Biography
Billie Hughes began his recording career as leader of the group Lazarus. In association with Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary, Lazarus moved to Woodstock, N.Y., signing with the newly formed Bearsville Records (Warner Bros.) label, under the direction of Albert Grossman. Two albums, "Lazarus" and "A Fool's Paradise" were released on Bearsville, produced by Peter Yarrow and Phil Ramone.
In the next four years, Lazarus performed extensively throughout the United States and Canada. In 1974, The Lettermen recorded Bill Hughes' song "Eastward" from the "Lazarus" album. "Eastward" was released as a single, reaching #16 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In 1976, the band Lazarus won the Clio Award for Best Commercial of the Year for the "Lifesavers" commercial, which ran nine years nationwide.
Billie Hughes began his solo career in 1978 upon signing with Epic Records. His "Dreammaster" LP was produced by Henry Lewy in Los Angeles. During the next four years, Billie Hughes toured the United States, Canada and Japan performing as an artist and traveled to Japan, Canada and Italy to record and produce various projects including performing and writing the theme song to "Martin Eden", a CBS motion picture released in Europe. Bill Hughes' "Martin Eden" single charted Top 5 all over Europe.
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 #1 charting Japanese duo Wink, among others.
Billie Hughes, Roxanne Seeman and Dominic Messinger's song "Welcome To The Edge" received an Emmy nomination for Best Original Song in the television show "Santa Barbara".
In 1991, Pony Canyon Records released Billie Hughes' "Welcome To The Edge", which remained in the Top 10 of the Billboard Japan chart for four months, selling 520,000 singles. Billie Hughes album "Welcome To The Edge", sold 120,000 CDs.
Tokyo, March 1992, Billie Hughes performed "Welcome To The Edge" at the NHK nationally televised Japanese Grand Prix Awards along with MC Hammer performing "You Can't Touch This". Billie Hughes won, receiving the award for "#1 International Single of the Year"
Billie Hughes received a second Emmy nomination for Best Original Song in the television show "Another World".
Billie Keith Hughes died July 3, 1998, in Los Angeles.
In 2001, Epic/Sony re-releases Billie Hughes' Dream Master album.
In April 2004, MGM releases Little Monsters with Billie Hughes and Roxanne Seeman's "I Wanna Yell" and two songs, including "I Wanna Yell", with vocal performances by Billie Hughes on DVD.
In August 2004, Fuji TV releases "Mou Daremo Aisenai" with Billie Hughes "Welcome To The Edge" and "Ai To Lu Namae Nomo To Ni" with Billie Hughes "Dreamlove" on DVD.
In September 2004, the first pop concert in history was staged on the Great Wall of China outside of Beijing with Alicia Keyes headlining. Billie Hughes and Roxanne Seeman's song "Walking On The Chinese Wall" by Philip Bailey produced by Phil Collins was the finale of the event and upcoming broadcast and DVD.
Rhino Entertainment re-released Bill Hughes' "Lazarus" and "A Fool's Paradise" albums by his band Lazarus in digital formats.
