Hill Kourkoutis is an award-winning artist, songwriter, producer, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and filmmaker based in Toronto. She is known for her super collaborative philosophy, unwavering work ethic and ability to wear multiple hats in her creative endeavors while still going above and beyond.
As a multi-instrumentalist and performer, Kourkoutis has had the honour of playing for Serena Ryder, The Weeknd, Danny Michel, Martha and the Muffins, Tara Slone (Joydrop and Rockstar:INXS), The Cliks and Saidah Baba Talibah to name a few. This collective of pursuits granted her the opportunity to tour across North America, Europe and Asia and led to many television appearances including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Juno Awards and the MuchMusic Video Awards. Hill can also be seen on the new CTV series, The Launch (created by Scott Borchetta), performing the duties of guitar in the show’s house band.
As a songwriter, Kourkoutis has been the recipient of various awards such as the International Songwriting Competition (Semi-Finalist), Canadian Radio Star Award (Winner) and USA Songwriting Competition (Finalist) and has been invited to take part in songwriting camps for Canadian Idol and the Songwriter’s Association of Canada. Artists that have recorded her songs include Graph, Meghan Patrick, SATE, The Cliks, Mookie and the Loyalists, Dane Hartsell, Martha and the Muffins, Andrea England and Martha Johnson, to name a few. She has also composed for Cadillac (Tom & Dave), The Adventures of Napkin Man, Season 3 (CBC/Junior Joe), Paper Girls (Fablevision/Junior Joe), “Grimey” (2012), a short directed by Al Mukadam, and ACTRA’s “Get Women Working” PSA. Her songs have appeared in television shows and films such as Degrassi: The Next Generation (MuchMusic/MTV), Offspring (Network Ten), Pulling Strings (Film), as well as ads for Urban Planet and Virgin Mobile. In 2022 Hill won the Engineer of the Year Award at Juno Awards, being the very first female nominated in the history of that category.
Hill has been an integral part of several musical projects including the indie alt/pop/rock band Drowning Girl, and is currently working on her solo project Hill & The Sky Heroes. The debut album “11:11? features many well-known collaborators including Serena Ryder, Adrian Eccleston (Drake/Kylie Minogue), Doc (The Weeknd/Esthero), Damhnait Doyle (The Heartbroken), Donna Grantis (Prince), Martha and the Muffins, Saidah Baba Talibah, Dane Hartsell and Lucas Silveira (The Cliks). Hill & The Sky Heroes also released two self-produced EP’s in 2015 (“Dark Days”, “Electric Matter”) which featured collaborations with Graph (Esthero/The Clipse/Idle Warship), Serena Ryder and Derek Downham (Andy Kim/The Beauties).
Hill has devoted more time to producing since establishing her studio The Lair in 2007 and has produced and engineered albums or singles for SATE, Jules, Graph, acapella supergroup Eh440, Lucas Silveira, The Cliks, Saidah Baba Talibah, Pavlo, Shawnee, Hunter Valentine, Ghost Caravan, Martha and the Muffins and Hill & The Sky Heroes. She has done remixes for Good Lovelies, Dear Rouge, July Talk, Adam Cohen, Madison Violet and SATE.
In addition to her musical ventures, Kourkoutis is also known as a director, producer and actor. As a teenager she was cast as the silent but insightful drummer Megan on the hit teen series “Radio Free Roscoe” (Noggin/The Family Channel). This experience supported by a childhood desire to capture the absurdities of life on film led Hill to Ryerson University where she completed a BFA with Honours in Film Studies. In her final year of studies, she was awarded with several awards including the Norman Jewison Filmmaker’s Award and the Harvey Hart Director’s Award for her existential comedy short “…And The Planets Conspire”. A year prior to graduating, Kourkoutis signed on as a director with Toronto-based production company The Field where she would direct videos for Sass Jordan, Serena Ryder, Tara Slone, Mother Mother, You Say Party!, Alex Cuba, Canadian Idol winner Theo Tams and “The Next Star” (YTV), to name a few. She also directed the ACTRA “Get Women Working” PSA, which received the 2013 Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Award. In 2010, Kourkoutis established her own production company, which has since produced music videos, promos and PSA’s for clients such as EMI, Last Gang Records, WIDEawake Entertainment Group and ACTRA.
