June 28, 2010

Bill Aucoin died today after a year-long fight against prostate cancer. It was Bill who approached me in 1976 with the idea of forming a band around me and my songs...that band was Piper, and Bill was our manager. "Gui," as he was affectionately known at the time, supported the band through its infancy and secured our record deal with A&M. It would not be unfair to say that I would not be where I am today if not in part for his efforts.

I hadn't seen Bill in over a year, when he visited me in New York to listen to some new songs I'd recently recorded. I only learned of his illness this morning, and by then it was too late for even a few parting words. But if we had spoken, I would have said to him, "Thank you friend, for the years of unwavering support...and for never letting me forget what it is that I do best."

Your friend,

Billy

June22, 2010

LoHud.com, New York's Lower Hudson Valley website reported the following on Billy's upcoming show with James Cotton…

Listening Room Blog: Blues legend James Cotton adds Squier to "Blues Summit" lineup

Blues harp master James Cotton has added a surprise guest to his June 24 "Blues Summit" at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater: One time Top-40 stalwart Billy Squier.

Squier's publicity folks tell The Listening Room that Squier and Cotton met last month at the Boston Legends show, put together by James Montgomery, and the two hit it off. A short time later Cotton called Squier and invited him to the upcoming New York show.

Squier, who spent the last few years playing along some notable musicians as part of Ringo Starr's All Star Band, accepted the invitation.

"Aside from his pedigree and talent, the man's simply a lot of fun to play with," Squier said of Cotton.
(photo courtesy of billysquier.com)

The star-studded Blues Summit lineup already includes Cotton, Taj Mahal, Pinetop Perkins, Shemekia Copeland and others, so Squier joins a pretty impressive group of musicians. Cotton, of course, is probably the premier blues harmonica player on the planet. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006 and has won countless accolades over the years.

Squier is an interesting addition. After first making noise in the industry as frontman for the rock band Piper, Squier went solo and scored more than a few hits. He seemingly fell off the map after a few years, even though he did keep recording. Then a few years ago he popped up in Starr's band alongside Edgar Winter, Gary Wright and Colin Hays of Men at Work.

In truth, Squier never got this due as a guitar player—he definitely knows his way around the instrument. Certainly he's impressive enough to get the attention of one of blues' biggest names.

June 11, 2010

Check out the Billy Squier chapter in Kristofer Engelhart's 2010 "Beatles-Deeper Undercover." It is a greatly revised and updated edition of his 1998 book Beatles Undercover. At nearly 400 pages, it painstakingly chronicles The Beatles' contributions to the work of other artists. Each outside artist's entry contains a short biography, personal thoughts and memories where possible, and thorough details concerning the exact contribution that John, Paul, George, or Ringo added to their work. Since the original Beatles Undercover, much has been updated and added-without a doubt this is the definitive book on this subject. Available at www.amazon.com

June 2, 2010

Legendary blues harmonica player JAMES COTTON has asked Billy to sit in with him at his Blues Summit concert at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater on June 24th. The two recently met at the May 21-22 Boston Legends shows put together by James Montgomery, and got on so well that Cotton rang Billy a few days later to invite him to the New York event. Other guests include Taj Mahal and Pine Top Perkins, along with reigning blues diva, Shemekia Copeland. Billy says he is "truly honored to be able to play in the company of such extraordinary talents and get down to what I enjoy the most...playing guitar..." about Cotton,"Aside from his pedigree and talent, the man's simply a lot of fun to play with." Don't miss this show if you're in the NYC area!

BLUES SUMMIT: JAMES COTTON & FRIENDS
"BIG EYES" SMITH & HUBERT SUMLIN

June 24, 2010, 8PM, Rose Theater

WHO/WHAT:
Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006, the Smithsonian Institute in 1991, and winner of countless W.C. Handy Blues Awards, James Cotton will perform with an all-star line-up of contemporary blues giants including legendary Blues men Pinetop Perkins and Taj Mahal. In two distinct sets, one electric and the other unplugged, Cotton will also be joined by vocalist Shemekia Copeland, daughter of the late great Johnny Copeland, the guitarist and Howlin' Wolf alumnus Hubert Sumlin, plus Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Darrell Nulisch, David Maxwell, and others.

