Warren Hill

An acclaimed sax player who began as a singer and guitarist in a rock band. A best-selling instrumentalist, famous for his lyrical melodies, who when writing music for saxophone says, "If you can't sing it, why play it?" An artist with several #1 records on Adult Contemporary charts who's lived in Nashville for the past few years: "If a song is grooving, I like it to groove hard. I like powerful music. I can't do a song that puts people to sleep. I make records that are supposed to be listened to." A singer/songwriter/producer who covers a famed rock song on sax and says with a laugh, "Name one other sax player who has the balls to do this song."

For Warren Hill, his music is as passionate as he is: "If you want to grow as an artist, sometimes you have to take risks to go forward. I want that challenge." Not surprisingly then, Shelter (Discovery Records), his fourth album, is the first to feature his own vocals and the first he's produced. Backed by an all-star lineup of players from sessions in Los Angeles and Atlanta, Shelter satisfies fans of pop, instrumentals, Smooth Jazz and New Jazz, while showing a new side of Hill. "I like albums that have more than one vibe," he says.

From the first single, "Shelter From The Storm" (both vocal and instrumental versions), and two other vocals--"If A Man Doesn't Treat You Right" and "You're My Only Love"--to his cover of "Roxanne," Hill emphasizes emotion and melody, romance and heart. Not content to rest on his previous achievements, Hill is boldly crossing over into the realm of the pop balladeer.

Actually, he began as a vocalist. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, in a family of five children, he was singing and playing guitar when he was eight years old. "I was lucky to have a teacher who understood it wasn't about technique but having fun, music for music's sake, so I wasn't discouraged like so many others." By 14, he was playing local clubs as lead singer and lead guitarist in a rock band. "The drinking age was 19 so I had to sneak in the backdoor or use my older brother's ID. I just wanted to play. I was so focused on music that I had three girlfriends at one time and I didn't even know it."

Weaned on Led Zeppelin and Rush, the only reason he picked up the saxophone was to play in his high school's band. But when a summer jazz program at the Eastman School in Rochester, New York introduced him to jazz, his musical life changed forever. "That's where I first heard David Sanborn. I had no idea a sax could do that. It had always seemed such a mellow instrument. I got really turned on to jazz and quit my band, stopped singing and playing guitar. Jazz was a challenge to learn and play and I loved that. I formed a combo and became this bebop guy."

Nevertheless, after high school he enrolled at the University of Toronto studying physics. For a year, he chose academia over music except for weekend hours with his jazz combo. "I looked forward to that so much. It's true about not knowing what you have until it's gone. I realized how much I loved playing music." To the consternation of his parents--his mother a nurse, his father an accountant--he dropped out, determined to give music a chance. "They weren't thrilled. They told me music was an unstable profession, and they're right, but they respected me for following my passion." He was then accepted to Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music, where his talent blossomed.

Soon, he became Berklee's star sax player, playing gigs and doing studio work. On graduation day 1988, he was given several featured solos in the all-star student band. In attendance was renowned producer Russ Titelman, who later pulled Hill aside, congratulated him, and hired him for a session. Before he knew it, Hill was in a New York studio playing on a Chaka Khan album that included Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder and Prince. "A dream come true," says Hill, who in 1996 received Berklee's Distinguished Alumni Award.

He subsequently moved to Los Angeles "but I quickly realized I had overly romanticized being a studio musician. There was not as much creativity as I hoped." He started to write and create demos of his own music. By chance, a tape found its way to the legendary Ahmet Ertegun, scion of Atlantic Records, who asked Hill to do an album. After months of pre-production, his songs were ready but, due to a company shakeup, the label wasn't. Hill then signed to RCA. Just in time for his debut album, the new New Adult Contemporary radio format swept across the airwaves.

Kiss Under The Moon (1991) not only introduced him but, after Natalie Cole heard it, landed him the opening slot on her Unforgettable tour. "Here I am, this nobody, and I'm on the hottest tour of the year. People asked,'How did you get it? She's pop and you're an NAC guy!' But why not? We're too stifled by musical labels." The first stop on the 40-city trek was Syracuse, New York. "There were 3,000 people the audience, the biggest crowd I'd ever played for. No one had ever seen me before--and they gave me a standing ovation. That was the best feeling in my entire life."

When next heard, Hill was performing "The Passion Theme" from the 1993 Body Of Evidence soundtrack. The song shot to #1 NAC and Top 40 AC. The video, with clips from the movie starring Madonna, was featured on VH-1 and earned Hill turns on "The Tonight Show" and the "Arsenio Hall Show." At the same time, he collaborated with Restless Heart on "Tell Me What You Dream," a #1 AC hit named R&R's most-played song of the year in that genre.

Hill was switched from RCA's Novus imprint to the main label for his second album, Devotion (1993), which reprised "The Passion Theme." In spring 1994, his featured spot on Big Mountain's reggae rendition of Peter Frampton's "Baby I Love Your Way" on the Reality Bites soundtrack jolted the song to #1 on Contemporary Hit Radio worldwide and he performed with that group's on its video and on the BBC's "Top Of The Pops." (Meanwhile, he and his wife, singer-songwriter Tamara Van Cleef-Hill, moved to Nashville: "The January 1994 earthquake was the final blow. We left in search of a more stable lifestyle, pun intended.") While his albums had included vocals performed by guest artists, his third was strictly instrumental. Truth (1994), his biggest seller to date, stayed at #1 NAC for six weeks, and was Top 10 Contemporary Jazz. It also launched a year on the top instrumental tour of 1995, "Guitars & Saxes."

Warren's touring even touched down in Southeast Asia, where the Asian edition of Truth included bonus tracks of domestic hits re-recorded as instrumentals and also as vocals with the stars who had sung the originals. "It was East meets West. People were so excited we were embracing their music. When we first arrived, no one recognized us on the street. A week later, I was in a Manila record store getting mobbed." Back home, Hill was honored as New Adult Contemporary Songwriter of the Year by the performing rights organization SESAC.

Yet something was missing--Hill's own voice. At concerts, when fans would ask for songs from past records sung by guest vocalists, Hill naturally would sing them--and the reaction was always positive. "I wanted to sing, that's one of the things I love to do, but I needed to find a record company that believed in me doing that." With Discovery Records on board, he was encouraged and assisted by Tamara, who co-wrote "Shelter From The Storm," marking her first recorded collaboration with her husband. "She's my total partner," he adds. "We're one of the few husband-and-wife teams that works together and are still madly in love with each other."

Their romance has been an inspiration to listeners. "Our First Dance," written for the first dance of their wedding, appeared on Devotion and "Tamara," the song he wrote for her walk down the aisle, was on Truth. "Shelter From The Storm" was inspired by his marriage proposal, which took place under the Pierre Auguste Cot painting, "The Storm," at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. "We're told that a lot of fans have proposed to my music," he says proudly, adding with a smile, "and some say their children were conceived to my music too. Like I said, I don't make music to put you to sleep."

More info:

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