Hill, Dan, 1954- : In his childhood, Dan Hill (b. 1954 in Toronto, Ontario to American parents) listened to the music of Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Frank Sinatra's singing style, especially his use of phrasing and song delivery, had a significant influence over the young listener. At 14 years of age, Dan Hill began to compose his own songs and by the time he was 17 he was performing at small venues around Toronto. Before the black singer-songwriter released his debut album on the GRT Records Canada label in 1975, international performers, Jose Feliciano and Harry Belafonte were expressing interest in his songs. During 1976, the album's hit single "You Make Me Want to Be", won a Juno award and helped successfully launch Dan Hill's musical career. Following the Canadian success of the debut album, GRT of Canada, Ltd. sought international distribution in the United States, and it was then, 20th Century Records, a subsidiary of the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, heard the debut album and offered the young singer-songwriter a recording contract. At 23 years of age, Dan Hill rose to international fame when he and American songwriter Barry Mann co-wrote the platinum hit song "Sometimes When We Touch". Over one hundred performers recorded the song, including Cleo Laine, Tina Turner, Oscar Peterson, Rod Stewart, Tammy Wynette and Barry Manilow. By 1979 Hill had received six additional Juno Awards, many for the song "Sometimes When We Touch". In the eighties he began working in Los Angeles as a songwriter, and from 1987 to 1989 he obtained four top three hits on the US Adult Contemporary charts. In 1989, Celine Dion, then largely unknown in English Canada, released the song "Can't Live With You", a song co-written by Dan Hill. Also in 1989 Dan Hill and Celine Dion performed and recorded the duet "Wishful Thinking", written by Dan Hill. In 1996 he won a Grammy award when he co-wrote and co-produced the song "Seduces Me" for Celine Dion's multiplatinum selling album, "Falling Into You". In the late nineties Dan Hill started writing songs in Nashville, and although he remained living in Toronto, two of his songs reached number one on the US country charts. The success inspired him to turn back to writing, and from 1997 on, he concentrated on songwriting for other vocalists. Dan Hill has achieved long term international success as a songwriter and has written and co-written hit songs for internationally acclaimed popular singers, such as Celine Dion, George Benson, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, The Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears. He has performed songs for film and television, including "It's a Long Road" for the action film First Blood, starring Sylvester Stallone. The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada/Société canadienne des auteurs, compositeurs et editors de musique (SOCAN) have honoured Dan Hill with five awards, including the Wm. Harold Moon Award, Canada's most prestigious music award, handed out annually to a songwriter who has made an exceptional contribution to international songwriting. Dan Hill has also won six Amercian Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awards and one Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) award for outstanding radio airplay in America. International sales of his songs have exceeded 100 million copies. In 2009, Dan Hill wrote the memoir "I Am My Father's Son: A Memoir of Love and Forgiveness". Published in Canada by Harper Collins, the book is based on his relationship with his father, Dan Hill III, founding director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Dan Hill IV lives in Toronto with his wife, they have one grown son.
