Bill Horn’s repertoire spans his decades-long career: The Temptations’ “My Girl,” Frank Sinatra’s “(Theme From) New York, New York,” Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” and this year the pianist and vocalist celebrates a major milestone in music: 70 years of performing.
Now 85, Horn has no plans to slow down musically. He clearly loves playing for audiences at Huckleberry’s Restaurant & Tavern at the Fulton Steamboat Inn on Lincoln Highway East. He performs solos on a digital piano that he has programmed to play a variety of instruments on the keyboard. He can even harmonize with his own voice to accompany songs.
Horne plays every Friday and Saturday night at Huckleberry’s and has been performing there for 16 years.
“Fulton Steamboat and Huckleberry’s Restaurants have offered live music for over 10 years, and Bill has always been the restaurant’s main entertainer,” said Steven Sicking, co-owner of the Fulton Steamboat Inn. “Guests of all ages appreciate his personality, extensive musical knowledge and, of course, his technique. With Bill as our main entertainer, we look forward to entertaining our guests with live music for many years to come.”
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Each night, Horn customizes the show for a different audience.
A couple celebrating a 50th anniversary could go for a sentimental song like “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Or a Taylor Swift hit could be perfect for a 16th birthday party. An engagement party could be Celine Dion or Frankie Valli with the Four Seasons. Even kids might request a song like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins.
Horn is a soloist, but occasionally includes a special guest, a purple Doo-Bop puppet who helps him perform the Louis Armstrong classic “What a Wonderful World.”
“Ask me anything. I have a repertoire of thousands of songs over the years,” Horn says. “I go to each show and ask about birthdays, anniversaries and any other favorite songs people would like to hear. Some people even challenge me to see if I know songs from the past. In most cases, I can accommodate their requests.”
Horne thought for a moment, then added: “I know all these songs by heart, so I think it’s a good sign to have a good memory at my age.”
Beginning of the teen years
Horn’s love of music dates back to his teenage years, when in 1952 he boarded a bus from his home in Hazleton, Luzerne County, and headed to Philadelphia with some classmates to dance on “American Bandstand,” the famous show on what was then WFIL-TV.
Two years later, at age 15, he began his performing career at a dance studio, singing and entertaining audiences during breaks — and he credits his wife, Joan, 65, for arranging that first job.
Bill Horn poses in this publicity image from the 1979 Sunday News.
LNP Archives
“She had a dance studio and she needed a boy quartet for a show,” Horne recalled. “I was paid $5, which was a lot of money in 1954. Gas was 17 cents a gallon then and a movie was 12 cents. Five dollars was enough.”
To this day, he’s often asked to play songs from the ’50s, and he feels comfortable going back to his early days backing Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Bobby Rydell at Philadelphia-area concerts.
He continued to perform at various shows and venues while attending West Chester University, earned a degree in music education, taught public school for nine years, and continued to play on weekends and evenings. To keep his mind busy, he also gave private lessons.
A born entertainer, teaching wasn’t enough for Horn: the stage called, and Horn answered.
He has sponsored 14 music cruises with Holland America Cruise Line and several other cruises, produced 12 recordings and toured the world playing organ in Germany, Holland, Wales, England and Singapore.
“Playing the organ gave me the opportunity to play the world-famous Blackpool Tower Organ in England,” said Horn, who was president of ARP Synthesizers and Hammond Organ.
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Time travel with music
Hearing the horns play on The Huckleberries is a bit like time travel, first to the ’60s with The Temptations and The Four Tops, then the freewheeling ’70s with The Eagles’ “Hotel California.”
His most popular song is probably “(Theme From) New York, New York,” which Frank Sinatra famously recorded in the ’80s, and when he finishes singing it, some in the audience start kicking out the full chorus line, Rockettes style.
Movie scores are always great songs that captivate audiences, and few songs are as iconic of the 1990s as “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic.” In the 2000s and 2010s, Horne might perform some of his favorite songs from artists like Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry.
These days, the most requested songs are new songs by Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Beyonce, etc. Chances are high that Horn has them in his repertoire. He plays almost every genre of music, from standards to country to pop, except for rap and heavy metal.
In this 1983 photo published in the Intelligencer Journal, Bill Horn is seen with his son, Bill Jr. (left), with whom he occasionally performed.
LNP Archives
Of the songs he plays, he admits his favorite is Mel Tormé’s “Here’s That Rainy Day.” “It’s not a very well-known song, but to me it’s the perfect song,” he says.
Old standards like “As Time Goes By,” “Autumn Leaves” and “My Funny Valentine” are songs that bring back fond memories for Horn.
“These songs are real music with melody, harmony and great lyrics,” Horn says. “It’s this type of music that I enjoy performing the most.”
Those are some of the staples that have made Horn a fixture on Lancaster’s entertainment scene since 1968, performing at venues including the Travelodge, Host Town, Host Corral and Seven Cousins in Park City.
Many of these love songs also served as the backdrop for his romance with his wife, Joan, who sang with him when he performed at the Host Corral. They raised their two children in Wilmington, Delaware, before moving to Lancaster in 1972. They now have two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Joan and music may be his true loves, but he has another passion: collecting antique and vintage cars. His current love interest is a deep blue 1967 Bentley T1. The Hornes also work with greyhounds, and one of their greyhounds is “very, very fast” so they have a fenced-in yard.
This year marks his 16th year working at Huckleberry, and he is still going strong as he approaches his 86th birthday.
“If someone asks me how long I plan to continue acting, I would say as long as I can keep myself fit,” he says. “It keeps me young and I think the audience enjoys it, which is the most important thing.”
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