Hilary Lacey Roberts is an American singer, songwriter and philanthropist. She was born in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
and currently resides in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. Her single "There for You" (2018) proved a success and became her first top-ten single on the ''Billboard''
Dance Club Songs
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
chart. The following year, her recording of the
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...
song,
Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) Back to Life may refer to:
Books
*''Back to Life: Poems from behind the Iron Curtain'', 1958, ed. Robert Conquest
* ''Back to Life'' (novel), 2004 novel by Wendy Coakley-Thompson
*''Back to Life, The Rachel Riley Diaries'', 2009 novel by Joanna Nad ...
peaked at number one on the Dance Club Songs chart.
Early life
As a young girl, after watching a performance of the broadway show "Annie," she decided early on that she would try to develop her talent as a singer. She began singing in dinner theaters in her area and continued on to regional talent shows and singing competitions. She has appeared in commercials for the Ronald McDonald house and diabetes awareness.
After having suffered from alcoholism and drug addiction at an early age, Roberts has been sober since May 1997. She also suffered from a rare congenital heart condition that almost proved fatal.
Career
Hilary is signed to her own label Red Songbird, and through it released her single "There for You". She collaborates closely with award-winning producers and songwriters,
Damon Sharpe
Damon Sharpe, born Damon Jared Reinagle, is an American record producer, songwriter, DJ and recording artist who works in Los Angeles. He first reached notability as a member of Guys Next Door. He has since contributed to various albums that hav ...
and
Eric Sanicola
Eric Sanicola (born May 6, 1981) is an American music producer and songwriter credited on numerous Gold and Platinum albums, including various ''Billboard'' magazine charting singles.
Career
Since the start of his career in 2003, he has wr ...
, who have worked on a number of her tracks. Roberts returned for a second run on Dance Club Songs, debuting at No. 47 with "Back to Life", a cover of Soul II Soul's 30-year-old pop/R&B smash "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)," featuring Caron Wheeler, which spent three weeks at No. 1 in August–September 1989. Her rendition was remixed by Andrew Wilson and Richard Cutmore,
the Perry Twins (duo)
The Perry Twins is an American DJ and producer duo consisting of brothers Doug and Derek Perry. Their debut single "Bad, Bad Boy" peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart.
Career
Originating in Rhode Island, the duo first ...
and
Wideboys
The Wideboys are an English electronic music duo known for club remixes and for their own song "Sambuca", featuring Dennis G on vocals, which reached number 15 in the UK in October 2001. Another top 40 single, "Daddy-O" featuring Shaznay Lewis, ...
, among others. Roberts told Billboard, "I was at dinner with
Dauman Music label owner Jason Dauman,...my producer Damon Sharpe and we were talking about old-school songs that had a huge impact. I started singing 'Back to Life' and Jason said, 'You sound great singing that song. You should really consider redoing it.' I hadn't thought about singing it before because Soul II Soul's performance with Caron Wheeler's incredible vocals was extremely powerful. It was a bit intimidating to tackle this incredible song, but my team said, 'Let's do this!'" Her third single, "Fight to the Other Side" was released in May 2019 in honor of her friend, who suffers from a rare form of
muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...
known as FSHD. It was co-written by Roberts, Sharpe, Greer and Christopher McDonald. An accompanying music video was directed by
Liz Imperio and shot with critically acclaimed dancers
Michael Dameski
Michael Dameski (born 7 November 1995) is an Australian dancer, actor and singer of Macedonian descent.
Early career
When Michael was six years old, he entered his first dance competition "The 2001 Australian Dance Idol" Program. Without any fo ...
and
Charity Anderson
Charity Anderson Reid (born 2000) is an American dancer. She specializes in contemporary and acro dance. She and partner Andres Peñate competed on season 2 of ''World of Dance'' in 2018, becoming the first in the show's history to score a perfe ...
.
Charitable work
In May 2019, Hilary launched the Red Songbird Foundation at the
Beverly Hilton Hotel
The Beverly Hilton is a hotel located on an property at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards in Beverly Hills, California. The Beverly Hilton has hosted many awards shows, charity benefits, and entertainment and motion pic ...
. The Red Songbird Foundation, which began its work in 2009, celebrated its public launch in 2019 and aims to help survivors of trauma caused by sexual, physical and verbal abuse.
Terry Crews
Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former American footballer. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/ CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which aired from 2005 to 2009, and portrayed Terry Jeffords in ...
hosted the event and other stars, such as
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ.
Early life
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...
,
James Maslow
James David Maslow (born July 16, 1990) is an American actor, singer and dancer. He played the role of James Diamond on Nickelodeon's ''Big Time Rush'', had roles in '' Getaway'' and ''The Frozen Ground'', and is a member of the boyband Big Time ...
,
Chloe Lukasiak
Chloe (; ), also spelled Chloë, Chlöe, or Chloé, is a feminine name meaning "blooming" or "fertility" in Greek. The name ultimately derives, through Greek, from the Proto-Indo-European root ', which relates to the colors yellow and green. T ...
,
Clinton Sparks
Clinton Charls Sparks (born September 18, 1975) is an American Disc jockey, DJ, record producer, songwriter and singer from Boston, Massachusetts. He initially started his career as a rapper, dancer, producer, and DJ who gained notoriety by maki ...
,
Pixie Lott
Victoria Louise Lott (born 12 January 1991), better known by her stage name Pixie Lott, is an English singer and songwriter. Her debut album, '' Turn It Up'', released in September 2009, reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold ove ...
,
Austin Mahone
Austin Harris Mahone (; born April 4, 1996) is an American singer, songwriter and professional wrestler. Mahone gained popularity performing covers of pop songs on YouTube. He released three albums to date. Famous releases include " Say Somethi ...
, and
Mario Lopez
Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C. Slater on ''Saved by the Bell'', ''Sa ...
were also in attendance.
Gabriel Iglesias
Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (born July 15, 1976), also known as Fluffy, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such as Comedy Central and Netflix, including ''I'm Not Fat… I ...
was the celebrity guest comedian for the evening with a special performance by
Charlie Wilson.
Discography
Singles
* "There for You" (2018)
* "Back to Life" (2019)
[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tpTKFIqD0KgJ:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/back-to-life-single/1445738428+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au ]
* "Fight to the Other Side" (2019)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Hilary
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Singers from Denver