Blog

Billy Curtis is a self-taught musician who started playing guitar at the age of five. He first played Country music when he was lead guitarist in a band he was in with his school friends.  At 19 he turned his back on a promising career in computer programming to become a professional musician. He spent six years as a soloist, ‘learning his trade’ on the road, where the experiences were invaluable.  In this period he worked a lot of cabaret and holiday parks, including the Exeter Police Club with Shane Ritchie and Lilly Savage where the three of them shared a changing room!
At 25, Billy joined his first Country band. Stringband was a west country based double family band. They were a fully pro band and the line up was John Forsey (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Deena Forsey (lead vocals).  Raymond Hill (pedal steel guitar and vocals), Glyn Evans (bass guitar and lead vocals), Bryn Evans (keys and lead vocals) and Tony Bale (drums and vocals). In about 1993 Billy Curtis came in on lead guitar and lead vocals replacing Raymond Hill. At around the same time Stringband did away with drums so they now had a completely different sound as a 5-piece but remained as popular as ever as they continued touring around the country.
Realising that being in a band gave a new dimension to his music Billy left Stringband to form his own band, B.J. Curtis & Nashville Express with his two brothers in 1994.  Before they even performed in public they recorded a cassette album All In A Day which comprised 11 covers all recorded in one day.  The album was intended for selling at gigs and as a demo for their close harmonies as demonstrated on the track Seven Bridges Road.  The line up was BJ Curtis (lead vocals, lead guitar, dobro and piano. Jim Curtis (rhythm guitar, vocals and blues harmonica), Tim Curtis (bass guitar and vocals) and Paul Sayers (drums and harmony vocals). Billy was music arranger and the three Curtis brothers were all songwriters.
The band was immediately very popular on the Country circuit. In 1996 they released their first CD album, Nashville Bound consisting of all original songs with each song written by one or more of the three brothers.
The extensive touring and playing the UK Country Club scene took its toll and Tim Curtis and Paul Sayers decided to leave so Billy recruited Bryn Evans from Stringband on keyboards and vocals and the band carried on as a trio. In 1997 they achieved major recognition by winning the British Country Music Association’s award for ‘Rising Star of 1997’ and Southern Country Magazine’s ‘Best Newcomers’ award. The band also appeared on BBC TV’s Pebble Mill at 1.  In time Jim and Paul returned to the band and they carried on as a 5-piece. During this time a third album was recorded and Billy recorded his first solo video which was shown on Sky TV‘s CMT Europe, an original song co-written with Ron and Bo Walton called Maybe We Can Fall In Love which was recorded in the style of Buddy Holly  who was one of Billy’s influences.
January 1998 marked a significant change; the band was dissolved with Billy deciding to take timeout to concentrate on his song writing and his recording career. His music was heard by Graham Sclater the MD of music publishers, Tabitha Music and he signed with them before producing some new original material. Within weeks Billy signed with a new management company and went back out on the Country music circuit as a solo artist.
His popularity as a line dance artist grew and in January 2002 he featured on the front cover of Linedancer magazine, heralding his acceptance on the British line dance scene. At that time he was working at line dance festivals and events with top choreographers. In 2007 and 2008  Billy co-starred in the UK stage shows ‘Route 66’ and ‘Superstars of Country’, touring  all over the UK.
In 2009 he formed The Billy Curtis Band. The line up was Billy Curtis (lead vocals and lead guitar) and his two sons, Daniel on bass and Billy-Joe on drums. Billy also asked Lee J Hodgson, former lead guitarist with Memphis Roots, to stand in with the band to give them two lead guitars. Jim also returned for some of the European gigs to add acoustic guitar and harmonies.
The band was very popular in Europe especially in France where they appeared on Billy Bob’s Saloon stage at the Disney Country & Line Dance Festival, at The West Rennes Country Days and at the Calais Country Festival. In 2010 they were back in France at Mirande Country Music Festival, one of the major international Country events in Europe. The band did some festivals and a few clubs in the UK and lasted until 2012.
After time touring with the band, Billy formed a new event company in 2012 focusing on Country music and line dance holidays; this grew very quickly with sell out events. Whilst still maintaining his music passion he also formed a duo Curtis & Lee in 2016 with his long term partner Sammi Lee Bassey; a successful solo singer in her own right.  The duo performed many special events in Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and the UK where they also played a few clubs.
Billy continued with a limited solo career while concentrating on his events business and a new line dance project, Everything Line Dance (ELD) which remains very successful and popular.
With the lockdown in 2020 everything stopped but this didn’t stop Billy being creative! From this unprecedented time came one of the most creative projects he has worked on. The Virtual Playboys is a totally unique concept of forming a virtual band with different characters, harmonies and great Country music. This project started on YouTube in the early part of 2021 and as covid restrictions lifted, quickly moved away from YouTube into a live show concept. Using screens and technology the Virtual Playboys are preparing to tour with the live show in 2022 with their first European tour in Denmark, Sweden and Germany starting in April.
During his career Billy has appeared with many established artists including The Mavericks, Martina McBride, Ty England, Carlene Carter, Tank Sherman, Acker Bilk, Matchbox, and many others.