BILLY GREER
In the Beginning

Having been inspired by watching the first performance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, my brother Johnny and I were sure we had found our destiny. After begging our parents for the better part of a month to buy us instruments, they finally relented and bought my brother a set of drums and me a bass. Our cousin, Alvin, already had a guitar and actually knew a few chords, so when I was at the tender age of 15, we were putting our first band together.

When I say that Alvin knew a few chords, I should have said that he knew very few chords. He knew three chords: C, F, and G. So the first song that we worked up used C, F, and G! I thought it was pretty clever at the time. Oh, how we practiced, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, the torture that my parents endured! We endeavored to persevere and before we knew it, we had a whole set list of three chord songs: “Louie Louie,” “Hang on Sloopy,” C, F, and G, you get the picture.

With the addition of Sammy on guitar, we had our first band. We called ourselves Odds’n’Ends. I don’t know why. We played anywhere we could: birthday parties, grand openings, talent shows, sock hops. A funny thing happened. After a while, people actually started offering us money to play! WOW! It came like a flash of light, a revelation so profound that it made me shiver! It was actually possible to make a living playing music! At that age, we thought that $50 a week was a living. We had money to spend, money in the bank and were constantly upgrading our equipment. We had it made. We had Gibson and Fender guitars, Ludwig drums, Vox amps. I had a beautiful Hofner bass, just like the one Paul McCartney played. Life was good.

All Good Things Must End

The Vietnam War was raging during this time period. The rest of the guys were about three years older than I was. When graduation time came, Uncle Sam came calling. Alvin joined the Air Force, my brother joined the National Guard, and I joined another band.

A keyboard player in another band, Jim Shields, approached me after his band and mine had played a gig together. They were playing James Brown and Sam and Dave; we were playing Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge. I think he liked the direction that my band was heading and we talked about the possibility of joining forces. Jim was an awesome keyboard player and the thought of playing with him was very appealing. He told me that a new kid had moved into town and he was a really good player. Jim suggested that we get together and jam, and see what happened. So in the summer of 1970, we got together and Jim introduced me to Marty Conn: a skinny, blonde 17-year-old with a gold Les Paul. We hooked up our instruments and Marty suggested that we play “Jeff’s Boogie.” Wow – “The Kid Could Play” – Marty was fantastic. I was sold and the band Bishop was born. With this lineup, we started playing more progressive music: Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant… the possibilities seemed endless.

After a couple of years in Bishop, Jim was lured away to play with a band in Cincinnati. Their guitar player was Adrian Belew (Adrian, as some of you may or may not know, went on in later years to play guitar with the likes of Frank Zappa, King Crimson, and became a critically acclaimed musician and producer in his own right). A few months later, Jim showed up again with Adrian in tow. It seems that Adrian was a frustrated drummer at heart, and we set about the task of rehearsing and putting a band together with Adrian on drums. The band played one show in Kingsport, Tennessee. I swear this to be true – the local newspaper did a review and I have a clipping! After the concert, Adrian went back to Cincinnati, and I haven’t talked to him to this day. I don’t know why!

Onward and Upward

Jim moved to Virginia Beach to start playing with a group of musicians that he thought was promising. Marty and I put a band together called Passenger. I actually played with this band for about 7-8 years. The band was a revolving door for a lot of musicians over the years, but finally settled with the line up of: Benny Wilson/lead vocals and harmonica, Don Gorman/guitar, K.D. Forsha/keyboards, Terry Baker/drums, and yours truly/bass and lead vocals. I played with this band through college and beyond, playing concerts and in clubs all over the southeast. Marty had gone off to do sound for the Whitford-St. Holmes Band.

And then one day I got “the call.” Jim was calling from Atlanta; the band from Virginia Beach, now called Avatar, had gotten a production deal and they wanted me to move to Atlanta to be the bass player. I quit my job as a social counselor at the Dept. of Human Services, gave my notice to the guys in Passenger, packed up the family and moved to “Hot-Lanta,” where I was being paid a whopping $200 a week to rehearse, write songs and go in search of that elusive record deal.

We Went Through How Much Money?!!!

