Biography

Billy's newest CD/DVD "Somethin's Wrong" has really taken off. The 12 videos from the DVD are combining for over 2,000 views per day on youtube & online sales in the US & Europe have increased dramatically as a result. Soon after moving to Portland,OR, in 2010 (just before the release of "Somethin's Wrong") Billy D & the Hoodoos were awarded "Best New Act" by the Cascade Blues Association & that same weekend opened for the great Robert Cray at The University of Missouri . In early 2012 one of Billy's tunes "Bye Now"from his new acoustic CD"Billy D. Hoodoo Man" was licensed by the new hit TV series"Hart of Dixie". More as it happens...

Billy D’s life experience has given him the strength to write his brand of" Bluzy Rock" with a passion that only comes from living it. He is heavily influenced by Chicago blues, but Billy isn’t just a typical blues man. His writing and musical talents create a “Backbeat Roots” style that goes way past traditional blues music. His songs reflect the tough lessons of his past and show his love for Mother Blues and her first-born, Rock & Roll.

Born on the south side of Chicago, Billy Desmond grew up surrounded by the Blues and early Rock N Roll — a powerful combination. He started playing professionally at teen dances and parties at the age of fourteen, and by eighteen he was sneaking into the blues clubs of Chicago to hear greats like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and James Cotton. within the next few years, Billy would work with blues legends Junior Wells, Big Time Sarah, and Detroit Junior.

By the late ‘70s, he had formed his first band, Skid City Blues Band, as singer, guitarist, and songwriter. After years of touring the midwest Billy moved to Los Angeles in 1984, studying with Blues great Tony Matthews, guitarist for Little Richard and Ray Charles and spent half of the next year playing behind, Don “Sugar Cane” Harris, perhaps the worlds greatest blues violinist.

In the mid ‘90s, Billy moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and began focusing on writing & playing his original songs . Within the year, Billy D and the Hoodoos were formed. In 2003, KTAO voted his song “She’s The One” the number one song by a regional artist. KTAO hosts the Annual Solar Fest in New Mexico where that year Billy and the band opened for Los Lonely Boys and Robert Cray. After releasing his second CD, “Rokdablu!”, and several more successful years in New Mexico, Billy left the Southwest for Oregon in early 2010. His newest CD,"SOMETHIN'S WRONG", has been embraced by the Portland music community as well as the rest of the U.S.,Canada and Europe and is receiving outstanding reviews.

“Thanks to the fantastic work of Producer Fred Cannon and his desire for constantly finding amazing songwriters, I am extremely delighted to have Billy D and the Hoodoos join our wonderful roster of world talent”, Rose Drake, President