Billy Duffy | |
|---|---|
 Duffy performing in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Henry Duffy |
| Born | 12 May 1961 Hulme, Manchester, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Guitarist |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | The Cult |
| Website | billyduffy |
William Henry Duffy (born 12 May 1961) [1] is an English rock musician, best known as the guitarist of the band The Cult.
Duffy was born and grew up in Manchester, England. He has Irish and Jewish heritage and ancestry. [2] He began playing the guitar at the age of fourteen, being influenced by the music of Queen, Thin Lizzy, The Who, Aerosmith, Blue Öyster Cult, and the early work of Led Zeppelin. In the late 1970s he became involved in the punk movement, being influenced by the New York Dolls, The Stooges, Buzzcocks, and The Sex Pistols, as well as AC/DC.[ citation needed ] He started playing lead guitar with a number of different punk acts whilst still in school in the late 1970s, including the Studio Sweethearts. [3]
After leaving school, Duffy left Manchester when the Studio Sweethearts moved to London, working as a shop assistant at Johnsons in the King's Road, in Chelsea. The Studio Sweethearts subsequently broke up and Duffy began playing lead guitar part-time with the band entitled Theatre of Hate. Shortly after he met Ian Astbury, then frontman/lead vocalist with the Southern Death Cult, who was sufficiently impressed with Duffy's talents that he quit the Southern Death Cult to start a new band with him called Death Cult. After releasing two singles, the band shortened its name to The Cult. In The Cult's debut single "Spiritwalker", Duffy created a distinctive flanged sound using an then-unfashionable guitar: a mid-1970s Gretsch White Falcon, which later became Duffy's main instrument. The Cult's debut album, Dreamtime , was released in 1984, followed by their sophomore album, Love , in 1985, featuring the hit "She Sells Sanctuary".
For The Cult's third album, 1987's Electric , Duffy helped change the sound into metal-blues. In 1988, Duffy moved to Los Angeles with Astbury, where they both still reside. There, the two writing partners (with longtime bassist Jamie Stewart) turned to stadium rock and recorded Sonic Temple . The Cult reached a larger, mainstream audience, but the public's attention could not be sustained with their next album, Ceremony , at the dawn of the grunge age.
Following the 'Ceremonial Stomp' tour of 1992, Astbury pressured Duffy to return to their roots, with The Cult's self-titled album. This would ultimately lead to Astbury's departure from Duffy and The Cult in 1995.
During The Cult's four-year hiatus, Duffy played with Mike Peters of The Alarm in a project called Coloursound. Duffy also played on the title track from Japanese musician J's 1997 debut album, Pyromania.
Duffy reformed The Cult with Astbury in 1999, which led to a new recording contract with Atlantic Records. This was capped off by a show at Atlanta's Music Midtown Festival in May 2001, where over 60,000 people watched them perform, leading up to the release of Beyond Good and Evil .
Their single to promote it, "Rise", which reached No. 125 in the US and No. 3 for 6 weeks on the mainstream rock chart, was removed from radio rotation a week after the album's release. Disappointing sales, reviews, and tour attendance ensued. In 2002, Astbury sent The Cult onto a hiatus once more, when he accepted an offer to sing with The Doors.
In early 2004, Duffy formed the covers band Cardboard Vampyres alongside Alice in Chains guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. Also in the band were Mötley Crüe and Ratt vocalist John Corabi, The Cult bassist Chris Wyse and drummer Josh Howser. [4] The band played at various venues in the United States between 2004 and 2005. They predominantly played along the West Coast. [5] No albums were released by the band.
The Cult reformed in early 2006 and after playing several US concerts toured Europe. Duffy appeared in Ethan Dettenmaier's film, Sin-Jin Smyth , which was filmed in 2006, but remains unreleased.
In early 2006 Duffy recorded a debut album with his new band, Circus Diablo. The album was recorded with Duffy playing lead guitar and former Cult touring bass player Billy Morrison handling lead vocals and bass guitar duties. Former The Almighty frontman, Ricky Warwick, played rhythm guitar on the CD. The former Cult, current Velvet Revolver, drummer Matt Sorum also played on the record.
