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From the CMT web site:
Singer Goldie Hill, the wife of Country Music Hall of Fame member
Carl Smith, died Thursday night (Feb. 24) in Nashville's Baptist
Hospital of complications from cancer. She was 72.
Born Jan. 11, 1933, in Coy City, Texas, Argolda Voncile Hill began
singing with her brothers, Tommy and Ken Hill, while she was in her
teens. In 1952, she and Tommy joined Webb Pierce's band and began
performing with him on the Louisiana Hayride on radio station KWKH in
Shreveport.
When Pierce journeyed to Nashville to record in 1952, Hill went along
with him. While there, she auditioned for Pierce's label, Decca
Records, and was signed immediately. She was soon dubbed "The Golden
Hillbilly." Hill's first single was "Why Talk to My Heart,"
an "answer song" to the Ray Price hit, "Talk to Your Heart." It
failed to chart.
In 1953, however, Hill went No. 1 for three weeks with "I Let the
Stars Get in My Eyes," an answer to Slim Willet's wildly
popular "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes." The answer song was
written by her brother Tommy, who also wrote Pierce's big 1954
hit, "Slowly."
Hill never duplicated the success of her first hit. In 1954, she
teamed with Justin Tubb for the single "Looking Back to See" (written
by Maxine Brown of the Browns). It peaked at No. 4. Over the next
five years, Hill charted only thee times, once with Tubb ("Sure Fire
Kisses") and twice with Red Sovine ("Are You Mine," "Yankee Go Home").
On Sept. 19, 1957, Hill married Carl Smith and retired from show
business. She resumed recording in 1968 for Epic Records. Although
she cut two albums for Epic, only one single made the
charts. "Lovable Fool," released under the name Goldie Hill Smith,
reached the No. 73 spot, but she never charted after that.
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