The Philadelphia Weekly has posted a blog about the fake booker. Its good to see word is getting out. You can view it and comment on it here.

May 28, 2010

Some loser is contacting clubs and offering them dates with Billy and collecting deposit money on his behalf. This guy is in no way affiliated with Billy. We know of 3 dates so far that this guy has booked. Luckily only one of the 3 clubs actually paid any money to him. If you see any notices or hear any radio spots that Billy is playing, please contact us immediately. Billy is not on tour and has NO dates booked to play. Thanks for your help! Judy

May 12, 2010

The latest newsletter is up in the fanfare section.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY!

March 5, 2010

Fans might not think there'd be a connection between Billy and Orba Squara, but Mitch Davis actually featured Billy on one of their new songs, as well as recording Billy's latest 3 recordings. You can read more about this Billy fan and Apple-sampled tunesmith in an interveiw with PopMatters.

December 15, 2009

SPAM ALERT—UPDATE

We've been alerted that a new "support@bs.com" email is now circulating. Again this is spam as the only "support" is me, so it would come through from "mike." Again, we don't use generic "admin", "info", or "support" type email addresses, so if you get these, please delete and/or report to your provider.

Thanks.

In REAL EMAIL NEWS, the holiday newsletter has gone out to everyrone who has signed up for updates. Its also now posted to our fanfare section. If you'd like to get the newsletters, be sure to drop Judy an email

December 7, 2009

News in from Activision regarding Billy and Guitar Hero 5: October DLC sales data states that for the month of October, Billy had the #2 highest selling song for GH5 downloads – “The Stroke”.  He also had the #11 song with “Everybody Wants You”. The Billy Squier pack was the #3 pack.   A great success overall!!

December 4, 2009

Christmas comes a bit early for us Squier fans! 2009 All Night Long Tour Merchandise is now available through our on site catalog.

…and yes that does include the USB devices!!

November 13, 2009

SPAM ALERT

Dear fans,

It’s come to our attention that a few of you have received spam emails with a return address of "admin@billysquier.com". If you get one of these, don’t open it, and you may want to report it to your email provider. You will NEVER receive any unsolicited email from an “admin” at billysquier.com as we do not even have an “admin” email address in use. We use a different email name for our administrative uses purposefully to avoid spam coming to us.

What has happened is some spam company has grabbed the "billysquier.com" to use as an alias. They’ll grab a site name and use "admin" or "info" as they are common administrative emails and send out their junk.

Please know that any email you receive from us would only ever be from Judy, Mike, “Billy Squier” (if an inquiry is sent to our ‘songs’ email, or ‘store’ (to confirm catalog orders). Unless an email is stated as a newsletter, we will never send out unsolicited email that isn’t a direct reply or automated from an order. Again, we will NEVER send out an email from “admin” to any of the fans. So if you get one from “admin” please don’t open…report it to your provider…and trash it.

Thanks.

October 30, 2009

While we had been telling fans of a hopeful third leg of the tour, word from Billy is that "plans to extend the tour for another leg down the eastern seaboard and into the deep south have been shelved for the time being. Sorry we couldn't make it."

As always, if you'd like to keep up on the latest happenings, including any possible future shows, make sure to sign up for the e-newsletter.

September 16, 2009

After a short break, the All Night Long tour is resuming. A NYC date has been announced at the end of this leg. Fan Chris Sasser is so looking forward to it that he designed his own fan promo poster for it.

August 25, 2009

Billy's got a message for fans who've been commenting on "new" songs being played on tour: "…these are, in fact, not new songs, but select gems from my catalog that I wanted to play so that more people could be exposed to them…and get a general road-map of my musical journey."

With the exceptoin of the Piper songs (due to publishing rights), all songs featured on tour are now available through our merchandise section, even if the whole album isn't yet. (Albums will be added once they're highlighted as we get back into our regular site rotation. Below is a sample set list along with a listing of songs and which albums contain them.

