Billy Hill (songwriter)

Billy Hill was an American songwriter, violinist, and pianist who found fame writing Western songs such as They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree, The Last RoundUp, Wagon Wheels, and Empty Saddles. Hills most popular song was The Glory of Love, recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936, Count Basie in 1937, Peggy Lee in 1959, Dean Martin in 1966, Tom Rush in 1968, Eddy Arnold in 1969, Wizz Jones in 1970, Otis Redding, The Five Keys, Paul McCartney in 2012 and Bette Midler for the film Beaches.

William Joseph Hill was born on July 14, 1899 in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. He studied the violin at the New England Conservatory of Music under Karl Muck, and played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Hill left home at the age of seventeen and headed west, where he worked as a cowboy in Montana, and as a surveyor and prospector in Death Valley, California. He returned to music and played violin and piano in dance halls until forming his own jazz band in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Source: Wikipedia