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He was born on March 17th, 1967 (St. Patrick's Day) in Elk Grove, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. He attended
Glenbard North High School. When he was little, his parents got a divorce, and he was shuffled around from one family member
to another. First his great-grandmother, then his grandmother, then his dad and step-mother and then just his step-mother.
He has 3 brothers; Ricky, Jesse and Andrew. His father was a guitarist, and in fact you can hear his dad play guitar on "The
Last Song" which is found on the 33 single. Billy wasn't really encouraged musically, but one day he was at a friends house
and this friend of him showed him a "Flying V" guitar. Billy was 14 at the time. So he tried it out and was instantly hooked
on it, on expressing himself musically. Billy formed a band called The Marked around 1985 and they moved down from Chicago
to St. Petersburg, Florida to play there. They were called The Marked because Billy and the drummer had these huge birthmarks
on their arms. They played for about 9 months but got nowhere. Finally Billy moved back to Chicago with no money, and stayed
with his dad. Pretty soon he met the rest of the Pumpkins, first James, then D'arcy and finally Jimmy. Billy's first gig with
just James was in a polish bar called "Track". The Pumpkins real first gig (with the entire band) was an opening spot for
Jane's Addiction. From there they slowly achieved the status they have today.
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