Sublime

JAMES J. Hill ranks among the great organizers and managers of the American West. Born in Canada in 1838, Hill moved nearly two decades later to the Twin Cities, where he quickly exhibited the tireless energy and foresight that characterized his entire career. By his early forties he had helped organize major new transportation systems in Canada an

“Back Stabbers” and “Love Train” for the O’Jays, and “Me and Mrs. Jones” for Billy Paul—all from 1972—and followed by “You Make Me Feel Brand New” (1973) for the Stylistics and “The Love I Lost” (1973) for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, there was no stopping Gamble and Huff until “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” (1979)

One of Hill’s favorite stories involved how, as he approached age eighteen in 1856, he decided to leave the nest. An itinerant trader from Saint Paul, Minnesota, took a liking to the lad after he had voluntarily watered the man’s horse. Handing him a tattered copy of a New York newspaper captioned “Splendid Chances for Young Men in the West,” the t

everyone around the Saint Paul levees came to know “Jim” Hill, his name usually rendered as one word, “Jimhill,” a man who always seemed up on anything and everything that went on.