Ronnie Hilton
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Ronnie Hilton (26 January 1926 - 20 February 2001) was an English singer and radio presenter.
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[edit] Biography
Born Adrian Hill in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, Hilton left school at 14 and worked in an aircraft factory at the beginning of the Second World War, before being called up into the Highland Infantry. Following demobilisation in 1947, he became a fitter in a Leeds sewing plant.
[edit] Career
He came to fame by supplying smoothly delivered cover versions, of popular American songs during the 1950s. His most enduring recordings were "No Other Love", and "A Windmill In Old Amsterdam". Ronnie Hilton was a favourite 1950s balladeer in the UK. Despite the prominence of rock and roll in his recording career, he amassed a formidable array of best-sellers in the UK Singles Chart, albeit mainly with cover versions of U.S. hit records. It must be pointed out that this was common practice at the time, and many British recording artistes followed this trend. His chart single recording career alone spanned from 1954 to 1965, which flew in the face of the rapidly changing trends of true 'pop music' vagrancies.
Nevertheless, Hilton's light operatic style, similar to fellow Hullensian, David Whitfield, was already by the mid 1950s being overtaken by events. By the time "No Other Love" dropped off the UK Singles Chart, Elvis Presley had clocked up his first three UK hit singles. Hilton also performed in three Royal Variety Performances.
Hilton kept on performing well into the 1960s, in summer seasons and Christmas shows, but knew that his number was up. He suffered a stroke in 1976, which hindered his progress for a time. He also encountered financial problems. Following his recovery, he presented "Sounds of the Fifties" a nostalgic radio series for BBC Radio 2. The British Academy of Song Composers and Authors honoured him with its gold medal for services to popular music in 1989. He died in Hailsham, East Sussex from another stroke, aged 75.
[edit] Discography
- "I Still Believe" - (1954) - UK Chart High - Number 3.
- "Veni Vidi Vici" (cover of The Gaylords) - (1954) - Number 12.
- "A Blossom Fell" (cover of Nat King Cole) - (1955) - Number 10.
- "Stars Shine In Your Eyes" - (1955) - Number 13.
- "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" (cover of Mitch Miller/Johnny Desmond) - (1955) - Number 15.
- "Young And Foolish" - (1956) - Number 17.
- "No Other Love" (cover of Perry Como) - (1956) - Number 1.
- "Who Are We" (cover of Gogi Grant) - (1956) - Number 6.
- "A Woman In Love" - (1956) (cover of The Four Aces) - Number 30.
- "Two Different Worlds" (cover of Jane Morgan) - (1956) - Number 13.
- "Around The World" (cover of Bing Crosby) - (1957) - Number 4.
- "Wonderful! Wonderful!" (cover of Johnny Mathis) - (1957) - Number 27.
- "Magic Moments" (cover of Perry Como) - (1958) - Number 22.
- "I May Never Pass This Way Again" (cover of Perry Como) - (1958) - Number 27.
- "The World Outside" (based on The Warsaw Concerto) - (1959) - Number 18.
- "The Wonder Of You" (cover of Ray Peterson) - (1959) - Number 22.
- "Don't Let The Rain Come Down" - (1964) - Number 21.
- "A Windmill In Old Amsterdam" - (1965) - Number 23.
[edit] Trivia
1. From a comparatively unknown Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, "Me and Juliet" written in 1953, Ronnie Hilton took the hit tune "No Other Love", and scored his one and only UK Number One hit in 1956.
2. In securing the Number One, Hilton fought off competition from the UK based Canadian Edmund Hockridge, and from The Johnston Brothers. Oddly, no American versions of "No Other Love" reached the UK Singles Chart at the time. Perry Como had been very successful with the song in America, but his version was released much earlier in 1953, when "Me and Juliet" first opened on Broadway.
3. You might struggle to find a link between Elvis Presley and Ronnie Hilton, but it exists. Hilton's last chart hit in 1959, for almost five years, was "The Wonder Of You"; the self same song that The King topped both the U.S. and UK charts with in the 1970s.
