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Billy Hill (3)

Billy was born 26th June 1943 and was an original member of The Essex, while he was in the US Marine Corps. He graduated from Princeton High School in 1961, but he and fellow Marine Rudy Johnson started singing any chance they got. Eventually the duo joined with Walter Vickers and Rodney Taylor, also Marines, and started looking for a female singer. They met Anita Humes, also a Marine, and the group started singing together four or five hours a day. Hill spent four years working as a proctor at Princeton University and recording music on the side. Finally he got to the point where he didn’t have enough time to do both, and chose to pursue music full time — this time under the name Billy Proctor. He sang for Motown and tutored other singers in technique, but when the label shifted its focus to movies, Hill found himself again needing to move on. Hill returned to Mercer County and took a job as a corrections officer at Trenton State Prison, where he worked for 25 years.