Bill Anderson Bio, Education, Marriage, Divorce, Family, Songs, Career, and Honors

Bill Anderson Biography

Bill Anderson was an American singer, who specialized in country music songs, songwriter, and television host. He is widely known for his nickname “Whispering Bill” given by music critics due to his soft-spoken singing voice. He has worked as a DJ at WGAU in Athens, Georgia, and then at WJJC in Commerce, Georgia.

Bill Anderson Age

Anderson was born on November 1, 1937. His birthday celebration is on the 1st of November yearly. Although Bill’s life ended on 30th October 2020 his legacy remained behind.

Bill Anderson Family

Anderson’s birthplace was in Columbia, South Carolina, as James William Anderson III, though he was known professionally as Bill Anderson. He spent most of his early years around Atlanta, Georgia. Anderson was the son of Elizabeth and James William Anderson, Jr. of Columbia, South Carolina. He was the elder brother of his sister. His sister, Elizabeth Anderson, was two years younger than him. His father Anderson was an insurance agent while his mother was a homemaker. He was raised by his parent living as a family in Columbia. Then later his family moved to their own home in Decatur, Georgia, where he spent the remainder of his childhood. In Decatur, his father retired as an insurance agency firm owner.

Bill Anderson Education

He started his early education in Columbia, and later in Decatur, Georgia. Thereafter he obtained his degree in journalism from the University of Georgia.

Bill Anderson Marriage/Divorce

Anderson has got married two times and had been in two long-term relationships. They met with his first wife, Bette (née Rhodes), through a mutual friend in the late 1950s. He got married in December 1959, At the age of 22 years old and her wife Bette was 19 years old. The couple was blessed with two daughters, in a marriage that lasted for ten years. They officially divorced in 1969, after one year of separation. While reflecting on his divorce in 2016, Anderson was convinced that it was Bette’s lack of understanding of his music business. Bette Anderson died at the age of 69, in 2010.

In 1970, he married Becky as his second wife. Their marriage yielded one child. In 1984, Becky got into a car accident which led to a quarter of her brain damage. The marriage also ended in divorce in 1997, after separating for 7 years. After his second divorce he dated Marlin though, their relationship did not last after marlin accused him of hitting her with the car door. This accusation caused his arrest which never lasted for one day.
Anderson met Vickie Salas his long-lost friend and they started dating around 2008. The two reconnected after Anderson’s second divorce. “We never married, we never lived together, but she became my everything”, this was Anderson’s statement about Vickie. Salas succumbed to cancer in January 2019 after three years of struggle.

Bill Anderson Career

Anderson began performing and writing songs while still in school. He composed his first country classic, “City Lights,” at the age of nineteen, and started paving his way in musical history. He acquired his first recording contract with Decca Records and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. There he began producing hit after hit with various songs including; “Po’Folks,” “Mama Sang A Song,” “The Tips Of My Fingers,” “8X10,” and the unforgettable country and pop smash, “Still.” His albums were recorded and produced by diverse musical professionals such as; Ray Price, Porter Wagoner, James Brown, Debbie Reynolds, Ivory Joe Hunter, Kitty Wells, Faron Young, Lawrence Welk, Dean Martin, and Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Walter Brennan among others.

Bill has been a six-time award winner of Songwriter Of The Year, Male Vocalist Of The Year, half of the Duet Of The Year with both Jan Howard and Mary Lou Turner, been a host, and became a star in the Country Music Television Series Of The Year, his band voted Band Of The Year, and in 1975 was voted membership in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Ten years later, the State of Georgia recognized him by choosing him as the only 7th living performer inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. He became a member of the Georgia Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame In 1993. He was registered by South Carolina into their Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame In 1994. And finally, in 2001, he received the ultimate honor, membership in Nashville’s prestigious Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Bill Anderson Salary

Bill’s exact income was hard to tell since it was earned through multiple sources.