Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Warren Hill began
his musical journey on the guitar and vocals at the age
of 7. In his first lesson, his guitar teacher simply asked
him “tell me your favorite songs and I’ll
teach you how to play them” It was this simple question
that set the stage for Warren’s entire musical future:
playing the music that he loved.
Within a couple of years he had a songbook the size of
an encyclopedia and a growing desire to learn more music.
This desire led him to a music camp where he met bassist
and hit music producer Matthew Gerrard. At age 14 and
15, the two formed a rock band performing shows all over
Toronto. Eventually Warren began to incorporate his growing
desire for the saxophone into the band, which led Gerrard
and Hill to Rochester for a summer music camp at the acclaimed
Eastman School of Music. Warren brought both his guitar
and his sax, but once he arrived, someone played him a
cassette with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
Warren was instantly hooked on this undiscovered style
of music called “jazz”. During that summer,
he was so engrossed with the sax that his guitar never
left the closet! From there it was back to Toronto where
he quit his rock band and formed a fusion group, playing
Weather Report, Pat Metheny, Spyro Gyra, Grover Washington
Jr. and David Sanborn.
At this point, Warren was in his senior year of high
school, with a tough decision to make. An “A”
student with a passion for math and physics, he was accepted
into the prestigious program of Engineering Science at
the University of Toronto. It seemed that the “logical”
choice was to sideline his music and pursue a more stable
career in Science. Thus began one of the most difficult
years of his life. His studies were so demanding that
he was only able to play music once a week. This made
him realize even more how important music was to him.
But then the sudden tragic death of his older sister literally
flipped his world on it’s end and made Warren re-think
his life path. Realizing that life was precious and his
time on this earth was short, he decided that he'd better
be doing what he loved. So he applied to Berklee College
of Music in Boston and received a full scholarship. In
his words it was the best “career” decision
he ever made.
3 years later, on Hill's graduation night performance,
to his surprise legendary producer Russ Titleman was in
the audience and hired Warren on the spot to record 2
solos on his current project Chaka Khan’s “CK”.
The record included a virtual who's who in music, including
Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis. It was a dream come true
for Warren. Little did he know that things would not necessarily
happen that easily from that point on. He was still going
to have to work hard to reach his dreams of becoming a
recording artist in his own right. It was 1988 and Hill
packed his bags in Boston and went west to Los Angeles
to pursue his own record deal.
After only 6 months, one of Warren's demo tapes was heard
by Ahmet Ertegun and HIll was offered a recording contract
with Atlantic Records. However, the celebration was short-lived
as Warren faced his first challenge of perseverance: he
spent 8 months on "cloud nine" composing and
preparing to make the record, only to be shut down before
ever stepping foot in the studio, due to sudden cutbacks
at the label. After investing all of his time and money
into a record deal that was now gone, Warren pulled up
his boot straps and sent his tapes around to more labels.
After 4 months of pounding the pavement he found his new
home with Steve Backer and RCA Records, where Warren was
finally able to introduce the world to his music. Backer
allowed HIll the freedom to make the record with very
little input from the label and Warren delivered "Kiss
Under the Moon" his debut CD in 1991.
The CD quickly caught the attention of the industry and
climbed to the top of the Contemporary Jazz charts. Most
importantly, it caught the attention of Natalie Cole,
who was looking for an opening act for her "Unforgettable"
tour. Suddenly Warren found himself on the hottest tour
of the year, performing throughout the US and Canada at
some of the most prestigious and historic music halls,
including 3 nights at Radio City Music Hall in New York
City! A hit record and a tour that put him in front of
250,000 people in 2 months, the foundation for Warren's
solo career had been set.
Since 1991, Warren has released 11 solo CD's which have
reached combined worldwide sales of over 1 million copies.
His live show is critically acclaimed as one of the best
in his genre and has taken him around the globe including
Southeast Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. He has earned
accolades from a variety of institutions including: 6
Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards, Berklee Distinguished Alumni,
multiple SESAC Songwriter Awards, a Juno Nomination, multiple
Number 1 songs at Radio & Records, USA Today and Billboard.
He has performed as a special guest for many Artists,
including the number 1 Pop hits "Baby I Love Your
Way" with Big Mountain, "Tell Me What You Dream"
with Restless Heart". In the field of Contemporary
Jazz he has been heard on recordings with Chieli Minucci,
Keiko Matsui, Jeff Golub, Steve Oliver, Special EFX, John
Tesh, to name a few, many of which became number 1 songs.
Still a vocalist at heart, Warren continues to include
his vocals on his CD's, one of which reached Top 20 on
the Billboard Charts in 1998 "Shelter From the Storm".
His television credits include performances on Arsenio
Hall, The Tonight Show and BBC's Top of the Pops.
In 2002 Warren had an idea to create an event that would
bring his fellow Artists and fans together for a brand
new musical experience. He created the concept for the
world's first Smooth Jazz Cruise. After 2 years of development
and planning, Hill launched "Warren Hill's Smooth
Jazz Cruise" in January 2004. It was an instant success.
So much so that it spawned additional cruises mimicking
Hill's design. After 3 years of sold-out cruises, Warren
decided to move on to other projects and handed over the
reigns of his cruise to the capable hands of the late,
great Wayman Tisdale. 7 years later, Warren's initial
concept and design are still producing several sold-out
cruises per year, earning him the right to be referred
to as a music business "pioneer".
The true loves of Warren's life are his wife of 16 years,
Tamara and their 11 year old daughter, Olivia. He has
written countless hits dedicated to them, including "The
Passion Theme", "Our First Dance", "Tamara",
"U R the 1", "Olivia" and "Still
in Love". Olivia is now getting ready to take over
the role of "star" in the family, as her career
is beginning to take off. She has a feature film "Olivia
Rox" being released as one the the world's first
family oriented webisode series. Olivia is an incredible
singer/songwriter with over 200 songs composed since the
age of 4. A natural performer, Olivia starred in the role
of Annie for 75 shows during the summer of 2009, receiving
an Ovation Award Nomination from the critics.
Currently Warren is touring with the Gentlemen of the
Night, featuring Marion Meadows and Michael Lington. He
is working on several projects including a new CD, his
daughter's CD and next film, his online Sax Club (with
student members around the globe) and a new event to bring
to his fans on the level of his cruises. When he is not
working, he enjoys the outdoors for long family walks
with the dogs, jogging, cycling and swimming. He does
however have a secret new passion... racquetball!