BiografieIn the Beginning


Having been inspired by watching the first performance of the Beatles
on the Ed Sullivan Show, my brother Johnny and I were sure we
had found our destiny. After begging our parents for the better part of
a month to buy us instruments, they finally relented and bought my
brother a set of drums and me a bass. Our cousin, Alvin, already had
a guitar and actually knew a few chords, so when I was at the tender
age of 15, we were putting our first band together.



When I say that Alvin knew a few chords, I should have said that he
knew very few chords. He knew three chords: C, F, and G. So the
first song that we worked up used C, F, and G! I thought it was pretty
clever at the time. Oh, how we practiced, hour after hour, day after
day. Oh, the torture that my parents endured! We endeavored to
persevere and before we knew it, we had a whole set list of three
chord songs: “Louie Louie,” “Hang on Sloopy,” C, F, and G,
you get the picture.



With the addition of Sammy on guitar, we had our first band. We
called ourselves Odds’n’Ends. I don’t know why. We played
anywhere we could: birthday parties, grand openings, talent shows,
sock hops. A funny thing happened. After a while, people actually
started offering us money to play! WOW! It came like a flash of light,
a revelation so profound that it made me shiver! It was actually
possible to make a living playing music! At that age, we thought that
$50 a week was a living. We had money to spend, money in the bank
and were constantly upgrading our equipment. We had it made.
We had Gibson and Fender guitars, Ludwig drums, Vox amps. I had
a beautiful Hofner bass, just like the one Paul McCartney played.
Life was good.




All Good Things Must End



The Vietnam War was raging during this time period. The rest of the
guys were about three years older than I was. When graduation time
came, Uncle Sam came calling. Alvin joined the Air Force, my brother
joined the National Guard, and I joined another band.



A keyboard player in another band, Jim Shields, approached me after
his band and mine had played a gig together. They were playing
James Brown and Sam and Dave; we were playing Led Zeppelin
and Vanilla Fudge. I think he liked the direction that my band was
heading and we talked about the possibility of joining forces. Jim was
an awesome keyboard player and the thought of playing with him was
very appealing. He told me that a new kid had moved into town and
he was a really good player. Jim suggested that we get together and
jam, and see what happened. So in the summer of 1970, we got
together and Jim introduced me to Marty Conn: a skinny, blonde
17-year-old with a gold Les Paul. We hooked up our instruments and
Marty suggested that we play “Jeff’s Boogie.” Wow – “The Kid
Could Play” – Marty was fantastic. I was sold and the band Bishop
was born. With this lineup, we started playing more progressive music:
Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant… the possibilities seemed endless.



After a couple of years in Bishop, Jim was lured away to play with a
band in Cincinnati. Their guitar player was Adrian Belew (Adrian, as
some of you may or may not know, went on in later years to play
guitar with the likes of Frank Zappa, King Crimson, and became
a critically acclaimed musician and producer in his own right). A few
months later, Jim showed up again with Adrian in tow. It seems that
Adrian was a frustrated drummer at heart, and we set about the task
of rehearsing and putting a band together with Adrian on drums.
The band played one show in Kingsport, Tennessee. I swear this to
be true – the local newspaper did a review and I have a clipping!
After the concert, Adrian went back to Cincinnati, and I haven’t
talked to him to this day. I don’t know why!





Onward and Upward


Jim moved to Virginia Beach to start playing with a group of musicians
that he thought was promising. Marty and I put a band together called
Passenger. I actually played with this band for about 7-8 years.
The band was a revolving door for a lot of musicians over the years,
but finally settled with the line up of: Benny Wilson/lead vocals and
harmonica, Don Gorman/guitar, K.D. Forsha/keyboards, Terry
Baker/drums, and yours truly/bass and lead vocals. I played with this
band through college and beyond, playing concerts and in clubs all
over the southeast. Marty had gone off to do sound for the
Whitford-St. Holmes Band.



And then one day I got “the call.” Jim was calling from Atlanta;
the band from Virginia Beach, now called Avatar, had gotten a
production deal and they wanted me to move to Atlanta to be the
bass player. I quit my job as a social counselor at the Dept. of
Human Services, gave my notice to the guys in Passenger, packed
up the family and moved to “Hot-Lanta,” where I was being paid a
whopping $200 a week to rehearse, write songs and go in search of
that elusive record deal.




We Went Through How Much Money?!!!



