At age six Beau entered The Texas Conservatory of Music and studied classical piano and
composition. Five years later he was playing guitar in local groups and began learning how to write pop and rock music. He graduated from
Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas and was accepted to
Yale but declined to attend in order to pursue a career in recording and production. Beau attended the
University of Colorado from 1971 to 1974, majoring in music and history, while working as an engineer at
Applewood Recording Studios. After being promoted to head engineer at Applewood, Hill got his first production job working for Chicago producer and
Caribou Ranch Studios owner
James William Guercio. During this period, Hill honed his production skills with hours at Applewood doing demos with his band Airborne, featuring the guitar work of David Zajicek. These demos caught the ear of veteran producer
Keith Olsen (
Fleetwood Mac,
Foreigner,
Whitesnake and
Grateful Dead). In 1978 Airborne signed a major recording contract with
Columbia Records and a management contract with
Irving Azoff and Bob Buziak at Frontline Management. Keith Olsen produced the debut album in L.A.. An Airborne demo of the song "Bored with Russia", written by Hill, found its way into the hands of Welsh band
Budgie who recorded it for their 1982 album
Deliver Us from Evil. Hill moved to New York City in 1980, signed with
Chrysalis Records and
Aucoin Management (
Kiss,
Billy Idol), and recorded the debut album with his new group Shanghai, produced by
Bruce Fairbairn and engineered by
Bob Rock. An opportunity presented itself for Hill to develop and record Houston-based singer/songwriter
Sandy Stewart. Stewart’s demos found their way to
Stevie Nicks, immediately after her first platinum solo effort, and resulted in Stewart getting signed to Modern / Atlantic Records (Nicks’s label), with Hill as the producer. Stewart and Hill went on to co-write three songs with Nicks for her next solo venture
The Wild Heart. In 1983,
Atlantic Records president
Doug Morris recruited Hill to produce the newly signed group
Ratt. The debut effort sold over 3 million copies domestically alone, and made Hill an internationally acclaimed producer. He went on to produce the next three Ratt albums, all of which enjoyed multi-platinum success. In 1985, while still working with Ratt, he also produced
Midnite Dynamite by
Kix and
Crimes in Mind by
Streets. In 1986, Hill produced
Alice Cooper's
comeback album
Constrictor, then in London he produced and arranged the original motion picture soundtrack to
Hearts of Fire. The recording featured three new songs by
Bob Dylan with
Eric Clapton and
Ron Wood. In 1987, the formation of 'Control Management' found Hill's career moving in a new direction, working with
Winger, whose
debut album sold 1.8 million copies. He also worked with multi-platinum band
Warrant ==Affiliations==