Billy Vera was born on William Patrick McCord; May 28,1944 and is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, and music historian.
21 Facts About Billy Vera
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Billy Vera has been a singer and songwriter since the 1960s, his most successful record being "At This Moment", a US number 1 hit in 1987.
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Billy Vera grew up in Hartsdale, New York, and attended Our Lady of Mt.
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Billy Vera's mother, singer Ann Ryan, was a member of The Ray Charles Singers backing Perry Como on his TV show and his hit records.
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Billy Vera went on to a songwriting career in the 1960s, writing for Barbara Lewis, Fats Domino, The Shirelles and Ricky Nelson.
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Billy Vera wrote the garage band classic "Don't Look Back", performed by the Remains and later covered by Robert Plant.
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The groundbreaking decision to place former gospel singer Judy Clay with Billy Vera in a white-black duet to record the song was a commercial and artistic success.
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Billy Vera had a solo hit single later that same year with the Bobby Goldsboro penned "With Pen in Hand", which was the name of his next album.
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The Billy Vera album spun off no hits, and failed to chart.
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Billy Vera returned to playing the clubs of Southern California, and resumed calling his backing band "The Beaters", which featured an ever-shifting lineup of players.
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Billy Vera appeared in one episode of the TV series Wiseguy and had several other roles on shows such as Baywatch, Boy Meets World, and a recurring role as Duke on Beverly Hills, 90210 as well as nine appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
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Billy Vera served as band leader on Rick Dees' short-lived late-night talk show Into the Night on ABC in 1990.
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Billy Vera made a guest appearance in an episode of Double Rush in 1995.
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Billy Vera produced Rawls's final album, Rawls Sings Sinatra, which remained on the jazz chart for over six months.
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Billy Vera recorded as a duo with Nona Hendryx on the 1992 album You Have To Cry Some Time.
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Currently, the Beaters are still playing the Southern California club scene, and Billy Vera continues his work as a music historian.
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Billy Vera has helped produce, archive, and write liner notes for over 200 reissue albums and sets, from artists such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, and Louis Prima, among others.
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Billy Vera returned to the studio in 2019 to record the album Timeless with three of the Beaters, augmented by some of LA's top sidemen.
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Billy Vera has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the corner of Vine Street and Yucca Street, right in front of the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood.
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Billy Vera won a 2013 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes for the Ray Charles box set Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles.
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For BMG Books, Billy Vera has written "Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story", for release in November 2019.