Sheehan, Billy

The early years

Somewhere at the age of 17 he began to master the bass. As the musician himself says, he took this instrument in his hands, as his friend played the bass, and he wanted to keep up with him. Billy did not spend many years studying musical literacy, solfeggio , etc. in special institutions. He simply began to gradually improve his technique, playing in several amateur teams. Among the musicians who have had a huge influence on him are Paul McCartney , Jack Bruce , Chris Squire and John Entwistle. In 1972, having played enough in amateur teams, Billy founded his own group called Talas. In this group, Billy got up such "chips" on the bass, which at that time could not even occur to anyone. Soon, the Talas become insanely popular. During this period, Sheehan creates songs such as “Shy Boy” and “NV43345”. The last is worth noting just the introduction.

Time passes and Billy leaves Talas. Around the same time, vocalist David Lee Roth left Van Halen , who wanted to start a solo project, and Steve Wai left Alcatrazz . Using such a fortunate combination of circumstances, David Lee Roth took both musicians under his wing. Thus was born the Wai / Shihan duet or, as it is called, Power Twins.

During the stay of Billy in the David Lee Roth's Band recorded two platinum albums - "Skyscraper" and "Eat'Em and Smile". Over the course of numerous tours as part of this group, Billy Sheehan shows a new standard for playing the bass.

Mr. Big and Niacin

In the late 80s, Billy left David Lee Roth and founded another project, called Mr. Big Sheehan invited talented virtuoso guitarist Paul Gilbert to join the band. Fame did not take long to wait, very little time passes, and they begin to talk a lot about the group. Mostly thanks to powerful live performances. Such hits as “To be with you” and “Just Take my heart” for a long time did not leave the top lines of the Billboard chart, and the clips for these songs did not leave the TV screens. But the group did not last long. Paul Gilbert leaves the group in the mid-90s, and Billy Sheehan devotes more and more time to his other project - Niacin .

Niacin saw the light of day in 1998. This is a trio that plays a pretty good mix of progressive rock and fusion . The group also includes Denis Chambers on drums and John Novello on keyboards.

2000s

In 2001, Billy Sheehan released his solo album Compression . Of course, many expected to hear powerful bass solos on it, but the musician gave preference to an even bass line in the best traditions of hard rock. Among the tracks from this album, one can single out the track “Chameleon”, in the recording of which Steve Wai took part.

For over 40 years, Billy Sheehan on stage. During his long career, he managed to play in many groups. He masterfully owns the technique of playing with three fingers, tapping and so on, for which he was awarded many awards. There is his name model Yamaha Attitude. Of the speakers, Billy Sheehan prefers Hartke .

Talas

• Talas (1979)
• Sink Your Teeth into That (1983)
• High Speed ​​On Ice (1985)
• Billy Sheehan - Talas Years (1989)
• If We Only Knew Then ... (1998)
• Live In Buffalo (1998)
• Doin 'It Right (EP) (1998)

David Lee Roth

• Eat 'Em and Smile (1986)
• Skyscraper (1988)
• The Best (1997)

Mr. Big

• Mr. Big (1989)
• Raw Like Sushi 1 (1990)
• Lean Into It (1991)
• Raw Like Sushi 2 (1992)
• Bump Ahead (1993)
• Japandemonium (1994)
• Hey Man (1996)
• Big Bigger Biggest (Greatest Hits) (1996)
• Channel V At The Hard Rock Live (1996)
• Not One Night (EP) (1997)
• Get Over It (2000)
• Superfantastic (EP) (2000)
• Static (EP) (2000)
• Deep Cuts (2000)
• Actual Size (2001)
• Live In Japan (2002)
• What if ... (2011)
• ... The Stories We Could Tell (2014)
• Defying Gravity (2017)

Niacin

• Niacin (1996)
• Live In Japan (1997)
• High Bias (1998)
• Deep (2000)
• Time Crunch (2001)
• Live Blood, Sweat & Beers (2003)
• Krush (2013)

The Winery Dogs

• The Winery Dogs (2013)
• Hot Streak (2015)

Solo albums

• Compression (2001)
• Cosmic Troubadour (2005)
• Prime Cuts (2006)
• Holy Cow (2009)