Songwriter. Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in the nearby village of Weymouth, he was both a talented football player and an accomplished violinist. He was offered a scholarship to play football for Harvard University, but opted to continue to study violin at the New England Conservatory of Music. However, before completing his studies, he decided to move out west where he worked as a dishwasher, cowboy, mining clerk and dance hall musician before forming a jazz band in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1930 he returned to the east coast, moving to New York City, where he got a job as a doorman and began to write songs to help supplement his income. In 1933 he had his first success with "The Last Roundup", a song which made the 1933 Hit Parade list and launched Hill's career, making him one of the most successful of the "Tin Pan Alley's" collection of composers and songwriters. Using his earlier cowboy experiences, he wrote other western genre hit songs, including "Wagon Wheels", "Empty Saddles", "In the Chapel in the Moonlight", "The Old Spinning Wheel" and "The Glory of Love". With his career still on the rise he died on Christmas Eve 1940 in a Boston hotel room. In 1970 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Songwriter. Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in the nearby village of Weymouth, he was both a talented football player and an accomplished violinist. He was offered a scholarship to play football for Harvard University, but opted to continue to study violin at the New England Conservatory of Music. However, before completing his studies, he decided to move out west where he worked as a dishwasher, cowboy, mining clerk and dance hall musician before forming a jazz band in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1930 he returned to the east coast, moving to New York City, where he got a job as a doorman and began to write songs to help supplement his income. In 1933 he had his first success with "The Last Roundup", a song which made the 1933 Hit Parade list and launched Hill's career, making him one of the most successful of the "Tin Pan Alley's" collection of composers and songwriters. Using his earlier cowboy experiences, he wrote other western genre hit songs, including "Wagon Wheels", "Empty Saddles", "In the Chapel in the Moonlight", "The Old Spinning Wheel" and "The Glory of Love". With his career still on the rise he died on Christmas Eve 1940 in a Boston hotel room. In 1970 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Bio by: Bigwoo
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