After the completion of the album, former Fuel member Brett Scallions was added as bassist so Morrison could focus on being the lead singer. Then Jeremy Colson, formerly with Steve Vai, was brought in to be the full-time drummer for the band. Duffy's involvement ended in 2007.
In 2007, he was a judge on Bodog Music's Battle of the Bands.
In 2010, Duffy appeared on the TV-series, Married to Rock , which starred his girlfriend AJ Celi. In October 2012, he performed with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony at the Cabo Wabo Cantina for Sammy Hagar's Birthday Bash in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
In an October 2016 interview with PopMatters journalist J.C. Maçek III, Duffy spoke about his favorite Cult song, saying "Jonesy [former Sex Pistols guitarist turned radio host Steve Jones] on Jonesy's Jukebox just played 'Love' from the Love album and that's my favorite Cult song," he tells me proudly. "I actually got, I have to admit, a teeny bit of a goose bump because it just captured exactly what I wanted to say with that kind of haunting rock. Kind of swaggery but not heavy, it's got ... Duffy searches for the right words to express his emotion at hearing the song from the outside, "I mean nobody ... I don't know who makes music like that!" [6]
Between 2012 and 2016, Duffy appeared with the Kings of Chaos.
In 2020, Duffy became engaged to former glamour model Leilani Dowding. [7]
Duffy is an avid Manchester City F.C. fan. [8] [9]
Duffy is known for playing Gretsch White Falcon and Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars throughout his career. [10] In January 2013, Gretsch introduced the Billy Duffy White Falcon G7593T guitar. [11]
In the 2017 feature film England Is Mine , a biopic about the early years of Morrissey, Duffy is portrayed by Adam Lawrence. [12]
The Cult
The Cult are an English rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury's previous band Southern Death Cult. They gained a dedicated following in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s as a post-punk and gothic rock band, with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking into the mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s establishing themselves as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love Removal Machine". Since its initial formation in 1983, the band have had various line-ups; the longest-serving members are Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, who are also the band's two main songwriters.
Southern Death Cult were a British post-punk/gothic rock band that formed in Bradford during the early 1980s. They are now primarily known for having given their lead vocalist and parts of the name to the multi-platinum hard rock band the Cult. Despite the similarities in the names, "Southern Death Cult" were distinct from "Death Cult"/"the Cult".
Ian Robert Astbury is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived band Holy Barbarians in 1996, and later from 2002 to 2007 served as the lead singer of Riders on the Storm, a Doors tribute band that also featured original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger. Astbury replaced Rob Tyner during an MC5 reunion in 2003, and has contributed guest vocals on several recordings by other artists.
Dreamtime is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Cult. Released on 31 August 1984 by Beggars Banquet Records, it peaked at No. 21 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified silver by the BPI after having sold 60,000 copies. The first single, "Spiritwalker", peaked at No. 1 on the UK Independent Singles Chart. Dreamtime has subsequently been reissued in roughly 30 countries worldwide.
Love is the second studio album by the English rock band The Cult, released on 18 October 1985 by Beggars Banquet Records. The album was the band's commercial breakthrough, reaching number four in the UK and staying on the chart for 22 weeks. It produced three Top 40 singles in the UK, "She Sells Sanctuary", "Rain", and "Revolution". It has been released in nearly 30 countries and sold an estimated 2.5 million copies. Love was recorded at Jacob's Studios in Farnham, Surrey, in July and August 1985.
Beyond Good and Evil is the seventh studio album by English rock band The Cult. Released in 2001, it marked their first new recording in six and a half years. The record debuted at No. 37 on the charts in the United States, No. 22 in Canada, No. 25 in Spain.
John Corabi is an American hard rock singer and guitarist. He was the frontman of The Scream during 1989 and the frontman of Mötley Crüe between 1992 and 1996 during original frontman Vince Neil's hiatus from the band.
