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James William Anderson III (born November 1, 1937), better known as Bill Anderson, is an American country music singer, songwriter and television personality. He has released more than 40 studio albums and has reached No. 1 on the country charts seven times: "Mama Sang a Song" (1962), "Still" (1963), "I Get the Fever" (1966), "For Loving You" (with Jan Howard, 1967), "My Life (Throw It Away If I Want To)" (1969), "World of Make Believe" (1974), and "Sometimes" (with Mary Lou Turner, 1976). Twenty-nine more of his singles have reached the top ten.
One of the most successful songwriters in country music history, Anderson is also a popular singer, earning the nickname "Whisperin' Bill" for his soft vocal style and occasional spoken narrations. Artists who have recorded his material include Ray Price, Connie Smith, Lynn Anderson, Jim Reeves, Kenny Chesney, and George Strait.
Anderson has made several television appearances, including two stints as a game show host: The Better Sex (with co-host Sarah Purcell) in 1977, and the country music-themed quiz show Fandango (1983–1989) on The Nashville Network. He has also hosted an interview show called Opry Backstage and was a producer of a talent show called You Can Be a Star, hosted by fellow Opry member Jim Ed Brown, both shows on the former Nashville Network, and has made guest appearances on several other television series.
Although Anderson was born in Columbia, South Carolina, he was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He studied journalism at the University of Georgia with an eye toward sports writing, and worked his way through school as a radio DJ, when he first tried songwriting and singing. He earned a degree in journalism from the university's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and landed a job at the Atlanta Constitution. He also became a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
His composition "City Lights," written when he was 19-years-old while working in Commerce, Georgia, at WJJC-AM, was recorded by Ray Price in 1958 and went to the top of the country charts. Anderson took full advantage of his big break, moving to Nashville, Tennessee, and landing a recording contract with Decca Records.
Before signing to Decca, Anderson recorded for the small TNT label between 1957 and 1959, where he released three singles that failed to hit the country charts, including a version of "City Lights". After signing with Decca in 1959, he left TNT.
His first chart hit came with 1959's "That's What It's Like to Be Lonesome," and he had his first top ten entry with 1960's "Tip of My Fingers." Early hits like "Po' Folks" (1961), "Mama Sang a Song" (his first No. 1, from 1962), and "8 X 10" (No. 2, 1963) still remain among his best-known. Anderson recorded his biggest hit and signature song, the partly spoken ballad "Still," in 1963, and it not only topped the country charts, but crossed over as well. The song climbed to No. 8 on the pop chart, as well as No. 3 on the adult contemporary chart.
On February 15, 1965, Anderson appeared—along with two "imposters"—on the game show To Tell The Truth, challenging the panel to determine "the real Bill Anderson." According to the affidavit read at the beginning of his segment, Anderson was at the time "generally considered to be the top composer of country music in the nation." Only two of the four panelists successfully identified Bill. At the end of the segment, he sang one of his own compositions, "Po' Folks." (During questioning, Anderson got a laugh when Kitty Carlisle asked, "Why are you wearing this costume?" After looking down at his brightly decorated suit—featuring sequined snowflakes—he deadpanned, "Well, it’s all I had.")
Anderson reached the top five 19 times through 1978. This included the No. 1 songs ones "I Get the Fever" (1966), "For Loving You" (a 1967 duet with regular partner Jan Howard), "My Life (Throw It Away if I Want To)" (1969), "World of Make Believe" (1974), and "Sometimes" (1976), a duet with Mary Lou Turner.
Anderson hit the top ten for the last time in 1978 with "I Can't Wait Any Longer," and by 1982, he stepped away from his country career.
Besides his whisper of a singing voice, he was also known for his whispering recitations during songs, such as in "Mama Sang a Song" and "Still." In songs such as "Double S," he whispered through the whole single, telling about his fictitious one-night stand with a woman who would not give her name, but mysteriously called herself "Double S."
Anderson has been voted and nominated Songwriter Of The Year six times, Male Vocalist Of The Year, half of the Duet Of The Year with both Jan Howard and Mary Lou Turner, has hosted and starred in the Country Music Television Series Of The Year, seen his band voted Band Of The Year, and in 1975 was voted membership in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Ten years later, he was chosen as only the seventh living performer inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In 1993, he was made a member of the Georgia Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame. In 1994, he was inducted into the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. And in 2001, he received the ultimate honor, membership in Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame.
Anderson has written songs for many country music singers, since first writing for Ray Price, among others in the late 1950s. He wrote many of country singer Connie Smith's biggest hits in the 1960s, including her best-known song, "Once a Day," which topped off at No. 1 in 1964 and spent eight weeks there, the longest by any female country music singer. He was also wrote Smith's "Cincinnati, Ohio" in 1967, among others.
In 1995, Billboard magazine named four Anderson compositions—"City Lights," "Once A Day," "Still," and "Mama Sang A Song"—among the top 20 country songs of the past 35 years, more than any other songwriter.
Anderson ended the 1990s with a pair of No. 1 hits, "Wish You Were Here," by Mark Wills and the Grammy-nominated "Two Teardrops" by Steve Wariner. His song, "Too Country," recorded by Brad Paisley along with Anderson, Buck Owens and George Jones, won CMA Vocal Event Of The Year honors for 2001. The following year saw Kenny Chesney soar with his version of the Anderson-Dean Dillon composition, "A Lot Of Things Different."
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