On this day (February 24) in 2005, Goldie Hill, known early in her career as the Golden Hillbilly, died in Nashville, Tennessee, after a long battle with cancer. She was 72 years old. While Hill didn’t release a long line of hits, she is an incredibly important figure in country music history. She was the second woman to top the country chart. Her single reached No. 1 not long after Kitty Wells became the first woman to achieve the feat.
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Hill was raised in a musical family. Her brothers, Tommy and Kenny, were country musicians. Her first public performances came when they invited her to join them onstage. Finally, in the early 1950s, Tommy landed a job as Webb Pierce’s fiddle player. Before long, he had convinced Pierce to add his younger sister to the band.
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“It was actually 1952,” she recalled in an interview. “My brother Tommy Hill was working with Webb Pierce. Kitty Wells had come out with her records and had something pretty good, and Webb decided he needed a girl singer in the band. My brother said, ‘I got a little sister at home.’ He gave me a call and said, ‘Do you want to sing?’ and I said, ‘Why not?’”
Earlier that year, Wells became the first woman to top the country chart when “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” an answer to Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life,” reached No. 1. According to the Texas State Historical Association, Hill wanted to follow Wells’ lead.
Goldie Hill Finds Her First Hit
Goldie Hill released her first single, “Why Talk to My Heart,” in 1952. It was an answer to Ray Price’s hit “Talk to Your Heart.” The single failed to chart, but that didn’t stop Hill. Her second single, “I Let the Stars Get in My Eyes,” was an answer to “Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes.” It went to No. 1.
Hill only had a few more hits in her career. In 1954, “Looking Back to See,” a duet with Justin Tubb, reached No. 4. Later that year, their duet “Sure Fire Kisses” reached No. 11. “Are You Mine” and “Yankee, Go Home,” collaborations with Red Sovine, reached No. 14 and 17, respectively.
In 1957, Goldie Hill married fellow country star Carl Smith. A little more than a decade later, they retired to their ranch in Tennessee, had three children, and raised quarter horses.
Hill didn’t release a long list of hit songs and isn’t a household name today. Her influence echoes throughout the generations of women who entered country music because she and Kitty Wells proved that there was a place in the genre for women.
Featured Image by Bob Grannis/Getty Images
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