After about six months of writing, rehearsing, and playing with an extremely talented and progressive band, the inevitable happened – the money was gone! With no work to sustain us and no recording contract, the only choice I had was to move back to Tennessee and try to regain my gig with Passenger. Thankfully, the guys welcomed me with open arms, and I was back playing the club circuit.

Funny how the years seem to creep by when you are playing 4-5 sets a night, 5-6 days a week! On the upside, my chops were good and I was doing what I wanted to do. Besides, I really liked playing with these guys. They are all very talented and it was really a good band! We remain friends to this day and the band remains intact with the exception of myself.

When You Least Expect It

Sometime in ‘78, Marty resurfaced, fresh off a tour with the Whitford-St. Holmes Band with a couple of new songs that he had written and a pocket full of money. The next few weeks found Marty, Terry Baker, and myself in the studio recording what I later realized was my big break! – a song called “Cold Hearted Woman”. After the recording sessions, I went back to playing clubs, and Marty, with tapes in hand, went off to Atlanta to seek his fortune.

A few months later, Marty called and was coming through the phone he was so excited! A friend of his had entered “Cold Hearted Woman” in a contest sponsored by WKLS, 96 Rock in Atlanta, and it had been chosen to be the first song on side "A" of the Hot-Lanta Home Cookin Album. “We need a name for the band,” Marty said. I told him I didn’t really care what he called the band and left it up to him. Marty came up with the name QB1. All of the ten bands that had gotten a song on the album were expected to do a showcase gig. Marty kept calling telling me how popular the song was becoming, getting lots of airplay and becoming a regional hit! Being 350 miles away, it was hard to share his enthusiasm.

Our showcase gig date was set. We would rehearse for a week and do the show. On a warm summer night in the summer of 1979, Terry Baker and I loaded up my 1964 Chevy Van and headed to Atlanta. It was 5 AM in the morning and we were about 50 miles outside Atlanta, cruising along listening to the radio, when all of a sudden, there it was! – “Cold Hearted Woman.” It was ME singing on the radio! I can’t tell you how exciting it was to hear yourself on the radio for the first time!

The week was a blur – rehearsing, writing and getting ready for the BIG SHOW at the Agora Ballroom. (Incidentally, this is the first venue that Kansas ever played in Atlanta. At the time, it was called Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom.) When we weren’t rehearsing we were listening to 96 Rock. We must have heard “Cold Hearted Woman” 20 times that week! It was finally starting to sink in to me what Marty had been trying to convey over the phone. We had a mini-hit on our hands!

The big day finally came. We showed up at the venue, did our sound check and hung out in the dressing room until show time. The venue kept filling up until it was completely packed! We were announced, we walked onstage and before we had played a note, the crowd went crazy! There’s no way I can put into words the feeling that you get when you walk onto a stage and get that kind of reception. It remains one of the most gratifying moments of my whole career.

“This must be it,” I remember thinking. But after a year or more of agonizing refusals from every major label in the country, QB1 was on the verge of breakup. I was on the verge of packing up the van, going back to Tennessee and rethinking my future, when Steve Walsh approached me after one of the many showcase gigs that we played at the Agora. It seems he had quit Kansas and was putting together his own band. He asked me if I would be interested in auditioning for the bass-playing gig. I thought about that for about a millisecond and told him that I was. A day and time were set.

I’ve Gotta Wear Shades

That night Steve gave me a cassette with 4 songs on it. I had 3 days to learn the songs and go to the audition. I really did my homework, and 3 days later I was as ready as I was ever going to be. I walked into the rehearsal studio where Steve, Mike and Tim, as I later learned, had spent endless months of auditioning people to finish up the lineup of the band. Steve introduced me to the guys who gave me that look like, “Oh boy, here we go again.”

Mike and I talked about that meeting recently. Mike had a very heavy English accent and I was from the hills of East Tennessee. We had a good laugh because neither of us could understand a word that the other was saying.

Pleasantries behind us, they set about the task of weeding out yet another waste of time. After playing 3 of the 4 songs and Steve putting me on the spot by asking me to improvise in a section of a song, the audition was halted and I was asked to leave the room. I was sure I had blown it with the improv. As I recall that moment, I played like a blundering idiot!