After about six months of writing, rehearsing, and playing with an
extremely talented and progressive band, the inevitable happened –
the money was gone! With no work to sustain us and no recording
contract, the only choice I had was to move back to Tennessee and
try to regain my gig with Passenger. Thankfully, the guys welcomed
me with open arms, and I was back playing the club circuit.



Funny how the years seem to creep by when you are playing 4-5 sets
a night, 5-6 days a week! On the upside, my chops were good and I
was doing what I wanted to do. Besides, I really liked playing with
these guys. They are all very talented and it was really a good band!
We remain friends to this day and the band remains intact with the
exception of myself.




When You Least Expect It



Sometime in ‘78, Marty resurfaced, fresh off a tour with the
Whitford-St. Holmes Band with a couple of new songs that he had
written and a pocket full of money. The next few weeks found Marty,
Terry Baker, and myself in the studio recording what I later realized
was my big break! – a song called “Cold Hearted Woman.” After
the recording sessions, I went back to playing clubs, and Marty, with
tapes in hand, went off to Atlanta to seek his fortune.



A few months later, Marty called and was coming through the phone
he was so excited! A friend of his had entered “Cold Hearted
Woman” in a contest sponsored by WKLS, 96 Rock in Atlanta,
and it had been chosen to be the first song on side "A" of the
Hot-Lanta Home Cookin Album. “We need a name for the band,”
Marty said. I told him I didn’t really care what he called the band and
left it up to him. Marty came up with the name QB1. All of the ten
bands that had gotten a song on the album were expected to do a
showcase gig. Marty kept calling telling me how popular the song was
becoming, getting lots of airplay and becoming a regional hit! Being
350 miles away, it was hard to share his enthusiasm.



Our showcase gig date was set. We would rehearse for a week and
do the show. On a warm summer night in the summer of 1979, Terry
Baker and I loaded up my 1964 Chevy Van and headed to Atlanta.
It was 5 AM in the morning and we were about 50 miles outside
Atlanta, cruising along listening to the radio, when all of a sudden,
there it was! – “Cold Hearted Woman.” It was ME singing on the
radio! I can’t tell you how exciting it was to hear yourself on the radio
for the first time!



The week was a blur – rehearsing, writing and getting ready for the
BIG SHOW at the Agora Ballroom. (Incidentally, this is the first
venue that Kansas ever played in Atlanta. At the time, it was called
Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom.) When we weren’t rehearsing
we were listening to 96 Rock. We must have heard “Cold Hearted
Woman” 20 times that week! It was finally starting to sink in to me
what Marty had been trying to convey over the phone. We had a
mini-hit on our hands!



The big day finally came. We showed up at the venue, did our sound
check and hung out in the dressing room until show time. The venue
kept filling up until it was completely packed! We were announced,
we walked onstage and before we had played a note, the crowd went
crazy! There’s no way I can put into words the feeling that you get
when you walk onto a stage and get that kind of reception. It remains
one of the most gratifying moments of my whole career.



“This must be it,” I remember thinking. But after a year or more of
agonizing refusals from every major label in the country, QB1 was on
the verge of breakup. I was on the verge of packing up the van, going
back to Tennessee and rethinking my future, when Steve Walsh
approached me after one of the many showcase gigs that we played
at the Agora. It seems he had quit Kansas and was putting together
his own band. He asked me if I would be interested in auditioning for
the bass-playing gig. I thought about that for about a millisecond and
told him that I was. A day and time were set.





I’ve Gotta Wear Shades


That night Steve gave me a cassette with 4 songs on it. I had 3 days
to learn the songs and go to the audition. I really did my homework,
and 3 days later I was as ready as I was ever going to be. I walked
into the rehearsal studio where Steve, Mike and Tim, as I later learned,
had spent endless months of auditioning people to finish up the lineup
of the band. Steve introduced me to the guys who gave me that look
like, “Oh boy, here we go again.”



Mike and I talked about that meeting recently. Mike had a very heavy
English accent and I was from the hills of East Tennessee. We had a
good laugh because neither of us could understand a word that the
other was saying.



Pleasantries behind us, they set about the task of weeding out yet
another waste of time. After playing 3 of the 4 songs and Steve putting
me on the spot by asking me to improvise in a section of a song, the
audition was halted and I was asked to leave the room. I was sure I
had blown it with the improv. As I recall that moment, I played like a
blundering idiot!



To my total surprise, the guys asked me to go to lunch and offered me
the job! It was another one of my “most gratifying moments.”




