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Billy Gilman: Hope Valley
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Biography: Only 11 years old when he notched his first hit single, Billy Gilman was the youngest performer ever to reach the Billboard country charts, breaking a record held by Brenda Lee since 1957. Gilman was born in Westerly, RI, on May 24, 1988, and grew up in nearby Hope Valley. He was singing before he started ...Read full biography
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Only 11 years old when he notched his first hit single, Billy Gilman was the youngest performer ever to reach the Billboard country charts, breaking a record held by Brenda Lee since 1957. Gilman was born in Westerly, RI, on May 24, 1988, and grew up in nearby Hope Valley.
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Born on May 24, 1988 in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, Billy has been an avid country music fan for years. Billy says he listened to, "Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Eddie Arnold, all the classics." His parents and relatives preferred the country sound, so Billy, as his mom puts it, "grew up on" country music.
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After that, Gilman made occasional MDA appearances, but mainly it was home to Hope Valley. After being on the road consistently since age 9. some adjustment was required, Billy and Fran Gilman say.
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"He wrote a killer in 'Let Me Remind You Again'," says Gilman. "He played it to me over the phone and it was all crackly because he was on his cell phone, but even so I had goose bumps because the song is just everything I hoped for. It sounds like Patsy Cline or Ray Price, songs they would perform in a heartbeat. So it was great to see the versatility in his writing."
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