To my total surprise, the guys asked me to go to lunch and offered me the job! It was another one of my “most gratifying moments.”

I Think I’ve Been to This Movie

Right away, I was put on salary and the band went to work, writing and rehearsing the music for what would become Streets 1st. For the first few months, I was totally in awe! Here I was playing with Steve Walsh, one of the greatest voices in all of rock and roll, and truly a major influence in my career. If the truth be known, I have probably played and sung “Carry On” more than Steve has! Remember, I was playing 4-5 sets a night, 5-6 nights a week and “Carry On” and “Down the Road” were tops in our set list.

We finally reached the point where we thought we were ready to showcase for the labels. Except this time it was different, it wasn’t a question of “will we get signed,” but “which label will we sign with.” That really took a lot of pressure off! After showcasing with almost all the major labels, we finally signed a deal with Atlantic Records. I was a happy man! I was thinking “big house and sports car.”

For reasons I’ll never understand, after what I thought were two great albums, the band still hadn’t achieved what I thought we would achieve. Instead, we lost our deal with Atlantic. The records we did, in my mind were great, but didn’t get the recognition that they deserved. And once again, the band was breaking up and I was contemplating my future. Any sane individual would have given up and thrown in the towel, but NO, NOT ME!

Once again, I packed up my stuff and moved back to Tennessee. Tim moved to California, Mike moved to New Jersey, where his wife’s family lived, and Steve got a gig touring with Cheap Trick, playing keys and singing backing vocals! How ironic was this?! One of the greatest singers in the world, playing in a supporting role. Sometimes there is no justice in this world!

Miracles out of Nowhere Click for Kansas

The time line becomes gray at this point. All I can say is, after several months of lying around licking my wounds, I got a call that has shaped my life to the present. Kansas had run its course with John Elefante, and they were looking to put the band back together. Kerry and Dave, at this point, didn’t want to be involved, and I got a call that would change my life forever! I was asked to be a member of Kansas! The new lineup would be Phil, Richard, Steve, Steve Morse on guitar, and I was offered the job of playing bass for the band. Is this a great country or what?! The date for rehearsals was set for July 1985. Steve still had a month or so to finish his tour with Cheap Trick, but the band decided to go ahead and start practicing and working on songs without him, knowing that within the next month he would be there to rejoin the band.

So in the summer of 1985, I packed my bags, went to my local airport in Surgoinsville, Tennessee – population: 1,132 – and Steve Morse landed in his twin engine Cessna, and took me back to Atlanta to start my new career with Kansas! Is this becoming surreal or what?!

Fast Forward

For the past 16 years I have been a proud member of one of the world’s greatest rock and roll bands! No regrets, no looking back. The work that I have done with this band and things that I have experienced will last a lifetime! More than anything though, it’s the friendship and comraderie that I will treasure most.

About a year and a half ago, I decided that it was time to do something on my own. I had always been frustrated that I was never given the chance to sing lead on any of the material. It was time! I decided to do a solo CD.

(Although in 2000, Billy finally got the chance to sing lead in Kansas:
Listen to his "debut" on Look At The Time from Somewhere to Elsewhere)

Seventh Key

I signed a deal with Frontiers Records in February of 2000. I started to record Seventh Key in the fall of 2000. Thankfully, I was able to enlist the services of Mike Slamer, who produced, engineered, mixed, wrote and played on almost every track on the CD. What a thrill it was to play with Mike again and to have him add his magic to the CD. Mike is a great player and a great producer. But even more than that, it was wonderful renewing my friendship with Mike and his family. I truly love Mike, his wife Sue, and his daughter Nicole. We went through a lot of tough times together and 20 years later, we’re all still here trying to carve out our little niche in this world. Mike has proved himself as a great songwriter, composer, and producer. I’m very thankful that he was involved in my project.

Thank You!

I started writing this bio intending to write only a few words about myself and to let you know about my new solo project. But after I started, I couldn’t stop. So, thank you for your indulgence. I appreciate the opportunity to express myself. I guess all this “stuff” has been bottled up inside me for the past 20 years. I hope I haven’t bored you too much and I hope that you will be at least moderately interested in what I have had to say. In giving thanks, I want to sincerely offer my gratitude to Melissa Ross (Missy). Without her creative talent and generosity, BillyGreer.com would not have been possible. Melissa, you are truly good people! Also, thanks to Jeff Pyeatt for writing such a gleaming foreword. Thanks to all my fans that have supported me throughout the years…I hear your voices! Thanks and God Bless Us All!………..

