Judith Hill at Nisville

25 Mar Judith Hill at Nisville

From the backing vocalist of Prince and Michael Jackson – to the status of a new star

American-Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist Judith Hill who is very successfully combines different styles (r`n`b, soul, funk, jazz, blues, gospel, hip-hop…) will perform at the upcoming Nisville  on Sunday, August 17th. Since 2015, she has released five albums under her own name, and she performed at concerts and festivals around the world.

After studying composition at Biola University, Judith Hill went to France, where she performed with the French pop-rock legend Michel Polnareff. Upon returning to the USA, she first built her reputation as a backing vocalist on some of the most important recordings and performances pop and rock artists including: Prince, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Greg Allman, Josh Groban, Carloe King, Mike Oldfield, Barry Manilow, Dave Stewart, Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams, George Benson, Johny Legend… In 2009, she was chosen for a duet with Michael Jackson in the song “I Just Can Stop Loving You” (recorded by Jackson in 1987 with singer Siedah Garrett) for the documentary film “This is it”, about Michael Jackson’s preparations for the planned tour of the same name, which was canceled due to his death in the same year. The film, supplemented by performances from the concerts at “Staples Center” and “Forum”, was later released anyway, where almost all the protagonists of the aforementioned film performed at the commemoration of the great musician (musicians, entertainers, singers) Judith Hill sang “Heal the World”.

Judith is the main protagonist of the documentary along with several other singers documentary film (Grammy for the best musical film) “20 Feet to the Stars” which talks about the most famous backing vocalists.

She was one of the most notable participants of the fourth series “Voice USA”, and at the beginning in the second decade of this century, much more was devoted to author’s work. The beginning of that phase was when director Spike Lee included several of her compositions (including Desperation) in soundtrack of the film “Red Hook Summer” (2012). Already next year, Judith Hill signs soloist contract with Sony music company. His first album “Back in Time” (2015) she co-produced together with Prince.

It is interesting that Prince didn’t notice her in the series “Voice” nor in a movie about Michael Jackson, he had already watched one of her TV interviews in which she said that she would love working with him. Last year she released her fifth album “Letters from a Black Widow” which received excellent reviews. By the way, last year she was also a special guest of the Prince’s band Revolution at their reunion in Minneapolis, at the anniversary celebration of 40 years since the release of the famous album “Purple rain”. Her parents: mother – Japanese pianist and organist Michiko Hill Yoshimura and father – bass player Robert Lee “Pee Wee” Hill who met in the early eighties as members of the same Californian funk group, have been playing in their daughter’s band in recent years.