Bill Anderson is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television host. His soft-spoken singing voice was given the nickname "Whispering Bill" by music critics and writers. As a songwriter, his compositions have been covered by various music artists since the late 1950s, including Ray Price and George Strait. One of Anderson's earliest major successes was when he wrote the song "City Lights", which later became a major hit for Ray Price in 1958. His songwriting led to his first recording contract with Decca Records from that same year. Anderson began having major hits shortly thereafter such as his most successful single in his recording career, "Still" in 1963. The song became a major country pop crossover hit and was followed by a series of top ten hits including "I Love You Drops", "I Get the Fever", and "Wild Week-End".
In the 1970's, Anderson continued having major hits as a recording artist including "Love Is a Sometimes Thing", "All the Lonely Women in the World", and "World of Make Believe". As the decade progressed his style moved towards the polished countrypolitan genre of country music, with songs such as "I Can't Wait Any Longer". He was dropped from his record label in the early 1980's and began a brief career in television which included hosting the game shows The Better Sex and Fandango. By the 1990's Anderson not only continued recording but he also began collaborating with other writers and they wrote material that went on to become hits for the next generation of country performers like Vince Gill, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, and Steve Wariner in the next two decades. In 1998, he released his first major label album in over a decade, entitled Fine Wine. He continued releasing music through his own TWI record label with projects of gospel and bluegrass material. His 45th and most recent studio album titled The Hits Re-Imagined was released in 2020. In his career as both a writer and performer, he has received awards from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Anderson only appeared at the 1972 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the Rocking Unicorn and he sang "The Unicorn" from his tenth studio album Happy State of Mind.