About willie hill

Willie Hill is a veteran musician who spent a number of years playing with touring R&B and soul acts before starting his own recording studio and record label in Durham, NC.

Hill is a native of Durham and attended North Carolina Central University (located in Durham), where he played trumpet in the University's marching band. He began playing guitar as a teenager and soon gravitated to bass guitar, a move which landed him his first band gig, at age 15.

By the age of 19, Hill was playing bass with the Communicators and had written a hit single, "One Chance," which was recorded by the group in 1974 and is featured on the 1999 album Lost Soul Oldies, Vol. 5.

Hill played with the Modulations in the mid-'70s.

After playing as a professional bassist on and off for eight years, Hill opened a recording studio, Inspire Productions, in Durham. He has since engineered for Lois Deloatch, Shirley Caesar, the NCCU Jazz Ensemble, Mickey Mills and Steel, Shabba Ranks, Norman Conners, Stanley Baird, and Gerald Hinton, as well as doing industrial work for IBM, BET, and Duke University.

Hill also started his own record label, Joy Records, in 1984. The label has been a vehicle for Hill's music and he has released eight albums since 1996, his current release, "May I".(2008). Hill also traveled to Europe for many years to promote his releases.

Hill was an adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University, teaching music production I&II.

Discography
Deep Inside Of Me-1996 Cd
Another Place In Time-1997 Cd
My Destination-1998 Cd
Some Love & Peace-1999 Cd
Open Door-2002 Cd
A Restful Day-2004 Cd
Natural Evolution-2006-CD
May I-2008-CD

Songs are played on numerous radio stations worldwide

Current activity: Produced the song, “The Battle’s Not Over”, featuring a duet with Gerald Hinton (formerly Malaco artist) and Shirley Ceasar. The video of the song was nominated for a 2009 Stellar Award. Hill also engineered on Shirley Ceasar’s current release, “A City Called Heaven”. Hill’s latest cd “May I” was also on the ballet for a 2009 Stellar Award as instrumental cd of the year.

willie hill joined the JazzTimes community on Apr 11, 2011