ANTHEM RECORDS PROUDLY RELEASES NEW SINGLE WITH A MESSAGE OF HOPE, HEALING & OPTIMISM FROM TWO OF CANADA’S MOST CELEBRATED VOICES 

Today, Grammy Award winner Dan Hill, one of Canada’s most successful singer-songwriters, and 2021 Songwriters Hall of Fame recipient along with 2021 Canada’s Walk of Fame recipient and multi-JUNO/Gemini Award winning Queen of R&B and Soul, Jully Black proudly release the powerfully inspirational track “Something More” via Anthem Records - LISTEN HERE.

Written and recorded two decades ago, united by personal and powerful narratives, and an incredible amount of respect between two of Canada’s best, the aspirational track filled with optimism, hope and authenticity shares a journey with the countless songs that become hits years, or even decades after they’ve been written. Timely, healing, and optimistic “Something More” comes during a time that the world continues to seek hope and positivity amongst seismic divisions and conflict. It also showcases both artists ability to nurture a deeper meaning and purpose in life while remaining hopeful and globally relevant. With honour, opportunity and collaboration Dan and Jully along with co-producer Adam Messinger bring a profound message to the forefront - unquestionably deserving to be heard with a collective voice that runs deeper than both careers combined. 

Of the track Hill shares, “Songs always come equipped with their own authentic stories and the story of ‘Something More’ began long ago. When I first met Jully, I was overwhelmed by her extraordinary talent, but she radiated an enormous sense of empathy, spirituality and wisdom and I felt like our voices blended so seamlessly because we feel like family, united by something deeper than our careers.”

Shares Jully, “It’s a huge honour, a huge privilege, a huge blessing to be able to have the sheer treasure that is Dan as a friend, a mentor, and a peer. I’m on a healing journey and in order to heal from past pain and trauma, I have to believe that there is something more, something better, and that there is something I’m worthy of - this narrative felt, and still feels as personally necessary for me as it is globally relevant now, for all.”

Recently appointed as the Chair of Anthem’s newly formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee, Hill adds an integral voice to Anthem’s long-term strategy and commitment to ensuring that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are part of the company’s overall ethos. 

Black, a true Canadian icon, and long-time advocate of female empowerment through her music, spirit, and activism, most recently released her infectious and long-awaited new single ‘No Relation’ available everywhere now. No Relation marks the first new single off her forthcoming first full album release in ten years due out later this spring.

ABOUT DAN HILL
As Hill states in his 2009 bestselling memoir, “Right from the beginning, I’ve written songs simply because I’ve had no other choice.”  He began composing songs from the age of 14 and would also later pen articles for the Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, and Toronto newspapers including one entitled “On Being Black.”  Hill has often used his writing talents to share personal experiences on race, relationships, and socio-political commentary, such as the song, McCarthy’s Day (1977), about the courageous inter-racial relationship between his American-born parents.

Inducted into the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2021, Hill catapulted to music fame in the 1970s with one of the biggest songs of the decade, Sometimes When We Touch, and continued to conquer the adult contemporary charts through the 1980s and 1990s with a devoted worldwide fan following.  Behind the scenes, he has penned hits for Celine Dion, Tina Turner, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees, and Alan Jackson to name a few; and recently returned to the spotlight in 2020 with his urgent and heartfelt single, What About Black Lives?, off his 15^th studio album, “On The Other Side of Here.”

1977’s Sometimes When We Touch, and 1987’s Can’t We Try duet with American songstress Vonda Shepard, are among Hill’s most successful hits.  Sometimes When We Touch was co-written with New York songwriter Barry Mann and reached No. 1 in Canada and No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.  It garnered several SOCAN Awards as well as five JUNO Awards including Songwriter of the Year in 1979.  Can’t We Try was Billboard’s No. 1 Adult Contemporary Song of the Year for 1987, among many chart-topping singles and successful albums that Hill would go on to produce.

Between 1986 and 1989, a Dan Hill hit could be found on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart (and usually the Canadian national chart) every week for an unparalleled four years. His hits included the romantic ballads In Your Eyes, Hold Me Now (with Rique Franks), All I See Is Your Face, Carmelia, Unborn Heart, I Fall All Over Again, and Never Thought That I Could Love, which also shot to No. 1 in Canada.

In the late ‘90s Hill shifted his focus to writing songs for other artists and became a versatile writer-on-demand for pop, country and R&B icons including Barry Manilow, George Benson, Spain’s Camilo Sesto, Reba McEntire, and the Backstreet Boys. His many successes include the No. 1 country hits I Do (Cherish You) and Love of My Life; and he received a 1996 Grammy Award for co-producing Celine Dion’s album “Falling Into You,” which featured his song Seduces Me co-written with John Sheard.

His matchless talent is still in demand as he continues to write and record music including the 2009 album “Intimate,” and his topical 2020 single What About Black Lives? off his 2021 album “On The Other Side of Here”.  As Hill says, “There’s still a craving for real songs.  People still want to have old-fashioned songs with stories, strong melodies and relatable lyrics.”

More than four decades since the release of Sometimes When We Touch, the song continues to receive radio play and has been covered by numerous artists including Tammy Wynette, Oscar Peterson, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Ginette Reno, and Cleo Laine. Hill declared, “So many pop stars recorded it…that in a sense it didn’t belong to me any longer. It was bigger than me, bigger than life.”

Dan Hill has earned six ASCAP Awards and SOCAN’s William Harold Moon Award for international songwriting success. He published a best-selling memoir in 2009, I Am My Father's Son: A Memoir of Love and Forgiveness, where he opens up about the relationship with his father, who was a social activist and later became the first Director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission; as well as with his brother Lawrence Hill (The Book of Negroes), and late sister Karen, who was also an accomplished poet.

CONNECT WITH DAN HILL
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ABOUT JULLY BLACK
As a songwriter, Jully has touched the hearts of fans through her extensive catalogue and her work with industry heavyweights such as Destiny’s Child, and Nas. She has also shared the stage with the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Elton John, Alicia Keys, Etta James and Jessie Reyez, to name a few.

Steadfastly maintaining personal fitness and wellness goals, in 2018 Jully leveraged social media influence and innate leadHERship skill along with unwavering desire to be the bridge that everyone can cross and launched 100 Strong and Sexy, Canada’s largest female founded, curated, and led fitness challenge to date.  In 2020, Jully launched The Power of Step, which is now a wildly successful, reimagined virtual step aerobics and personal transformation coaching practice.

With purpose driven ideals and boundless spiritual fortitude, Jully is a phenom within the Canadian entertainment, lifestyle and public speaking arenas as witnessed in her lead roles in theatre such as The Musical Stage Company’s signature concert feature “Uncovered”, her critically acclaimed, multi-award winning lead role in the Obsidian Theatre Company and The Musical Stage Company production of ‘Caroline, or Change’ (recipient of the 2020 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role and the 2020 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award for Best Lead Performance in a Musical), in addition to her celebrated starring role in the acclaimed production of “Da Kink In My Hair”.

CONNECT WITH JULLY BLACK
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