Anderson’s “City Lights” would become a huge hit for Ray Price, spending 32 weeks on the country charts, including thirteen consecutive weeks at No. 1. Bill soon began making frequent trips to Nashville with new songs in hand. In the summer of 1958, Owen Bradley decided to take a chance on him as a recording artist. Bill cut his first Decca record in the Quonset Hut that August and his dual career as songwriter and recording artist began. By 1989, when he penned his memoir, Whisperin’ Bill (a reference to his soft singing style and the frequent recitations within his songs), few artists had had so many popular recorded songs on the charts: 72 singles of his own and countless hundreds he’d written that had been recorded by others. He has won awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Duet of the Year (with two different partners), Songwriter of the Year (six times), Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Band of the Year, Country Music Television Series of the Year, and has been named, along with Hank Williams and Harlan Howard, one of three Top Songwriters of All Time. In 2001, Anderson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and, in 2018, the national Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In addition to his work as a singer-songwriter, Anderson’s genial on-air personality led to successful stints on television, including his own syndicated country music variety program, as host of interview, talent, and game shows, and a role playing himself in a three-year storyline on the popular soap opera, One Life to Live.
Born: November 1, 1937, Columbia, South Carolina
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