P.S. Enjoy the Seventh Key!
Billy

Copyright © www.billygreer.com

SEVENTH KEY

The roots of Seventh Key go back to the early 80's when bass player Billy Greer from the band QB1 and City Boy guitarist Mike Slamer joined forces for the first time in the legendary Melodic Rock band Streets. The band's line-up then was completed by Kansas singer Steve Walsh and drummer Tim Gehrt. After releasing two excellent studio albums, Streets "1st" (1983) and "Crimes In Mind" (1985), the band abandoned way too soon. Still today both albums are regarded as classics, still defining the standards for the perfect Melodic Rock music!

While Billy Greer and Steve Walsh went on to join the line-up of reformed Kansas (being still nowadays a part of the band), Mike Slamer decided to retire from playing live. Instead he focused his career as a songwriter, session-player and producer, working for, among others, House Of Lords, Hardline and Warrant. In 1998 Mike Slamer returned to the spotlight with the self-titled debut of his own project called "Steelhouse Lane". The album received an excellent critical acclaim and soon lead to a second release, "Slaves Of The New World" in 1999.

In the year 2000, after 16 years as a loyal member of Kansas, Billy Greer was a bit frustrated that he never had the chance to sing lead vocals on any of his own songs. So he came to the decision that it was finally time to do a solo CD. When he signed a deal with Frontiers Records, Billy Greer remembered his old friend Mike Slamer and enlisted his outstanding services as writer, player and producer. Seventh Key then was born!

Seventh Key's self-titled debut was released in 2001. It featured special guest appearances by the fellow Kansas alumni Steve Walsh, Steve Morse, Richard Williams and Phil Ehart and contained songs written by the duo Greer/Slamer, songs from external songwriters plus never-used material originally written for the Kansas albums. Many fans and critics voted the record as Melodic Rock album of the year. Billy Greer has to say about the debut: "With Mike's involvement in the project, how could I go wrong? I go back and listen to the debut every now and then and I still enjoy it. I still think it sounds great! Mike did a splendid job producing it and we developed a great songwriting partnership."

This partnership continued on in 2004 on the second studio effort, "The Raging Fire". Once again Seventh Key received fantastic reviews for their new release. Andrew McNeice from the world renowned webzine melodicrock.com wrote about "The Raging Fire": "Every note on this album was written and recorded to please the fans and I believe they have done that, with some outstanding songs and inspired performances. A brilliant album that will please just about everybody." Despite all those positive reactions and the fans' desire to see the band performing live on stage, Seventh Key rejected all requests to go out touring.

But when Frontiers Records president, Serafino Perugino, got a look at the band's videos for their songs "An Ocean Away" and "Love Train" he approached video director Nicole Slamer, Mike's daughter, to shoot a live DVD for Seventh Key. On May 23rd, 2005 the recording for the live concert DVD/CD was completed. And for the first time in almost 22 years Mike Slamer performed live again with one of his own projects!

The recording was done at Crossover Entertainment Group Inc. in front of selected friends, invited guests and families. Joining Billy Greer and Mike Slamer are David Manion on keyboards, Pat McDonald on drums and former Strangeways singer Terry Brock on guitars and background vocals. Brock did also perform as background singer on Seventh Key's studio albums. This line-up leaves no stone unturned and rocks through a set consisting of songs from Seventh Key's two studio albums. To make the evening even more special Kansas violinist Robby Steinhardt and Billy Greer's brother Johnny, both make a guest appearance on a breathtaking acoustic version of the song "Forsaken".

No doubt, Seventh Key's first ever live concert DVD/CD is a dream come true for the band's numerous fans and an enrichment to any Melodic Rock collection. Hopefully, it unlocks a new dimension for the Seventh Key...

The fire rages on!

Marco Spaeth
(July 21st, 2005)

Taken from the "Live in Atlanta" booklet