Dan Hill

Inducted in 2025

How does one describe the creative force that is singer-songwriter, lyricist, and author Dan Hill?

Nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Vocal, winner of a Grammy (as co-producer of “Seduces Me” on Celine Dion’s 32 plus million-selling “Falling Into You” album), winner of five JUNO Awards, the Harold Moon Award, and inducted into the venerated Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Award in 2021, Dan is an international music industry legend.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1954, to activist parents—his Black father, Daniel G. Hill, was the first full-time director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and later an Officer of the Order of Canada; his White mother, Donna Mae (Bender) Hill, was a former US Senate staffer and a co-founder of Ontario’s Black History Society—Dan achieved stardom at the age of 21, with his hit song “You Make Me Want to Be (a Father).” Since then, he has gone on to become an acclaimed singer-songwriter, producer, and prose writer.

Career Highlights

2025

Dan Hill will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in celebration of his remarkable career as a singer-songwriter.

2021

Hill is inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, honouring his legacy as one of Canada’s most distinguished, authentic, and versatile songwriters.

1999

Hill releases Love of My Life: The Best of Dan Hill, marking 25 years as a songwriter.

1997

Hill receives SOCAN’s prestigious William Harold Moon Award in recognition for his international songwriting success.

Quick Fact

Hill has also earned acclaim as an essayist and author, with his bestselling memoir I Am My Father’s Son (2009) named one of NOW magazine’s Top 10 Books of the Year.

 

1996

Hill co-writes and co-produces “Seduces Me” on Céline Dion’s Falling into You album, which wins the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

1987

Hill releases the hit duet “Can’t We Try,” with Vonda Shepard which became the #1 Billboard Adult Contemporary Record of the Year spending 29 weeks on the charts.

 

1977

Hill releases the iconic song “Sometimes When We Touch,” a timeless classic covered by multiple legendary artists and recognized as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Century.

 

1975

Hill achieves stardom at age 21 with the release of his hit song, “You Make Me Want to Be (a Father)” earning his first JUNO nomination for Most Promising Male Vocalist the following year.

 

Video Background

Videos

Quick Fact

“Sometimes When We Touch” is one of the most covered songs of all time with renditions by Oscar Peterson, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Mark Gray and Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson, Barry Manilow, Donny Osmond, Bonnie Tyler, and more.