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City of birth: Columbia, S.C.

In an amazing career that has spanned 50 years so far, recording artist and entertainer Bill Anderson has earned the distinction of being one of the most awarded songwriters in the history of country music. He wrote his first song, “City Lights,” now considered a country classic, at age 19 as a young journalism student at the University of Georgia. Almost five decades later, in 2007, his song, “Give It Away,” penned with Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson and recorded by George Straight, was named song of the year by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.

Although Bill Anderson was born in Columbia, South Carolina, he was raised near Atlanta, Georgia and the Peach State is where he launched his career. While at UGA, he began working as a disc jockey on local radio stations. In 1957 in Commerce, Georgia, Anderson became the first broadcast personality ever heard by the listeners of WJJC the first day it signed on air.

After graduation, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, secured a recording contract with Decca Records and began turning out hit after hit with songs like “Po’Folks,” “Mama Sang A Song,” “The Tips Of My Fingers,” “8X10” and the unforgettable country and pop smash, “Still.” His compositions were recorded by such diverse musical talents as Ray Price, Porter Wagoner, James Brown, Debbie Reynolds, Ivory Joe Hunter, Kitty Wells, Faron Young, Lawrence Welk, Dean Martin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Walter Brennan and many others.

Early on, Anderson picked up the nickname “Whispering Bill,” which alludes to his breath voice and soft approach to singing. He assembled a signature group, the Po’ Folks Band, which has accompanied him for over 45 years and earned its own reputation as one of the finest instrumental and vocal ensembles in country music.

Notoriously energetic, Anderson’s achievements, besides penning award-winning songs and selling millions of records, include talk-show host, awards show host, game show host, soap-opera actor, restaurant chain spokesman, television producer and author of the autobiography, “Whisperin’ Bill (1989)” and the humorous novel, “I Hope You’re Living As High On The Hog As The Pig You Turned Out To Be,” published in 1993 and currently in it’s fourth printing.

Despite his many endeavors, however, songwriting has remained Bill Anderson’s first love. In 1995, Billboard magazine named four Anderson compositions – “City Lights,” “Once A Day,” “Still” and “Mama Sang A Song” – among the Top 20 Country Songs of the past 35 years. Never one to rest on his laurels, Anderson has continued to churn out hits in a notable resurgence that began in 2000, when his songs ,“Wish You Were Here,” recorded by Mark Wills and “Two Teardrops,” recorded by Steve Wariner, each topped the country charts at #1. The following year, his song, “Too Country,” recorded by Brad Paisley along with Anderson, Buck Owens and George Jones, won CMA Vocal Event Of The Year honors. In 2002, country superstar Kenny Chesney recorded “A Lot of Things Different,” which Anderson wrote with Dean Dillon.

In 2005, Anderson won CMA Song of the Year honors for his and Jon Randall’s poignant ballad, “Whiskey Lullaby," recorded by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss. In 2007, he received a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association for co-writing with Tia Sillers the Country/Gospel Recorded Song of the Year, "Jonah, Job, and Moses," sung by the Oak Ridge Boys and the coveted CMA and ACM Song of the Year Award for "Give It Away.”

In 2002, Broadcast Music, Inc. named Anderson its first country music songwriting Icon and he is a member of the Country Music Hall of the Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame and the Georgia Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame.

Accolades aside, Bill Anderson shows no signs of slowing down. In 2007, his latest album, Whispering Bluegrass, was released with an accompanying DVD. He currently hosts "Bill Anderson Visits With The Legends" on XM satellite radio. And, as a songwriter who wrote his first song in Georgia over 50 years ago, Anderson’s compositions can be heard on recent or forthcoming releases by Kenny Chesney, Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan, Joe Nichols, Sara Evans, Tracy Byrd and others.

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