Interview: 2008
CD Reviews:
A Midnight Clear (2011)
Simple Beauty (2010)
Blue Ridge Reunion (2008)
Christmas In Carolina (2005)
Book Reviews:
Blue Ridge Reunion (2008)
Bio: 8/08
Bill has produced seven CDs including three albums which have hit at or near the top of the world music charts. Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma recently called Leslie “one of the greats in modern Celtic music.” Bill’s orchestral composition Tall Ships was named the official song of the 2006 America Parade of Sail featuring majestic ships from around the world. Bill’s music has been performed by the North Carolina Symphony and the Tar River Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bill’s first solo release, Peaceful Journey, hit number one on the New Age Reporter's world music charts in December 2004, while his Christmas in Carolina and I Am a River albums peaked at number two. Leslie, who plays guitar, piano and Celtic whistle was named "Best New Artist" worldwide by the NAR in 2005. His Christmas in Carolina album was named 2005 "Best Holiday Album.” Bill also produced two albums with the Celtic fusion band Bragh Adair.
Bill Leslie is also an accomplished broadcast journalist winning than 70 major news awards including five Emmys and two Peabody Awards, considered the Pulitzer Prize of broadcasting. As a veteran anchorman and environmental reporter for WRAL Television in Raleigh, Bill has produced more than a dozen award-winning documentaries including “Troubled Rivers” which won the National Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Public Service Award. Bill’s radio series and documentaries including “The Five Faces of Poverty” and “Victims” won The Edward R. Murrow Award, The Robert F. Kennedy Award, The National Headliner Award, the duPont-Columbia Award, the National Gavel Award, the Champion Media Award for Economic Understanding and the Janus Award.
Bill is a graduate of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He lives in Cary, N.C. with his wife Cindy. Their children are Lauren, an elementary school teacher and Will, a student at Appalachian State University.
