Hill was born in London, England. His parents are Irish citizens and Hill has dual U.S. and Irish citizenships. In 1976, he and his family moved to
Pennsylvania. They later moved to
Princeton, New Jersey. He played
soccer and
baseball as a child. He is one of the original members of Blues Traveler. In 1983, while attending
Princeton High School in
Princeton, Hill met
harmonica player
John Popper, and they formed a group dubbed Blues Band. They played mostly at parties and saw numerous
bassists and
guitarists come and go. In 1987, with the addition of
Chan Kinchla on guitar and
Bobby Sheehan on bass, they renamed themselves "Blues Traveler". After graduating from Princeton High School, Brendan (along with John and Bobby) enrolled in
The New School for Social Research to study music. Hill currently lives on
Bainbridge Island, Washington, and owns a retail marijuana store on the island named Paper and Leaf. Hill uses Yamaha drums and
Zildjian cymbals. ==Side project==