Hill is the son of social scientist and public servant Daniel G. Hill, and brother of the author Lawrence Hill. His wife is lawyer Beverly Chapin-Hill with whom he wrote the songs "Can't We Try" and "(Can This Be) Real Love". Although some sources have incorrectly stated that he was married to American country singer Faith Hill, her surname came from her first marriage to an unrelated Nashville record executive named Daniel Hill.

One of his songs was "It's A Long Road" which he recorded for the 1982 action movie First Blood. In 1985, he was one of the many Canadian performers to appear on the benefit single "Tears Are Not Enough" by Northern Lights. Although he had many hits in his native Canada, further singles did not fare as well in America, where, after "Let The Song Last Forever" in late 1978, he went almost a decade without cracking any of Billboard's singles charts.

In 1987, Hill returned to the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the Top 40 hit "Can't We Try", a duet with the then-unknown Vonda Shepard (her last name was incorrectly spelled "Sheppard" on the label). It was his biggest hit since "Sometimes When We Touch", peaking at #6 on the Hot 100. He also had a near Top 40 hit with "Never Thought (That I Could Love)". Both records reached #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and set the stage for Hill to have three more top 10 U.S. AC hits through 1991's "I Fall All Over Again," though he did not make the Hot 100 again after "Never Thought."

A road trip to a Dan Hill concert was the subject of the 1994 Canadian comedy film South of Wawa.

In 2007 he toured with the CBC Radio program The Vinyl Cafe.

Dan Hill authored an article in the 14 February 2008 edition of Maclean's entitled "Every Parent's Nightmare", about the terror he experienced from friends his son brought home. On March 14, 2008 CBC had an in-depth interview with Dan Hill discussing his son's involvement with Toronto, Ontario gangs based on the article.