Billy
has lived in South Florida his whole life. Growing
up Billy wanted to be a catcher for the NY Yankees.
How different his life would have
been had he taken that route, playing baseball instead
of music. Originally from Hialeah he has played in
local bands starting as a just a teen and since then
has followed his passion while gaining many approving
fans along the way.
His first road gig was with
three black female singers called the Fabulettes. Heavily
influenced by The Beatles, Stones, 60's British Invasion
and 60's Soul music; this allows Billy to bring many
musical flavors and colors to his always heartfelt
and well crafted songs.
Billy and his band are in the process of getting a
CD of NEW music into the market place with the
official release tentatively to be in December. You
can always be assured of Billy delivering a passionate
performance, so till then you can check out
some local South Florida dates for his fans which will
be announced very soon. |
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When writing tunes for the new CD, Billy usually
will sit and finish a song completely then start the recording
process by
first programming drums then bringing in the rest of
the instruments, one by one. Basically demoing the song
for his band mates. After that the rest of the band is
brought in to add their creativity and record their parts. The
songs on this new record are ones he has written since
forming the latest incarnation of his band,
"The Livesays". In addition to Billy the band
currently consists of: Cuqui Berrios - Hammond/vocals, Tim
Murphy - Piano/vocals, Eddie Zyne - Drums, Jorge Laplume
- Bass. Expect
a mix of styles and songs about life and life experiences
with a universal message written from Billy's point of
view. Also on this CD are some great co-writing partnerships
which bring some un-expected, interesting and pleasing
results to his latest batch of exciting new tunes.
Billy has placed songs currently placed in: NBC movies
of the week -"Death
Of A Cheer Leader", "Beauty's Revenge" and "The Mathew
Sheppard Story", Weekly TV series : "Robin's Hoods", " Doogie
Howser", "King of the Hill", "One Tree Hill" , " My Name
Is Earl", "Saving Grace", "Samantha Who", "Witch Blade",
HBO Movie: "Back To Even" . 2007 Motion Picture " Wrestle
Maniac"
The Temple Of Soul
In the spring of 1998, Billy got the job, playing lead
guitar and sharing the singing duties for E Streeter Clarence
Clemons Band called "The Temple Of Soul" which he has continued
until the sad passing of the Big Man in 2011.
On his experience with Clarence " Playing with
Clarence Clemons. The caliber of musicians in the band.
The camaraderie we
had as a unit. Clarence was a great guy and I played great
gigs" . Their
special guests have included Bruce Springsteen and Little
Steven. The Temple Of Soul were featured as the "house" band
for the 2000 and 2001 ESPY Awards on ESPN! A four show
run at Asbury Park's famous "Stone Pony" was recorded live
in September 2001. The release date was November 5, 2001
and entitled, "Live In Asbury Park, Volume 1". "Live in
Asbury Park, Volume 2" was released in January of 2004,
featuring Bruce Springsteen.
When not performing with The Livesays, Billy is also the
guitar player/singer for Tony Stevens SLOW RiDE original
Foghat, featuring
original Foghat member Tony Stevens. With the release of
their last CD titled "Join Together" Slow Ride was awarded
a spot in the top 25 mp3's of 2007 at Indie-music.com with
Billy's song "Redemption".
I don't think in this day and age you can really
surprise anyone unless Billy was to say he could
fly ! He could say that, but then he would have to prove
it. Open to anything, Billy still pretty much finds
himself listening to old school classic rock and pop. Taking
each day as it comes, he admits to be
older and wiser. With all the changes in business over
the last 20
yrs., he keeps himself busy staying mainly in the NOW.
"Putting a band together and learning the same material
over and over, breaking in new musicians or dealing
with drama from band members can be so energy zapping.
But the love of creating new music and then playing what
he creates and knowing people actually really like it
is really the thing that matters. It would be great to
have more venues that book and pay unsigned original
bands. Just to have my songs heard by the masses is the
next goal. Today with the Internet the positive is anyone
can record and promote themselves independently. The
negative is anyone can record and promote themselves
independently. Sometimes without a filter to work with
it makes it tough for a new artist to get the tools of
the craft of writing and recording music. It's still a
numbers game between the haves and have not's and unfortunately
, it still takes money to advertise even if an artist is
great. It's still luck, money and talent. The artist needs
to be completely competent business wise. Make sure he
is surrounded by like minded people and realize it's not
a party."
The Livesays' new album "Rose
Colored Glasses" dropping the end of this month.
CD Release Party at Boston's in
Delray on Sat Dec. 10th. Hope ya like it.
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