Tale Of The Tape Calley-Oh Don't Say No Lonely Is The Night My Kinda Lover The Stroke Emotions In Motion She's A Runner Everybody Wants You Signs Of Life Rock Me Tonite Hear & Now G.O.D. Don't Say You Love Me Creatures Of Habit Strange Fire (L.O.V.E.) Four Letter Word Tell The Truth The Girl's All Right Reach For The Sky: The Anthology intro Love Is The Hero (also available, sans intro on Enough Is Enough) Happy Blue More Than Words Can Say Inferno Can't Wait (Piper) Little Miss Intent (Note: while not available through our merchandise section, a double CD set of the Piper albums is available at Amazon.com)

August 5, 2009

There's a new article on Billy, the tour and mostly his guitars in the August issue of Premier Guitar. You can read it online here. But Billy warns "very guitar specific (as opposed to fan-oriented)"

Ever wonder what life's like on the road? There's also a fanboy-heavy "09 Tour Journal" added to the site, recounting my weekend outing with Billy and the boys. You can read that under the bio section.

July 21, 2009

An interesting charity event taking place in conjunction with Billy's July 24th show:

rock CAN rollR,is an all volunteer, non-profit hunger relief organization based on Long Island in New York. The Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury has teamed up with rCr to 'BEAT HUNGER'. rock CAN roll volunteers are on site at the venue, for all concerts accepting food donations. 'FANS to Bring CANS' or any healthy and nutritious non-perishable food item for rock CAN roll , to help our neighbours who live with hunger. A list of most needed foods CAN be found at www.rockCANroll.org (I like to suggest that people keep their concert tickets in their food pantry, as not to forget a food donation <grin>.)

July 15, 2009

Be sure to check out tour reviews in the bio section. We'll be posting new ones as they come in.

June 1, 2009

It has been confirmed that Jay Z’s “99 Problems” (featuring Billy’s “The Big Beat”) is being used as the main title in Columbia pictures THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1,2,3. It’s also being used in the trailer campaign.The movie opens June 12.

April 3, 2009

Great news regarding the tour…this just in:
For most shows, we will be offering tickets before they go on sale to the general public. In addition to the fan club presale tickets, there will also be a limited number of special VIP packages available for this tour.

To purchase presale tickets and VIP packages please visit https://tixx1.artistarena.com/billysquier

We will be updating the tour list below as presales become available. The presale and VIP tix for the July 24th show are on sale now!

FOR THE LATEST CONFIRMED 2009 TOUR DATES, CHECK THE WIDGET ABOVE.

March 10, 2009

8101 Tour Merchandise available!
As one quick-witted fan has already discovered, the 8101 tour merchandise recently pulled from the archives has been added to the catalog for sale. Availability in some sizes is very limited, so be sure to check out the merchandise section soon if you plan to order!

March 3, 2009

We're still getting in tons of song requests, but here's another one that was apprecated by Billy:

Dear Mr. Squier

I see often you ask the fans what they would like to hear, but honestly? I'd like to hear what you would like to play. Shoot, I'll listen you play a lefthanded out of tune guitar with plastic strings. You play it, I'll listen.

You've made the world a better place. Keep doing what your doing.

Thank you kindly,
Jay

Thanks Jay. There's also a new newsletter by Judy that includes the band line-up posted in the fanfare section. Be sure to check it out!

February 4, 2009

We've gotten the first set of dates that we're allowed to show publicly. They're listed at the top of this page. We will update this list as more dates become available so be sure to check back often.

Also, Billy wanted to let everyone know that we've been having the request for songs pouring in! Its all his fault as he asked for what fans would like to hear. What he didn't expect was a whole list that comes in at 3+ hours from one fan! While he can't play them all in one show, it definitely gives him a FANatical assessment of what we want to hear.

