Country music artist and North Carolina native Bill Phillips passed away on Monday, August 23, 2010, at the age of 74.

Phillips was born in Canton, North Carolina on January 28, 1936. He began playing music at an early age but did not get his break into the industry until he joined the Old Southern Jamboree in Miami, Florida in 1955. The Old Southern Jamboree, like so many other programs of its day, was a regular dose of live Country music broadcast over the airways, not unlike that of Knoxville's Midday Merry Go Round and Wheeling's Wheeling Jamboree. This Country music program was broadcast through the facilities of WMIL in Miami.

After breaking into the music business in Miami, Phillips traveled to Music City USA, Nashville, Tennessee. By this time he had made somewhat of a musical name for himself and soon found work with the Kitty Wells Show. Wells, at the time, was the number one "girl singer" in Country music and was heralded as the "Queen of Country Music". The show also consisted of Wells' husband Johnny Wright and his duet partner Jack Anglin who composed the duo of Johnny & Jack.

From 1958 until 1987, Phillips recorded 41 tunes. Of these songs, 19 made it to the Country charts. The songs included "Sawmill" (1959) with Mel Tillis, "I Can Stand It (As Long As She Can)" (1964), "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (1971) and "Dance The Night Away" (1981). His biggest recording came in 1966 with the recording of "Put It Off Until Tomorrow (You've Hurt Me Enough Today)". The song, which went to number 6 on the Country charts, was penned by Phillips niece, a then yet to be discovered Dolly Parton. The Decca Records recording also featured uncredited harmony vocals by Parton.

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