Billie Hughes


Billie Keith Hughes was an American recording artist, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known for his songs written for Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Bette Midler, The Jacksons, The Sisters Of Mercy, Al Jarreau, his band Lazarus, Noel Paul Stookey, and his solo career as a recording artist. Hughes had a successful artist career in Japan and was awarded the No. 1 International Single of the Year in 1992 at the NHK Grand Prix Japanese Gold Disk Awards.
The Japanese primetime television series "Mou Daremo Aiseai" featuring Billie Hughes "Welcome to the Edge" began rebroadcasting October 8, 2019 on TVK, a local Japanese station located in Kanagawa, which is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.  The series is 12 episodes long.

Early life and education

Billie Keith Hughes was born in Graham,Texas on April 4, 1948 to Betty and Billie Wayne Hughes, a Church of Christ minister. He had an older brother Jim. He attended Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas. He co-founded a popular campus singing group called Blue Sky Investment which included Billie, Mike Haynes and Kay Ross on vocals, Carl Keesee on bass,and Marshal Locke on drums.

Career

Lazarus

Hughes began his recording career as leader of the group Lazarus. In association with Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary, Lazarus moved to Woodstock, New York, signing with the newly formed Bearsville Records label, under the direction of Albert Grossman. Two albums were recorded and released on Bearsville, produced by Yarrow and Phil Ramone. In the next four years, Lazarus performed extensively throughout the United States and Canada.
Lazarus released two albums, the first eponymous Lazarus in 1971, and the second, A Fool's Paradise in 1973.
In 1974, The Lettermen covered the Hughes song "Eastward", from the first Lazarus album. It was released as a single, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard US Adult Contemporary chart, and included on The Lettermen's Now And Forever album.
In 1976 Lazarus won the Clio Award for "Life Savers" Best Commercial of the Year which ran nine years nationwide.

Solo career

In the early 1970s Hughes lived in London, Ontario Canada where he regularly performed at Smale's Pace, a well-known coffeehouse on the Canadian folk circuit, and at folk festivals across Canada. During the Canadian years he was sometimes accompanied by Lazarus bassist Carl Keesee, and occasionally Lazarus performed as a full band including Randy Kumano, Allan Soberman and Wayne Smith.
Hughes began his solo recording career in earnest in 1978 upon signing with Epic Records. His Dream Master LP was produced by Henry Lewy in Los Angeles.

Martin Eden

During the next four years, Hughes toured the United States, Canada and Japan performing as an artist and travelled to Japan, Canada and Italy to record and produce various projects including his own hit single "Martin Eden" which charted top 5 all over Europe.
Hughes wrote the song "Martin Eden" with Italian composers Ruggero Cini and Dario Farina. It was written from the composer's theme from the 1979 TV mini-series Martin Eden based on the Jack London novel, directed by Giacomo Battiato.
Hughes recorded his vocals for "Martin Eden" in Rome. It was released as a single in Europe where it topped the Billboard charts in several territories, such as Sweden where it reached No. 2.

Working with Roxanne Seeman

In 1983 Hughes formed a partnership with lyricist Roxanne Seeman which set in motion a career of recording, producing, and songwriting for film, television, and records including works produced by such name producers as Phil Collins, Arif Mardin, Michael Omartian, George Duke and Reggie Lucas and included such artists as Philip Bailey, The Jacksons, Bette Midler, The Sisters Of Mercy, Randy Crawford, Al Jarreau, Melissa Manchester, and the No. 1 charting Japanese duo Wink, among others.
In 1990, Hughes wrote "Welcome to the Edge" with Roxanne Seeman and Dominic Messinger, with the song appearing as a love theme in the daytime TV drama Santa Barbara. It appeared for the first time in January 1991 performed by Billie Hughes. A female vocal version also appeared in the show. "Welcome to the Edge was recorded in Japanese by Wink.
In 1991, a new arrangement of Hughes' "Welcome to the Edge", produced with Roxanne Seeman, appeared as a theme song in the hit Japanese TV drama "Mou Daremo Aisenai". "Welcome to the Edge" was the single and title track from the album released by Pony Canyon Japan. Welcome to the Edge remained in the Top 10 of the Billboard Japan chart for four months, selling 520,000 singles. The album sold 120,000 copies.
In March 1992, Hughes performed "Welcome to the Edge" at the NHK nationally televised Japanese Grand Prix Awards and received the award for "#1 International Single of the Year". MC Hammer performed "U Can't Touch This" at this show.
Welcome to the Edge received an Emmy nomination for Best Original Song in the television show "Santa Barbara".
Hughes and Seeman wrote "Dreamlove", a love theme appearing in the daytime television show Another World, for which they received a second Emmy nomination for Best Original Song.

Death and Legacy

Hughes died on July 3, 1998, of a heart attack in Los Angeles. He was survived by his parents and two daughters.
In September 2004, the first pop concert in history was staged on the Great Wall of China outside of Beijing with Alicia Keys headlining. Hughes and Seeman's song "Walking on the Chinese Wall" by Philip Bailey produced by Phil Collins was the finale of the event.

Discography

Albums

With Lazarus