1. Everybody Wants You
2. The Stroke
3. She Goes Down
4. Fast Times (The Best Years of Our Lives)
5. The Girl's All Right
6. Calley Oh
7. Love Is The Hero
8. Tryin' To Walk A Straight Line
9. Hollywood
10. Who's Your Boyfriend
11. Tied Up
12. Who Knows What A Love Can Do
13. Rhythm (A Bridge So Far)
14. Young At Heart
15. Whadda You Want From Me
16. Mind-Machine
17. Catch 22
18. Hand-Me-Downs
19. Rock Out / Punch Somebody
20. Hercules
21. Learn How To Live
22. Like I'm Lovin' You
23. Lonely Is The Night
24. Rock Me Tonight
25. Don't Say You Love Me
26. Can't Get Next To You
27. Blues For The Common Man
28. In The Dark
29. G.O.D.
30. Strange Fire
31. (L-O-V-E) Four Letter Word
32. Eye On You
33. It Keeps You Rockin'
34. Stronger
35. Angry
36. All Night Long
37. Emotions In Motion
38. The Music's All Right
39. Out Of Control
40. My Kinda Lover
41. The Work Song
42. She's A Runner
43. The Big Beat
44. Shot O' Love
45. Sweet Release
46. Don't Say No
47. Shocked Straight (gotta play this one!!

The merchandise section has been updated to include the current highlighted album, Creatures of Habit.

Also, at long last, the first (and so far only) live performance of "The Girl's All Right" is up in the off the record section.

December 31, 2008

VH1 "The 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" UPDATE. Well, so far, Billy's in the top 60! VH1 has been showing previous episodes before the new episodes, so be sure to check them all out as Billy's peppered in the shows, commenting on other artists…including a hilarious "now that's what I'm talking about" impression of Edgar Winters. So if you've missed the first two episodes, be sure to check out VH1.com to see the show schedule.

December 30, 2008

As the year closes out, VH1 has begun airing "The 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs." While we hope Billy won't show until the last episode, check in each night this week to see where he placed! VH1 is also notorious for repeat airings, so go to VH1.com to see the show schedule.

October 10, 2008

"My Kinda Lover" is featured in Sony Picture's thriller QUARANTINE, opening in theaters today.

Frank Jenks of the "listen in--rock on purpose" website has a series of audio clips from a sit down interview with Billy available for your listening pleasure. They discuss everything from BIlly's music, to the environment, marriage, gardening and Billy's baseball allegience. This is a great set of sound bites from Billy. You can listen to them here.

August 27, 2008

VH1 has chosen Billy's "The Stroke" as one of the Top 100 Best Hard Rock songs of all time! Voting is currently underway to see where it places in the list. There is no limit to voting, so Billy says to "vote and vote often." Click here to cast your vote!

June 25, 2008

While Billy's out on tour with Ringo, we hope you're enjoying our highlight of Piper. Many have been asking for this release on CD and we're happy to report you can once again get it! Click here if you'd like to order it from Amazon.com. Also keep those concert reports coming in. We love to hear 'em!

May 22, 2008

Ringo's website has a new video up which highlights members of this year's band. Click Here to watch!

May 12, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY!!!

Billy has confrimed that "Live On Tour", the DVD listed on Amazon.com will indeed be the tour that Billy played on. It will be available July 8th, but is up for pre-order now. Click here for more information.

Also, the last three dates have been added to this year's Ringo tour schedule. Check below.

February 25, 2008 (Updated May 12, 2008)

RINGO TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED!!

It's official. Billy has signed on with Ringo's 10th All Starr Tour which will feature Billy, Edgar Winter, Hamish Stuart, Colin Hay, Gary Wright and Greg Bissonette.

While this is not a complete tour schedule, there will be 31 dates in all, these are the shows that are confirmed so far!

More shows will be added as they are confirmed, but keep in mind we do not sell tickets and will only being getting info after they've gone on sale. We might not be the first place with the news, but we'll post it as soon as we have it available.

February 20, 2008

"I’m very relaxed. I’m comfortable in my skin. Because it’s been a long time, and you suddenly realize gee, I guess I don’t have anything to prove anymore. I guess people DO like me. I guess I am good, you know? (laughs)."

