| Ronnie Hilton | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Adrian Hill |
| Born | 26 January 1926 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 21 February 2001 (aged 75) Hailsham, East Sussex, England |
| Genres | Crooner |
| Occupations | Musician Radio presenter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1954–1989 |
| Labels | His Master's Voice |
Ronnie Hilton (26 January 1926[1] - 21 February 2001[2][3]) was an English singer and radio presenter. According to his obituary in The Guardian newspaper, "Hilton was one of those 1950s vocalists whose career coincided with rock and roll's 1956 onslaught on the ballad dominated hit parade. But for a time Hilton was a star - strictly for home consumption - with nine Top 20 hits between 1954 and 1957, that transitional era between 78 and 45rpm records. A quarter of a century later he became the voice of BBC Radio 2's 'Sounds of the Fifties' series".[2]
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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 Light Infantry.[2] Following demobilisation in 1947, he became a fitter in a Leeds sewing plant.[2]
Ronnie Hilton seems to be almost forgotten by today's music industry but he was one of Britain's most popular singers of the 1950s.[4] He started singing professionally under his adopted name during 1954 after leaving his safe job in a Leeds engineering factory.[4] A true Yorkshireman, Hilton always remained loyal to his roots - especially to Leeds United.[4] He composed, sang and recorded several anthems as tribute to the football club he loved.[4]
He came to fame by supplying smoothly delivered cover versions, of popular American songs during the 1950s.[1] His most enduring recordings were "No Other Love"; and his very last chart entry in 1965 which took him away from the romantic ballads of his earlier years - "Windmill in Old Amsterdam" - which eventually sold a million, and became a fixture across decades of Children's Favourites.[4] 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 pop music.
Nevertheless, Hilton's light operatic style, similar to fellow Hullensian, David Whitfield, was already by the mid 1950s being overtaken by events.[5] By the time "No Other Love" dropped off the UK Singles Chart, Elvis Presley had clocked up his first three UK hit singles.[5] Hilton also performed in three Royal Variety Performances.[2] He also took part in the inaugural A Song For Europe contest in 1957, failing in his attempt to be the UK's first representative in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Hilton kept on performing well into the 1960s, in summer seasons and Christmas shows, but knew that his number was up. In 1967 he released a single with covers of "If I Were a Rich Man" and "The Laughing Gnome" on the A-side and B-side respectively.[4] It did not chart. He appeared as a guest on the BBC's Morecambe & Wise Show in June 1971. Hilton suffered a stroke in 1976, which hindered his progress for a time. He also encountered financial problems.[2] Following his recovery, he presented 'Sounds of the Fifties' a nostalgic radio series for BBC Radio 2.[2] The British Academy of Song Composers and Authors honoured him with its gold medal for services to popular music in 1989.[2] He died in Hailsham, East Sussex from another stroke, aged 75.
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.[5]
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.[5]
3. There is a link between Elvis Presley and Ronnie Hilton. Hilton's last chart hit for almost five years, in 1959, was "The Wonder of You"; the same song that Presley topped the UK chart with in 1970.[5]