, "Me and Juliet" written in 1953, Ronnie Hilton took the hit tune "No Other Love", and scored his one and only UK Number One hit in 1956.cite book
first= Jo
last= Rice
year= 1982
title= The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits
edition= 1st
publisher= Guinness Superlatives Ltd
location= Enfield, Middlesex
pages= p. 25
id= ISBN 0-85112-250-7]

2. In securing the Number One, Hilton fought off competition from the UK based Canadian Edmund Hockridge, and from The Johnston Brothers. Oddly, no American versions of "No Other Love" reached the UK Singles Chart at the time. Perry Como had been very successful with the song in America, but his version was released much earlier in 1953, when "Me and Juliet" first opened on Broadway.

3. You might struggle to find a link between Elvis Presley and Ronnie Hilton, but it exists. Hilton's last chart hit for almost five years, in 1959, was "The Wonder of You"; the self same song that The King topped the UK chart with in 1970.

ee also

*
*Early British popular music
*List of British pop musicians of the 1950s
*List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
*Bands and musicians from Yorkshire and North East England

References

External links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,441220,00.html Ronnie Hilton Obituary]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=RONNIE|HILTON&sql=11:3bfwxqtaldae~T1 Ronnie Hilton biography @ Allmusic.com]