The Austrian musician and entertainer Jonny Hill was born Feri Gillming on July 27, 1940 in Graz. After a brief career as an actor, he was discovered and promoted as a singer by the German composer Lotar Olias, who realized Hill's voice bore a close similarity to that of Freddy Quinn, another popular Austrian singer. His debut album Eine Reise um die Welt ("A Journey Around the World") in 1969 was followed by several other records in the pop and country genres. Hill's biggest success was the single "Ruf Teddybär Eins-Vier" ("Call Teddy Bear One-Four") from 1979, which earned him a gold record and reached number eight on the German charts. Hill continued to have a moderately successful music career well into the 21st century, as well as working in television -- from 1989 to 1992, he presented RTL's German country music series Kilometer 330. The author Folke Tegetthoff is Hill's brother. ~ John D. Buchanan