I Think I’ve Been to This Movie



Right away, I was put on salary and the band went to work, writing
and rehearsing the music for what would become Streets1st. For
the first few months, I was totally in awe! Here I was playing with
Steve Walsh, one of the greatest voices in all of rock and roll, and truly
a major influence in my career. If the truth be known, I have probably
played and sung “Carry On” more than Steve has! Remember,
I was playing 4-5 sets a night, 5-6 nights a week and “Carry On”
and “Down the Road” were tops in our set list.



We finally reached the point where we thought we were ready to
showcase for the labels. Except this time it was different, it wasn’t a
question of “will we get signed,” but “which label will we sign with.”
That really took a lot of pressure off! After showcasing with almost
all the major labels, we finally signed a deal with Atlantic Records.
I was a happy man! I was thinking “big house and sports car.”



For reasons I’ll never understand, after what I thought were two
great albums, the band still hadn’t achieved what I thought we would
achieve. Instead, we lost our deal with Atlantic. The records we did,
in my mind were great, but didn’t get the recognition that they
deserved. And once again, the band was breaking up and I was
contemplating my future. Any sane individual would have given up
and thrown in the towel, but NO, NOT ME!



Once again, I packed up my stuff and moved back to Tennessee.
Tim moved to California, Mike moved to New Jersey, where his
wife’s family lived, and Steve got a gig touring with Cheap Trick,
playing keys and singing backing vocals! How ironic was this?!
One of the greatest singers in the world, playing in a supporting role.
Sometimes there is no justice in this world!





Miracles out of Nowhere


The time line becomes gray at this point. All I can say is, after several
months of lying around licking my wounds, I got a call that has shaped
my life to the present. Kansas had run its course with John Elefante,
and they were looking to put the band back together. Kerry and Dave,
at this point, didn’t want to be involved, and I got a call that would
change my life forever! I was asked to be a member of Kansas!
The new lineup would be Phil, Richard, Steve, Steve Morse on guitar,
and I was offered the job of playing bass for the band. Is this a great
country or what?! The date for rehearsals was set for July 1985.
Steve still had a month or so to finish his tour with Cheap Trick,
but the band decided to go ahead and start practicing and working on
songs without him, knowing that within the next month he would be
there to rejoin the band.


So in the summer of 1985, I packed my bags, went to my local airport
in Surgoinsville, Tennessee – population: 1,132 – and Steve Morse
landed in his twin engine Cessna, and took me back to Atlanta to start
my new career with Kansas! Is this becoming surreal or what?!




Fast Forward



For the past 16 years I have been a proud member of one of the
world’s greatest rock and roll bands! No regrets, no looking back.
The work that I have done with this band and things that I have
experienced will last a lifetime! More than anything though, it’s the
friendship and camaraderie that I will treasure most.



About a year and a half ago, I decided that it was time to do
something on my own. I had always been frustrated that I was never
given the chance to sing lead on any of the material. It was time!
I decided to do a solo CD.




Seventh Key



I signed a deal with Frontiers Records in February of 2000. I started
to record Seventh Key in the fall of 2000. Thankfully, I was able to
enlist the services of Mike Slamer, who produced, engineered, mixed,
wrote and played on almost every track on the CD. What a thrill it
was to play with Mike again and to have him add his magic to the CD.
Mike is a great player and a great producer. But even more than that,
it was wonderful renewing my friendship with Mike and his family.
I truly love Mike, his wife Sue, and his daughter Nicole. We went
through a lot of tough times together and 20 years later, we’re all still
here trying to carve out our little niche in this world. Mike has proved
himself as a great songwriter, composer, and producer. I’m very
thankful that he was involved in my project.




Thank You!



I started writing this bio intending to write only a few words about
myself and to let you know about my new solo project. But after
I started, I couldn’t stop. So, thank you for your indulgence.
I appreciate the opportunity to express myself. I guess all this “stuff”
has been bottled up inside me for the past 20 years. I hope I haven’t
bored you too much and I hope that you will be at least moderately
interested in what I have had to say. In giving thanks, I want to
sincerely offer my gratitude to Melissa Ross (Missy). Without her
creative talent and generosity, Billy Greer.com would not have been
possible. Melissa, you are truly good people! Also, thanks to Jeff
Pyeatt for writing such a gleaming foreword. Thanks to all my fans
that have supported me throughout the years…I hear your voices!
Thanks and God Bless Us All!………..




P.S. Enjoy the Seventh Key!



Quelle: http://www.billygreer.com/bio.htmlDiscografie2001 - Seventh Key

2004 - The Raging Fire

2005 - Live In Atlanta (CD + DVD)
www