b. William Lewis Moore, 1955, Chicago, Ilinois, U.S.A.
Billy was the godson of gospel great Mahalia Jackson.
Aretha Franklin took him under her wing and at the age of nine he was the lead voice in his church choir.
By 11 he was touring and recording with Reverend Isaac Whittman.
In 1969, he was taken on as Aretha's protege and was given studio time by her production company Do It To It Productions.
He recorded a single 'Do It Again' with the help of Aretha, Carolyn Franklin and Cissy Houston, however it was not released.
Aretha's backing singer Evelyn Green introduced him to Barrett Strong, and from 1975 Barrett and Billy wrote a number of songs together including 'Man Up In The Sky', recorded by both Barrett (1976) and Johnny Bristol (1989).
In 1979, his attorney financed his debut solo album Billy Always, totally self-written, performed and produced.
While not released officially, 'I Mean To Love You' and 'Some Kind Of Love' were bootlegged and scored success as an illegally released single.
The following year he met Willie Mitchell who produced Billy's song 'Didn't We Do It' as the first release on Waylo.
A debut Waylo album ('Billy Always') was later released in 1982 (and Ann Peebles recorded 'Didn't We Do It').
Billy continued to work with Willie Mitchell and Waylo into the nineties, although 1988's 'Trust Me' was released by Epic.
His 1990 album 'Let's Get Personal', included 'One Of Them Thangs', 'Ain't Nothing But A Heartache' and 'I Need You'.
In 1981, he wrote 'Come To Me' (with Bernie Miller) for the late Walter Jackson's album 'Tell Me Where It Hurts'.
Albums:
Billy Always (Unreleased)
Billy Always (Waylo Records 1982)
Trust Me (Epic Records 1988)
Let's Get Personal (Waylo Records 1990)
