Vince Hill
| Vince Hill | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Vincent Hill |
| Born |
16 April 1934 Holbrooks, Coventry, England |
| Genres |
Easy listening Traditional pop music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, record producer, playwright |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Labels | Piccadilly, EMI Columbia, CBS EMI |
| Website | vincehill |
Vince Hill (born Vincent Hill, 16 April 1934)) is an English traditional pop music singer and songwriter who is best known for his recording of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune "Edelweiss" (1967) which reached No.2 on the UK Singles Chart (staying on the chart for 17 weeks). Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s, Hill hosted several hit TV shows during the seventies and eighties, including ‘They Sold A Million’ (BBC), ‘Musical Time Machine’ (BBC) and his own chat show ‘Gas Street’ (ITV).
Hill first sang professionally in a public house called The Prospect in Margate, Kent, when he was fifteen years old. But the decision to become a full-time musician came after he had worked as baker, truck driver and coal miner.
His first lucky break as a singer came when he read an advert in the Melody Maker which said The Band of the Royal Corps Of Signals needed a vocalist. He travelled to Catterick camp in Yorkshire where the band was based. Did the audition and got the job. This offered Vince a way to do his National Service as well as experience performing all around the world. After completing his military service he toured with a musical called Florodora, 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, Len Beadle 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).
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