SOUTHERN ILLINOIS TO APPEAR ON DAYTIME TALK SHOW

Steve Hornbeak never expected a rise to fame in the music industry, but the Southern Illinois native is on his way to the top.

Hornbeak, 35, lives in Nashville, Tenn., when he isn't traveling with country music star Faith Hill. Hornbeak is a keyboard player and backup vocalist for Hill.

"It never happens this way, but it happened," Hornbeak said of his career.

And things just keep getting better. Last week he appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman." This week he will perform on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."

Growing up in nearby Tamms, Hornbeak had his first exposure to music around age 5 singing gospel songs and playing keyboard in local churches.

His first professional work came at age 17 playing keyboard in the Cape Girardeau area with Mike Smith and the Runaways. He stayed with the group for three years, playing mostly 1950s and 1960s dance music.

At 20, Hornbeak moved to Florida and started performing with nightclub bands. It was at one of the clubs that Hornbeak got his big break.

His band was playing at a Holiday Inn in Tampa, Fla., when he heard that country singer Lee Greenwood was not only in town, but staying at the hotel. Hornbeak, whose band played some of Greenwood's music in its act, wrote a note to Greenwood and slipped it under his door along with a tape of the band playing Greenwood's music.

That night Greenwood showed up at the club and listened to Hornbeak's band. At one point during the show, Greenwood went on stage with Hornbeak and sang his song "Don't Underestimate My Love for You."

Six weeks later, Hornbeak got a call from Greenwood asking him to come to Nashville and join Greenwood's band. He stayed with Greenwood for 5 1/2 years.

Now he is lead background vocalist and keyboard player for Faith Hill. Her song "Let Me Let Go" is No. 1 on the charts, and has enjoyed enormous success over the past year -- something Hornbeak has enjoyed along with her.

Hill's band was in New York last week to perform the No. 1 hit on David Letterman's show. They also taped a segment for "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," which will air nationally today.

On the original recording of the song "Let Me Let Go," Hill sings a duet with Vince Gill. When Hill goes on tour, Gill isn't always able to perform, so Hornbeak sings his part.

"I got a lot of exposure on Rosie's show," Hornbeak said.

With Faith Hill's rise to fame, Hornbeak will get a chance to do some new things in 1999 -- things he never expected would come about.

At the American Music Awards next month, Hill and her band will perform another No.1 song, "The Kiss," which was used in the film "Practical Magic."

There is already talk of the band performing the same number at the Grammy Awards later in the year.

Hill has also released a new album in Europe and will go on tour in February. But because Hill has a newborn child, she's cut back on the number of cities her tour will visit. Hornbeak said the tour will include about 100 cities in 1999.

"When I was with Lee Greenwood, we performed in over 200 cities a year," he said.

Though he likes touring, Hornbeak also enjoys the time away from the road to spend recording in Nashville or playing clubs with his own band, Bluenecks -- some of the members are also members of Hill's band.

"We're called the Bluenecks because we're a bunch of rednecks playing blues music," he said.

Hornbeak is still surprised by the success he has enjoyed in the music industry. His biggest regret is that his mother, who died 12 years ago, didn't get to see his rise.

"She would have been excited by all of this, but she never got to see any of it," he said.

Hornbeak's father and younger brother still operate an insurance business in Tamms.