{"id":148388,"date":"2010-04-23T14:35:19","date_gmt":"2010-04-23T14:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socancom100stg.wpenginepowered.com\/coming-full-circle\/"},"modified":"2010-04-23T14:35:19","modified_gmt":"2010-04-23T14:35:19","slug":"coming-full-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/coming-full-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming full circle"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s one of Canada\u2019s most successful songwriters, an artist whose songs have topped the country and pop music charts around the world. As a composer, Dan Hill<\/strong> has been hugely prolific, writing hits like his own iconic \u201cSometimes When We Touch\u201d as well as numerous chart-toppers for such performers as C\u00e9line Dion<\/strong>, Britney Spears, Michael Bolton, George Benson and Sammy Kershaw.<\/p>\n

But when Hill\u2019s father died in 2003, the songwriting well suddenly ran dry. So he turned his attention to writing a confessional autobiography about life with his demanding dad, Daniel Grafton Hill III, a larger-than-life figure who has been called Canada\u2019s father of human rights. The resulting book, I Am My Father\u2019s Son<\/em>, became a critically acclaimed bestseller and helped the Grammy and Juno award-winning artist rediscover his songwriting mojo.<\/p>\n

Now Hill is back with Intimate<\/em>, his first album of new material since 1996. The recording reunites him with producers Matthew McCauley<\/strong> and Fred Mollin<\/strong>, friends from his formative days in the Toronto suburb of Don Mills who produced Hill\u2019s first four platinum-selling albums. The new album includes the composer\u2019s own renditions of songs made famous by other artists, such as \u201cI Do (Cherish You)\u201d (98 Degrees), \u201cI Promise You\u201d (Backstreet Boys) and \u201cBack Before the War\u201d (Reba McEntire).<\/p>\n

Best of all, as the title suggests, Intimate<\/em> also features some of Hill\u2019s recent and most personal songs, including the title track, \u201cRedemption,\u201d \u201cLove Yourself,\u201d \u201cStill a Lot of You Around Here\u201d and the deeply moving \u201cI Am My Father\u2019s Son.\u201d Hill says songwriting came to a halt when his father died after a lengthy battle with diabetes and the songwriter discovered he\u2019d been working at his craft to win his dad\u2019s approval. His breakthrough came only after he\u2019d confronted his demons, notably his difficult relationship with his father, and wrote his tell-all autobiography.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could never have written those kinds of songs before my dad died and I wrote the book,\u201d says Hill. \u201cOne of the songs I wrote just as he was dying and I was so broken up that I almost killed myself through some crazy excess drinking. Another is about coming to terms with your flaws and how we all need to find some kind of redemption. By the time you\u2019re in your 50s and your father has died, you become acutely aware of the trajectory of life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of the song \u201cI Am My Father\u2019s Son,\u201d Hill also became acutely aware of the similarities between himself, the carefree musician, and his dad, the stern civil servant. The poignant lyrics represent some of the best Hill has ever written:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Always wanted your attention<\/em><\/p>\n

Never knew just how to get it, so I rebelled<\/em><\/p>\n

Tried to be your opposite, I did it well<\/em><\/p>\n

Strange but true<\/em><\/p>\n

The more I tried to be so different<\/em><\/p>\n

The more I was like you.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hill\u2019s book inadvertently sparked a return to performing when he found himself thrust into the rigours of author tours. \u201cHere I was, on stage with incredible writers like Joseph Boyden,\u201d recalls Hill, \u201cworried that my readings weren\u2019t going to measure up. I figured out the best thing for me to do was to segue from reading certain sections to singing songs connected to the book. People were really moved by the synthesis, so it inspired me to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1990s had seen Hill largely abandon performing in favour of songwriting for other acts. Working in Nashville, often collaborating with country artist Keith Stegall, pushed Hill to exercise his songwriting muscle. \u201cI really learned about being versatile,\u201d he says. \u201cIn Nashville, songwriters never say whether they\u2019re better at lyrics or music. The really great ones will switch around, like batting from both the left and right sides in baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

After establishing himself as confessional writer of almost painfully honest and emotional songs, and winner of many accolades including five SOCAN Awards for outstanding airplay in Canada, Hill found new life as a composer for hire. \u201cThat was a great gift,\u201d he says, \u201cto be able to get outside myself and to slip into other people\u2019s worlds and write about that. Working with Keith has been great. Although I wasn\u2019t raised on country, I understood the power of the story in country music. It all comes down to storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Hill has come full circle and is back to writing and performing songs for himself. This spring and summer see him on a cross-Canada tour with Marc Jordan<\/strong> and Amy Sky<\/strong>, performing solo and with rising Canadian star Liz Rodrigues<\/strong>, with whom he co-wrote \u201cIntimate\u201d and \u201cYou Know Just What to Say.\u201d Having amassed over 100 million combined unit sales for all his songs, it would be easy for Hill to rest on his laurels. But that\u2019s not part of his DNA. \u201cThe best writers I know never feel they\u2019ve done their best work,\u201d says Hill. \u201cWhenever I write a new song it\u2019s like I\u2019m starting over.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the death of his father and the subsequent publication of I Am My Father\u2019s Son, Dan Hill is back writing and performing songs from his first CD in over a decade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-non-categorise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}