Richard "Billy" Vaughn was born in Glasgow, Kentucky on April 12, 1919. He was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records.

His father was a barber who loved music and inspired Billy to teach himself to play the mandolin at age of three, while suffering from measles. He went on to learn a number of other instruments.

In 1941 Vaughn joined the United States National Guard for what had been planned as a one-year assignment, but when World War II broke out, he was sent abroad till the war ended in 1945. He decided to make music a career when he was discharged from the army at the end of the war, and attended Western Kentucky State College, now known as Western Kentucky University, majoring in music composition. He had apparently learned barbering from his father, because he did some while studying at Western Kentucky to support himself financially, when he was not able to get jobs playing the piano at local night clubs and lounges. While he was a student there, three other students, Jimmy Sacca, Donald McGuire, and Seymour Spiegelman, who had formed a vocal trio, The Hilltoppers, recruited Vaughn to play the piano with them. He soon added his voice to theirs, converting the trio to a quartet. As a member of the group, he also wrote their first hit song, "Trying," which charted in 1952.

In 1954 he left the group to join Dot Records in Gallatin, Tennessee as music director. He subsequently formed his own orchestra, which had a hit single in that same year with "Melody of Love." It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. He went on to have many more hits over the next decade and a half, and based purely on chart successes, was the most successful orchestra leader of all time.

Vaughn was responsible for most of Dot's biggest hits of the '50s as he rearranged popular rock & roll and R&B songs for white, mainstream groups. His first success was with the Fontane Sisters, who sang with his orchestra on all their singles, including their 1954 breakthrough hit "Hearts of Stone." However, Dot's biggest success was Pat Boone, who had a series of hits with Vaughn's cleaned-up arrangements of rock & roll songs.

At the same time he was leading the vocal pop division of Dot, Billy Vaughn was recording his own instrumental records, which frequently were also covers of R&B and country songs. Beginning with 1954's "Melody of Love," Vaughn had a string of easy listening U.S. hit singles that ran for over a decade. He also recorded numerous hit albums, with 36 of his records entering the U.S. album charts between 1958 and 1970.

Vaughn charted a total of 42 singles on the Billboard charts. He also charted thirty six albums on the Billboard 200, beginning with 1958's Sail Along and ending with 1970's Winter World of Love. He also had nineteen Top 40 hits in Germany, beginning with the chart-topping "Sail Along Silvry Moon". He had two more number ones in Germany: "La Paloma" and "Wheels" (all reportedly million sellers). Vaughn also charted in Australia, Latin America and Japan. "Pearly Shells" was a major success in Japan. Vaughn's tours of that country began about the time "Pearly Shells" was a hit in 1965. Many songs which were not US hits or even singles releases there, were major hits in other countries. These included "Lili Marlene" and "Greenfields" (Germany), plus "Theme from the Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (various Latin American countries). The album La Paloma was a success throughout Latin America. He also had a number one album in Germany in the early 1980s with Moonlight Melodies, which consisted of new recordings of many of his biggest hits.

The Billy Vaughn Orchestra began touring in 1965 with numerous sell-out tours throughout Japan, Brazil, and Korea.

Vaughn died of mesothelioma at Palomar Hospital in Escondido, California on September 26, 1991 - he was 72 years old.