Born in Manchester, England, and is a big supporter of the Manchester City Football Club - even going so far as to have their logo printed on the backs of his own guitar picks for The Cult's 1991/92 world tours. Guitarist for the rock band The Cult He and singer Ian Astbury have been in the band "The Cult" since 1983. They are the only two permanent band members, with an almost constantly changing drummer, bass player and rhythm guitarist. In 1982, he joined Kirk Brandon's band called Theatre of Hate, who toured with Ian Astbury's then band The Southern Death Cult in October 1982. In December 1982 he was fired from Theatre of Hate, and in February 1983 Ian Astbury left the Southern Death Cult, and in April 1983 the two of them started their own band, tentatively called Death Cult. In May 1983, they recruited Jamie Stewart (III) on bass and Raymond Taylor Smith on drums, both had just left a failed band called Ritual. Jamie Stewart had also been in Theatre of Hate in 1980, but was fired before Billy joined that group. In February 1993, The Cult's best of collection titled 'Pure Cult: Music for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners' debuted at #1 on the charts in Britain and went double platinum in that country. It later went to number one on the charts in Portugal. Is personal friends with Johnny Marr, and gave Marr his first guitar lessons. He has a daughter named Shiloh, born in 2002. Usually throws his guitar pics out into the audience at the end of concerts.
