Dan Hill is a perfect fit for My Playlist.
He has been writing songs for close to forty years and understands the ups and downs and comebacks of the music business. And he's still standing. Better than that, he's thriving.
The success train began with "Sometimes When We Touch," a song he co-wrote with Barry Mann in 1977 and won him two Junos, a Grammy nomination and enough covers that he probably could have retired right then. (Artists are still recording it!) And, of course, despite its success, the song is not without its critics. But Dan Hill is way beyond worrying about that, if he ever did.
After all, he has been writing songs long before he quit school at age 17 to work as a songwriter for a major record label. It's true that many of his hits such as "Someitmes When We Touch," "In My Eyes" and his 1990s duet with Vonda Shepherd, "Can't We Try?" are often over-the-top sentimental ballads (cue candles and rose petals) but Hill makes no apology for that. And why should he?
His songs been covered by some of the most popular names in pop music including Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Alan Jackson and Celine Dion. Along the way he won five Juno Awards, a Grammy, and numerous industry awards for radio play in Canada and the States.
If you've read any of his articles in Macleans magazine you know he's an eloquent prose writer too. He uses his profile to speak out on issues such as gun crime, prostate cancer (which he successfully beat in 2011) and to raise money for Greenpeace and cancer research.
In 2010 Dan Hill released his latest album, Intimate, a year after publishing the equally intimate book called I am my Father’s Son: A memoir of Love and Forgiveness, now out in paperback.
http://music.cbc.ca/play/Inside-the-Music/My-PLaylist-with-Dan-HillListen to Inside the Music by clicking the play button and via Radio on Sunday 3 p.m. (3:30 NT) and Radio One on Sunday at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT)
Below find Dan's Playlist picks with links to iTunes:
"A Fine Romance" Joe Williams
"My Favourite Things" Julie Andrews
"What's Going On?" Marvin Gaye
"If You Could Read My Mind" Gordon Lightfoot
"A man needs a maid" Neil Young
"Jamaica Farewell" Harry Belafonte
"Over the Rainbow" Judy Garland
Links: