Toronto, ON (February 4, 2021) – Anthem Entertainment, one of the world's leading independent music and entertainment content and services companies, along with the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) is pleased to announce the induction of Dan Hill, as one of Canada’s most successful songwriters.  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 penned hits for Celine Dion, Tina Turner, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees, and Alan Jackson to name a few; and recently stepped back into 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.”

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame will honour Dan Hill with a virtual presentation on CTV’s Your Morning airing Wednesday, February 10, that will include an exclusive live performance by Dan featuring some of his defining hits.  Hill will be inducted to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame’s permanent home in the National Music Centre in Calgary, featuring interactive exhibits and memorabilia dedicated to Canada’s greatest songwriters and songs. 

“Dan’s songs are authentic and intimate, whether he is singing about love or social injustice,” says Vanessa Thomas, Executive Director of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.  “He may have a soft-spoken voice and sing to soft rock melodies, but his lyrics resonate as loudly and powerfully as if he were shouting it from the mountains. That is the gift that Dan has as an artist and songwriter.”

“We are honored to have Dan as our partner and to represent his iconic catalog of recordings and songs,” shares Helen Murphy, CEO of Anthem Entertainment. “We congratulate him on his well-deserved induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and it is also fitting that he is being inducted during Black History Month. Dan and his family have been trailblazers for advancing Black rights for over half a century and Anthem Entertainment is honored to have Dan’s creativity, integrity and amazing life journey as a guiding light.” 

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 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 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.

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.

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.

ABOUT ANTHEM ENTERTAINMENT

Anthem Entertainment is comprised of a music publishing division, recorded music label, production music division, and a leading film and television audio-visual secondary rights (AVSR) management company. We support artists, create content, and provide entertainment services around the world. As technology and entertainment evolve, we work hard to create and maximize opportunities for our talent and our clients. Our difference: an approach that combines the resources, power and reach of a major with the agility, entrepreneurism and soul of an indie. Anthem Entertainment operates offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Nashville, and Toronto.

ABOUT CANADIAN SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) honours and celebrates Canadian songwriters and those who’ve dedicated their lives to the legacy of music; and works to educate the public about these achievements. National and non-profit, the CSHF is guided by its own Board of Directors, who comprise both Anglophone and Francophone music creators and publishers, as well as representation from the record industry. In December of 2011, SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) acquired the CSHF. The Hall of Fame’s mandate aligns with SOCAN’s objectives as a songwriter and publisher membership-based organization. The CSHF continues to be run as a separate organization. www.cshf.ca

ABOUT STUDIO BELL, HOME OF THE NATIONAL MUSIC CENTRE
Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre (NMC), is much more than a museum. A national catalyst for discovery, innovation and renewal through music, NMC is preserving and celebrating Canada’s music story inside its home at Studio Bell in Calgary’s East Village. With programming that includes on-site and outreach education programs, performances, artist incubation and exhibitions, NMC is inspiring a new generation of music lovers. For more information, please visit studiobell.ca.