Goldie Hill

Biography

Argolda Voncile "Goldie" Hill (January 11, 1933 – February 24, 2005) was an American country music singer. She was one of the first women in country music and became one of the first women to reach the top of the country music charts with her number-one 1953 hit, "I Let the Stars Get in My Eyes". Along with Kitty Wells and Jean Shepard, she helped set the standard for later women in country music.

Biography

Hill was born in Karnes City, Texas, in 1933, a small town southeast of San Antonio. She was the sister of singer Tommy Hill.
She performed with her brothers Tommy and Ken. She then auditioned as a solo singer at Decca Records. Her first single, "Why Talk to my Heart", was released in 1952. Hill recorded the song "I Let the Stars Get in My Eyes" the same year as a riposte to Perry Como's "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes", written by her brother, Tommy Hill. It became a number-one hit. In 1954, she followed up with two hit duets with singer Justin Tubb, son of Ernest Tubb. In the early 1960s, she recorded two albums for Decca Records. She regularly performed on Louisiana Hayride, Grand Ole Opry, and Ozark Jubilee. She made a short-lived comeback in the late 1960s with the label Epic Records under the name Goldie Hill Smith.
Hill married country singer Carl Smith in 1957 and the couple had two sons (Carl, Jr. and Larry Dean) and one daughter (Lori Lynn). They remained married for 47 years until her death on February 24, 2005. Hill died from complications of cancer. She was 72 years old. Her husband survived her by five years.