Bill Pearce

Bill Pearce (May 20, 1926 February 23, 2010) was an American singer, solo trombonist, nationally syndicated broadcaster and inductee into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He died at age 83 on February 23, 2010, from complications of Parkinson's disease.

Early life

William Jones Pearce was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on May 20, 1926. His father was an itinerant Methodist minister with his own daily radio program, Christian Voices, which could be heard on WFIL, WIP and WCAM. He gave the message, his mother played the piano and sang. Bill, along with his brother and sister played together in a brass trio. However, Bill Pearce started out with a totally different instrument in the beginning.

"My first interest in music really was grade school orchestra," he said; "they needed a clarinet player and whether I looked like one or not, I was chosen to play an old metal clarinet. I did not take to that instrument at all, and it just frustrated the dickens out of me. I finally got angry enough to throw it down on my mattress hard enough that I slightly bent it, so we had a repair bill to start out with."

The clarinet would be repaired at the local music shop and Bill's band teacher suggested that he might try a different instrument, the trombone. At ten years old, Bill got his first trombone, "...an old King trombone for $20 at a local second hand shop," he says. He began practicing with the aid of an old Victrola and a 78 rpm of John Philip Sousa marches. His music teacher would come by once a week, and for his first lesson, tied the slide on his trombone so that Bill could not use it. The whole idea was to have him focus on his tone, rather than the notes. "He was a clinician, a visionary, a pioneer, a trail blazer," recalls Pearce, "and all of the great musicians, both symphonic and jazz, as they came through Philadelphia, would come and spend a couple of hours with Don Rheinhardt."

He would study with two additional teachers before stopping formal lessons altogether.

The third teacher was his band instructor in high school. "He was a military type and very strict about my doing everything it by the book," he recalls (by the way, the "book" in question was the Arban method!). "When he would call me in for a lesson I would know that was pending so I would get about 5 minutes of cramming in to see what I could do with lip trills and making decent sounds and scales and things like that. He didn't dig that at all and finally he dismissed me, saying I wasn't serious enough, that he wanted to spend his time with musicians who really wanted to play."

Bill enlisted and went through United States Marine Corps Recruit Training at Parris Island, South Carolina; 15 weeks of jungle training at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina; and another several weeks of training at Camp Pendleton, Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores, California. Bill and Anthony would later become one of the first of a stable of artists to record for Word Records. (Word Records in Waco, Texas, was for many years the leading Christian music record label).

Bill Pearce also played multiple times with Kurt Kaiser. "Kurt Kaiser came playing piano through Chicago," he recalls. "He and I hooked up with my trombone and before I knew it we were recording 'head arrangements' for Word. Then things at Word really started shaking and Paul Mickelson and Ralph Carmichael were raising the level, using professional sidemen and before we knew it Word Records was paying our production fees. We were playing with name people, including members of the Chicago Symphony string section, lead trumpet Bobbie Lewis, Mark McDunn and studio players; John Haynor was playing bass trombone with us. Guys like this were playing backgrounds. We were just at the right place at the right time. I was working hard and new young arrangers came through with good ideas and we were doing albums with top musicians. It was just a gift of God with timing that put me in the middle of all this. I was the only one doing anything at Word in brass work at all apart from a guy in Detroit named Chuck Ohman who was a fine trumpeter whom I had worked with in Percy Crawford's days. I was just blowing bubbles, making 30 or 40 albums over the years – there were so many I lost count."

Discography Bill Pearce – Trombone, with the Dick Anthony Orchestra. Arrangements by Dick Anthony. The Remarkable Trombone of Bill Pearce. Arrangements by Kurt Kaiser. Word WST-8312-LP. A Quiet Place: The Rich Trombone of Bill Pearce. 1965. Arrangements by Kurt Kaiser. Word WST-8460-LP. Reach Out: Bill Pearce, Trombone. 1975. Arrangements by Larry Mayfield. Word WST-8663-LP. Son Of My Soul. 1975. (Vocal album) Arrangements by Larry Mayfield. Word WST-8662-LP. Out of print. This is Bill Pearce. Arrangements by Larry Mayfield. FourMost LP FM7121CS. Out of print. Bill Pearce, Trombone. 1979. Arrangements by Larry Mayfield. New Dawn ZLP 3103. Out of print. Bill Pearce. 1981. Arrangements by Larry Mayfield. New Dawn ZLP-3187. Out of print. Great Hymns of the Faith. Bill Pearce sings hymns and tells the stories behind them. Together Again LIVE!. Bill Pearce in concert with George Beverly Shea, and the Melody Four Quartet. What Wondrous Love. Bill Pearce, trombone and vocal (includes previously released material from out of print discs). In His Likeness. Bill Pearce, trombone and vocal (includes previously released material from out of print discs). The Gentle Touch. Bill Pearce and Dick Anthony, vocal duo (includes previously released material from out of print discs). Encore. Bill Pearce, trombone (includes previously released material from out of print discs). Bright and Beautiful. Bill Pearce, trombone and vocal. Arrangements by Otis Skillings. Learning to Lean. Bill Pearce, trombone and vocal. 16 Singing Men In Concert. Bill Pearce with the "16 Singing Men". Christmas In The Air. Bill Pearce, trombone and vocal (includes previously released material from out of print discs). Arrangements by John Innes and Larry Mayfield. Favorites. Bill Pearce, trombone and vocal (includes previously released material from out of print discs). Touch of Gold. Bill Pearce, trombone and vocal (includes previously released material from out of print discs). 50 selections spanning 50 years of trombone and radio broadcast ministry. Over the Sunset Mountain Bill Pearce and Dick Anthony. Vinyl LP, Word Records: W-3059. 1959. Moments of Melody. Bill Pearce and Dick Anthony vocal duo. Singtime Recordings, LPS 500. Van Kampen Press, Wheaton, IL, 1953.