Death Cult is the debut four-track EP by the post punk/gothic rock band Death Cult. Released in July 1983 on the Situation Two label, the EP reached No. 2 on the UK Independent Chart. The EP is often erroneously referred to as Brothers Grimm.
James Alec Stewart is a retired British musician who was the bassist of the post-punk/hard rock band The Cult. He recorded on The Cult's first four albums, Dreamtime, Love, Electric and Sonic Temple.
Comes with the Fall is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia formed in 1999. Since 2001, the lineup has been composed of William DuVall, Adam Stanger (bass), and Bevan Davies. Nico Constantine was the band's second guitarist before departing in 2001. They served as Jerry Cantrell's backing band in support of his solo album Degradation Trip in 2002, while DuVall joined Alice in Chains as lead singer during the band's reunion concerts in 2006, becoming an official member in 2008. The band's name is from the cult horror classic Rosemary's Baby that an investigating Mia Farrow spells out on scrabble pieces.
The Cult is the sixth studio album from English rock band The Cult. It was released in October 1994 on Beggars Banquet Records and it is also the band's last album on Sire Records in the US. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black sheep on the front cover. The record also features one of the very rare times when Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have shared songwriting credit with anyone: bassist Craig Adams is credited as co-author of "Universal You".
Live at the Lyceum is a live album by English rock band, The Cult, recorded live at the Lyceum Ballroom in London on 20 May 1984. The band performed 15 songs at the concert, which was edited down to nine songs for this release. In the UK, it was released with the first 30,000 copies of the Dreamtime LP, and also found on side 2 of the Dreamtime cassette. It was released separately as a live LP in Canada and Japan. The live version of "Bone Bag" was released as a videosingle in Argentina.
Chris Wyse is an American bassist and vocalist. He is best known for his performances with The Cult, Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley and Hollywood Vampires. He is also the vocalist and bassist for Owl, a band he founded in 2007.
Fire and Gasoline is the second solo album by British musician Steve Jones, formerly of the Sex Pistols. Released in 1989, the album was produced Mark Dearnley and Ian Astbury, with the latter also contributing vocals, while the recording line-up consisted of Jones, bassist Terry Nails and then-The Cult drummer Mickey Curry. The album featured vocals by Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses on the Sex Pistols cover "I Did U No Wrong", a guitar solo by The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy on "Get Ready" and lyric contributions from Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe on "We're Not Saints". Jones toured in support of the album with a live band consisting of guitarists Kirk Hellie and Mike Dimkitch, bassist Nails and drummer Pete Kelly.
"Spiritwalker" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released on 11 May 1984. "Spiritwalker" is the lead single from the Dreamtime album, although it was released nearly five months before the album was released.
Choice of Weapon is the ninth album by the British rock band The Cult. The album was initially planned for release in 2011, but the release date was pushed back to May 2012. It was initially released on 18 May in Europe, before being released in the UK on 21 May and then in the US the following day. Recording sessions for Choice of Weapon began in March 2011 with Chris Goss, who produced the 2010 Capsule EPs. The sessions took place at studios in New York City, Los Angeles, California, and the "California desert". The album was finished in January 2012. During the recording sessions, Bob Rock teamed up with The Cult for the first time since 2001's Beyond Good and Evil and co-produced Choice of Weapon. Choice of Weapon was named iTunes "Rock Album of the Year" in 2012.
"Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles)" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released on 3 August 1984. Often truncated as just "Go West", it is the second single from the Dreamtime album.
"Ressurection Joe" is a single by the English rock band The Cult, it was released on 14 December 1984 and wasn't found on any previous studio album by the group.
Under the Midnight Sun is the eleventh studio album by the British rock band The Cult, released on 7 October 2022 through Black Hill Records. The record was produced by Tom Dalgety primarily at Rockfield Studios, where the band had recorded their debut album Dreamtime in 1984.
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