So says Billy in a recent interview with Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles.

[NOTE: While the interview asks about ordering out of print singles/albums through iTunes, as Billy states in his reply, they can only be found here through our merchandise section. —Mike]

You can read the article at bravewords.com.

November 30, 2007

We're excited to announce that our Merchandise Section is now open!! While we go through the inventory, we're starting off with a download just in time for the holidays. You know you've been wanting it and asking us where to get it, well look no further...Chistmas Is The Time To Say "I Love You" is now available! Click the Merchandise button above to register and download your copy now!

While you're in the holiday mood, go to jeffgolub.com to purchase Jeff Golub's just released Xmas cd "Six String Santa"!

August 13, 2007

Billy had a blast at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame show which included the first-ever live performance of "The GIrl's Alright" (dedicated to his wife) and yet another new version of "The Stroke". We have video of this show that will be appearing on the site shortly!

As is evident by the front page, Emotions in Motion has been reissued! American Beat Records has re-released the album and is available now!

Billy has been interviewed by the LA Times for an article on guitars. It should be appearing in about a week. For those of you not in the LA area, we should have it up on the site soon after (provided proper approval).

A soon-to-be-released compilation of blues artis Sonny Boy Nelson features a song by Billy. We'll keep you updated on its release.

March 26, 2007

On May 16th, American Idol will feature "Everybody Wants You" being performed by the finalists as part of a music video.

Will Ferrell's new movie "Blades of Glory" features "The Stroke" in a major scene as well as in the trailers and on the soundtrack cd.

Also premiering tonight is the next highlighted album, Enough is Enough. I'm happy to announce that the video feature has returned with this highlight as well as an extremely in-depth intro by Billy. Also, I must offer a special thanks to Koji and Maria for their photo help.

March 5, 2007

I'm happy to answer at least some of the countless emails we receive requesting whether or not Billy is touring this year. Just announced, Billy will be performing at the 6th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame benefit concert! On May 19th, Billy will join other artists for a show at the Cleveland Convention Center. Go to www.rockhall.com for details.

January 2007

The site has just been updated to spotlight Tell the Truth. Billy's last studio album with Capitol Records. Unfortunaely there is no video for the album as support from Capitol at that time was non existent. However, new features started with this update include a random playlist of selected songs from TtT and a feature "for the record" which will highlight all of the releases related to each album. The video feature will return with subsequent albums when we have content to support it.

December 2006

billysquier.com has a brand new look and feel... AND SOUND!
We're excited to announce that starting this month we will be highlighting various albums from Billy's catalog as a 'theme' to the website! We plan to showcase an album with songs, videos, rare tracks and photos from the era of each. Each highlighted album will also feature an introduction by the man we're all here to see that shed's a little more light and maybe some little known facts about what went on during the making of each record.

To celebrate the spirit of the season and to kick things off, we're highlighting the single Christmas Is The Time To Say "I Love You". While technically not a whole album, we thought it a nice holiday gift and a good way to kick things off.

Special thanks go to Ed Henderson (GMG World Media) for building the site template and putting up with my lack of knowledge! Also thanks to Roger Chouinard for helping with the historical artifacts that have been added, and will continue to be added as the site goes on. I couldn't have done it without you guys! —Mike

So we hope you enjoy the new look, feel and interactivity of billysquier.com. Check back often to see which album will be next!

September 2006

Billy just wrapped up his summer tour with Ringo Starr and his All Star Band. It was a resounding success, saying Billy: "One of the best reviewed tours I've ever been involved in."

If you have any reviews from your area, send them in!

Being on the tour has generated renewed interest in Billy. He was featured as the cover story in August's Vintage Guitar Magazine.

Online interviews have also cropped up featuring Billy. Check out Greek website Rockpages' interview here.

There is also a great audio interview Billy did for Kweevak Magazine. You can download the podcast here. But be quick if you want to get it, it's due to be shut down 'some time in '08'