As a singer, television host and prolific songwriter, Bill Anderson became a
prominent and much loved figure on Nashville's country music scene throughout
the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Anderson earned a
degree in journalism and was working at the Atlanta Constitution newspaper when
City Lights, a song of isolation and loneliness he'd written as a 19-year-old,
became a surprise hit for Ray Price and topped the country charts in 1958.
"Whispering Bill" went on to score seven Number 1s on the country chart as a
performer in his own right and crossed o...