Paul was introduced to the Motown sound at the early age of 7 by his loving mother, the late Carolyn Hill. It was Carolyn that would inject and cultivate the love of music that is deeply rooted in Paul Hill today. Inspired and influenced, Paul listened, studied and would exegete the music of the Motown legends, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Temptations, Smokey Robinson too name a few. He also became fascinated with his uncle’s jazz music collection of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. Paul’s love for music wouldn’t stop there. He acquired a taste for the Beatles, Sam Cooke, Al Green, Sly and the Family Stone, Aretha Franklin and Funkadelic. Before long his love for music had no particular genre.
Like his mentor George Clinton, Paul’s first profession was a barber and hair stylist. After mastering the art of hair Paul moved on to pursue his true passion, Music. Unable to shake the desire and the gift of writing he possessed from the early age of 10. Paul used the money he made from doing hair to finance his own music projects. He also became a member of George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic better known as The P Funk and tours and performs for P Funk fans all over the world. Paul has been featured on four P Funk albums: How Late do U Have 2BB$UR Absent, Ganster’s of Love, Family Series and Baby Makers Vol 1. Now a veteran member of The P Funk Paul has traveled the globe sharing the stage with other musical talents such as: Beyonce, John Legend, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, R Kelly, Snoop Dogg, Jamie Fox, Prince, Eryka Badu, Lauren Hill, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ron Isley, Sly Stone and has also shared the stage with Issac Hayes, Whitney Houston and James Brown. Paul also briefly toured with Alexander O’Neal and is currently working with him on his new project.
Along with his musical accolades Paul is no stranger to TV. Paul has performed on David Letterman, Jay Leno, The Carson Daily Show, The 25th Anniversary BET awards, The Grammy Awards , The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, HBO’s Sinbad’s Summer Jam, New York Undercover, The Bernie Mac Show, Imax movie “All Access”, the movie “The Breaks” as well as wrote performed and produced the song “My Square” on the movie soundtrack of Super Sucker Staring Jeff Daniels. Paul made a featured appearance in Too Shorts Video and performed a song on his “Getting It” LP which earned Paul his first platinum album.
With a knack for bridging the gap between the old and the new, his skillful lyrical style paralleled with his melodic and soulful sound definitely classifies Paul Hill as a music connoisseur. His love and passion for the music of Motown would eventually lead him down a road that would afford him the opportunity to collaborate with the legendary writers and producers of Motown – Holland Dozier Holland. Recognizing the unique writing skills that Paul possess, Edward Holland quickly acquired Paul as a writer and producer on his own label.
The gift that Paul possess leads others to diligently seek him out. When Motown legends The Four Tops, Freda Payne, Mary Wilson of the Supremes and Sylvia Moy (a Motown writer and co writer of many Stevie Wonder songs) were ready to release new projects, they sought out the one person they knew would create a fresh new sound for them while allowing them to stay true to their roots – Paul Hill.
Paul’s childhood friend, producer Randy Ran formerly of the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis production team introduced Paul to Dallas Austin, super producer out of Atlanta, GA. From that relationship spawned two new careers. Paul was instrumental in catapulting the careers of His mentee’s Tim and Bob AkA the Funktowons (who as a result of Paul and Dallas’s relationship) became producers for D.A.R.P. and went on to produce acts such as TLC, Destiny’s Child, Boys to Men, Cisco, Bobby Valentino and many more. The Funktowons won grammy awards for their work and a total of more than 250 million albums sold world wide. Proof that Paul is not only a singer, songwriter and producer but has a keen ear and eye for talent and the music business.
In the early 2000′s Paul recorded an EP of 6 songs which displayed his production, writing and vocal skills. This indie production featured tracks filled with soulful emotions and exceptional intellectual ability and originality. The intro track was Paul’s prophetic version of the course of events that would inevitably take place in his future, ” Destiny”! The feature track “Issues” which could easily be construed as an anthem song for everyday life, Paul takes everyday issues and pairs it with an artsy and bluesy vibe making the issues of life pure musical enjoyment for all.
The cleverly and poetically written, metaphoric mid tempo groove of Need me some U puts you in the mind of the sensual sound of Al Green and was well received. Years later Need me some U would take on a different audience and a new life. A life in the deep house soul genre. With a house remix by DJ MoodyMann, Need Me Some U grabbed the attention of the Legendary Gilles Peterson a world renown British – based Swiss DJ and record label owner. Peterson was so impressed with Hill’s talent he featured the house version of “Need Me Some U” on his label Brownswood Recordings ” Bubblers 10″ project released in the summer of 2013.
Need Me Some U has exposed Paul to a brand new audience. This comes just in time for the release of Paul Hill’s new cd Malefunktion. Soon to be released, Malefunktion is a look at the High Hopes and Hell Holes that Paul encountered through out his life which ironically is the title of his new book, High Hopes and Hell Holes. These two projects allow you to see how a male-functions threw life’s malfunction’s. Pun intended!
