Music Hilton heard a local radio station was giving away
Jonny Lang concert tickets and called into
The Mark & Brian radio show on
KLOS in Los Angeles at the age of 16. While on the phone, he sang an
a cappella version of
Jonny Lang’s song "Breakin' Me". Mark & Brian were so impressed with Hilton's performance that they gave him a spot at the station's Christmas concert. Word of Hilton caught the ear of
Maverick Records (owned by
Warner Bros. Records), who signed him up with a record deal when he was 18. Hilton released a self-titled EP on April 6, 2004. All four songs were included on his first album
The Tracks of Tyler Hilton released on September 28, 2004. After the release of his album, Hilton joined the likes of
Avril Lavigne,
Jet,
50 Cent, and
Josh Groban as an artist chosen by
AOL Breaker for his star potential. In addition to his own albums, Hilton has also appeared on each of the three different
One Tree Hill soundtrack albums, some with formerly unreleased material that cannot be found anywhere else. Most notably, the cover of the
Ryan Adams song "When the Stars Go Blue", which was arranged into a duet with One Tree Hill star
Bethany Joy Lenz for the show; also, a cover of "Missing You" by
John Waite and the original track "You'll Ask For Me". In 2005, he was part of a 23-city concert tour along with Lenz,
The Wreckers and
Gavin Degraw. During the summer of that year, he opened for
Hilary Duff on her "Still Most Wanted Tour". His EP,
Better on Beachwood, which features three songs was released in May 2009.
Ladies & Gentlemen, another EP followed in April 2010 and features five songs. Both EPs are available on
iTunes. For five years, Hilton worked on an album called
The Storms We Share. The album, containing some songs of
Ladies & Gentlemen, was planned to be released in the late summer of 2010. However, when the direction changed at Warner Bros. Records, Hilton left the label resulting in the material not being released. On January 11, 2012, Hilton released a free song called "Loaded Gun" from his upcoming album
Forget the Storm on his website and was featured in the season 9 premiere episode of
One Tree Hill following his return as Chris Keller. Hilton also debuted two songs from the album called "Kicking My Heels" and "Prince of Nothing Charming" on the show. On February 14, 2012, "Prince of Nothing Charming", the first single from Hilton's upcoming album
Forget the Storm, was made available on iTunes. On March 7, 2012, Hilton revealed via Twitter that
Forget The Storm, his first full-length LP since 2004, would be released on April 3, 2012. The album was produced by
David Hodges among others and released through Hilton's own label, Hooptie Tune Records. He chose to title it "Forget the Storm" as a reference to his unreleased album, "The Storms We Share", and described it as "a little more rock and roll." He also toured with
Boyce Avenue in the UK and Ireland in June 2012 until July 2012 and will return late October 2012 on his own headlining tour after more US shows, wrapping up the year with shows back in the US. On December 7, 2016, Hilton release a new single called "Next To You" on iTunes; It was recorded on his Forget The Storm Deluxe Version as an acoustic version. In 2017, Tyler Hilton released his cover of "Stay" by
Rihanna and released his most recent single "Overtime" on August 15, 2017.
Acting After his stint as
Chris Keller on
One Tree Hill, Hilton went on to appear in the
Academy Award-winning film
Walk the Line as a young
Elvis Presley. For the part, Hilton was given the opportunity to cover two Elvis songs for the film: "Milk Cow Blues" and "
That's All Right". Both songs are featured on the film's
award-winning soundtrack. In 2007, Hilton played the love interest in country music artist
Taylor Swift's music video for her song "
Teardrops on My Guitar" and appeared in the 2008 film
Charlie Bartlett. He was with
Charlie Bartlett co-star and now wife
Megan Park in the music video for the band
Gloriana's song "(Kissed You) Good Night" released in January 2012. Hilton also performed in a Season 4 episode of
My Super Sweet Sixteen (Amberly) during a young girl's sweet 16 party. He also appeared on
VH1's
Single Ladies. After a five-year break from
One Tree Hill, Hilton returned as a regular for its
ninth and final season. In 2016, Hilton played Noah Casey, a billionaire love interest for the main character in
Pitch.
Author On February 26, 2025, Hilton announced his forthcoming children's book "Daddy: Live In Concert" would be released on April 8, 2025. == Personal life ==