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Billy's music career started with a band that he formed with his brother Michael while growing up in Las Vegas. The band was called Lodgic, where he played bass and sung while Michael played keyboards and sang, too. The band also included Guy Allison on keyboards as well, Jimmy Haun on guitar, and Gary Starns on drums. They eventually moved the band to Los Angeles in 1980. After many years of trying to get things together, they recorded their debut album "Nomadic Sands" which was released in 1986. Billy showed his talents not only as a musician, but also as engineer, mixer, and producer of the album.
Lodgic eventually broke up, and Billy set out to putting a new band together with Guy Allison. They recruited guitarist Bruce Gowdy and drummer Mark T. Williams to form World Trade. They recorded their self-titled debut in 1989, with Billy taking on the roles of engineer, mixer, and producer again, along with his band duties as the bassist and lead singer.
Then through a twist of fate, Billy and Bruce were asked to come and jam with Chris Squire, Alan White, and Tony Kaye of Yes. Singer Jon Anderson had left, and more recently guitarist Trevor Rabin. The idea was for Billy and Bruce to replace them in the band. Though they wrote and recorded demos of some material, the plan never developed. Like Trevor Horn before him, Billy was uncomfortable with the idea of replacing Anderson as the front man of Yes. But he struck up a friendship with Squire that would lead to working with him throughout the next 10 years.
During the hiatus of Yes, Squire put together the Chris Squire Experiment, having Billy as the lead singer while playing some guitar and keyboards. Then he would produce, engineer, and mix a couple of tracks on Yes' "Union" album. These were songs that Billy wrote with Chris and he even performed on. He then would go on to record a project called The Key with guitarist Marty Walsh and drummer Hugh Meign, though they would not release the album until 1997.
His talent behind the board led him to work with Motörhead, Dangerous Toys, and Paul Rodgers formerly of Bad Company as producer and engineer. Billy was also brought in by Toto to sing and play bass on their "Relativity" album. He also produced a couple of tribute albums, including "Jeffology" a tribute to Jeff BeckThe electric guitarist Jeff Beck (born June 24, 1944) is a British rock musician who played in a number of influential bands in the 1960s. Beck was born in Wallington. Like many rock musicians in the early 1960s, he began his career working as a session g. Billy then joined Yes on tour as an additional musician, playing guitar and keyboards for their "Talk" tour.
Billy finally got back together with his band mates from World Trade, and released "Euphoria" in 1995, with Jay Schellan replacing Williams on drums. After this, he worked with a multitude of artists. Most of his work was as producer, mixer, and engineer. Most significantly was his involvement on two more tribute albums. "Dragon Attack", a tribute to QueenFreddie Mercury Queen is a British rock band which was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The group is well known for its sports anthems and classic rock radio staples, particularly the hits " We Are the Champions" and " Bohemian Rhapsody;" the band promoted, "Salute to AC/DCAC/DC is an Australian rock band and considered pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal music. The group was formed in Sydney, Australia in December, 1973. Their albums have sold in colossal numbers — the total is now estimated to be around 100 million copi", and "Crossfire", a tribute to the last Stevie Ray Vaughn.
The call from Yes would come again, as Billy would co-produce, engineer, and mix the new studio tracks for their "Keys to Ascension" and "Keys to Ascension 2" albums. After Billy would start putting into the works a third album by World Trade, but the band would fall apart. He would later use much of that material as his debut solo album "The Big Peace", released in 1999.
After the two "Keys to Ascension" albums, Rick WakemanRick Wakeman (born May 18, 1949 as Richard Christopher Wakeman is a progressive rock keyboard player. He is a classically trained pianist and has been highly acclaimed for his virtuosity. In his early years he was a pioneer in the use of electronic keyboa left Yes. Billy's friendship with Chris Squire would then lead him being asked to join the band. The material that they had written together was used as the basis of what would become "Open Your Eyes" released in 1998 by Yes. Billy would play guitar and keyboards. Igor Khoroshev would be brought along on the tour as the keyboardist leaving Billy to playing guitar and supplying backing vocals.
After returning from the tour, Billy and Yes returned to the studio, with Igor as a full-fledged member, to record "The Ladder". During this time too, Billy and Chris would start putting the finishing touches on their album "Conspiracy", which was released while Yes was on tour in support of "The Ladder" in 2000. Bill also took time to perform on his brother Michael's album "Tangletown", released in 1999.
Yes recorded a show during "The Ladder" tour in Billy's hometown of Las Vegas at the House of Blues. This was released as an album and DVD titled "House of Yes". Then after the tour, an announcement came that Billy was no longer a member of Yes.
In 2003, Billy released another album with Chris Squire, the project becoming known as Conspiracy. The album is titled "The Unknown".
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