Billy Duffy
Encyclopedia
Billy Duffy is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist in The Cult
The Cult
The Cult are a British rock band that was formed in 1983. They gained a dedicated following in Britain in the mid 1980s as a post-punk band with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love...

.

Early days

He grew up in Manchester, where he began playing guitar at the age of fourteen. Duffy got his start playing in different punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 line-ups in the late 1970s, but these earlier years were more notable for his introducing Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...

 (The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...

) to the guitar and encouraging Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

 to make his singing debut with Duffy in The Nosebleeds
The Nosebleeds
The Nosebleeds was a short-lived punk band formed in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England in 1976. Though the band never recorded an album and released just one single, it is well known in modern rock history for the later successes of its individual members...

.

When the initial punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 movement (led by the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

) died out, Duffy eventually settled as guitarist for the moodier and more arty Theatre of Hate
Theatre of Hate
Theatre of Hate were a post-punk band formed in Britain in 1980.Led by singer-songwriter and ex-member of punk band The Pack, Kirk Brandon, the original group also consisted of: guitarist Steve Guthrie, bassist Stan Stammers , saxophonist John Lennard and drummer Luke Rendle from Crisis/The...

. He eventually met Ian Astbury
Ian Astbury
Ian Astbury is an English rock musician and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist for the rock band, The Cult.-Pre-Cult:...

 (the frontman for gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...

 band Southern Death Cult
Southern Death Cult
Southern Death Cult was an English positive punk band in the early 1980s. It is now primarily known for having given its lead singer and parts of its name to the multi-platinum hard rock supergroup The Cult...

) who was impressed with Duffy's playing and abandoned Southern Death Cult to start a new band with him. Together, they exploited the Southern Death Cult's success by calling themselves Death Cult
Death cult
The term Death cult may refer to:*The Cult, Death Cult was an early name for this British rock band*Death Cult , a compilation album featuring all the songs from Death Cult*A synonym for the term destructive cult...

. After initial fanfare and a couple of singles, Duffy, following a trip to New York, convinced Astbury to shorten the band's name to The Cult in 1984.

As early as The Cult's debut single "Spiritwalker", Duffy began establishing a distinctive flanged sound with an offbeat choice of guitar, a mid 1970s Gretsch
Gretsch
The Gretsch Company was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a twenty-seven year old German immigrant recently arrived in the US. Friedrich Gretsch manufactured banjos, tambourines, and drums, until his death in 1895. His son, Fred, moved operations to Brooklyn, New York in 1916...

 White Falcon.

Late 1980s and 1990s

Duffy helped change The Cult's sound into metal-blues for their third album, 1987's Electric
Electric (The Cult album)
Electric is the pivotal third album by The Cult. Released in 1987, the album marked a deliberate stylistic change in the band from a Gothic rock to a hard rock band. Rick Rubin, the producer on Electric, had been specifically hired to remake the band's sound...

, the credit for this change goes to producer and AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...

 fan Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...

. Fresh from his work producing the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

' debut album Licensed to Ill
Licensed to Ill
In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums.It is still the only album by a white hip-hop act to receive the coveted 5 mics from The Source....

, Rubin gave both Duffy and The Cult a new musical direction.

Duffy moved to Los Angeles in 1988 with Astbury, where both remain. There, the two writing partners (with longtime bassist Jamie Stewart
Jamie Stewart (The Cult)
Jamie Stewart was bassist of the 1980s British post-punk/hard rock group The Cult. He played bass guitar and keyboards on each of The Cult's first four albums and rhythm guitar on tour in 1987.After leaving The Cult, Stewart worked as a record producer in Canada...

) turned to stadium rock and recorded Sonic Temple
Sonic Temple
Sonic Temple is the fourth album by The Cult, released in 1989. In addition to being a continuation of the band's hard rock sound that was introduced on their previous album, Electric, Sonic Temple features some of the band's most popular songs, "Fire Woman", "Sun King", "Edie " and "Sweet Soul...

. The Cult reached a larger, mainstream audience, but the public's attention could not be sustained with their next album, Ceremony, at the dawn of the grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

 age.

Following the 'Ceremonial Stomp' tour of 1992, Astbury pressured Duffy to return to their roots, with The Cult's The Cult
The Cult (album)
The Cult is the sixth studio album from English rock band, The Cult. It was released in October, 1994 on Beggars Banquet Records and it is also the band's last album on Sire Records in the USA. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black...

album. This would ultimately lead to Astbury's departure from Duffy and The Cult in 1995.

During The Cult's four-year hiatus, Duffy played with Mike Peters
Mike Peters (musician)
Mike Peters is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead singer of The Alarm. He currently lives in Dyserth, North Wales with his family. After The Alarm split up in 1991, Peters wrote and released solo work, which he has been releasing under the name "The Alarm" since 2000...

 of The Alarm
The Alarm
The Alarm are an alternative rock band that emerged from North Wales in the late 1970s. They started as a mod band and stayed together for over ten years. As a rock band, they displayed marked influences from Welsh language and culture...

 in a project called Coloursound.

Duffy plays on the title track from Japanese musician J's 1997 debut album, Pyromania.

Cult reformation

Duffy reformed The Cult with Astbury in 1999, which led to a new recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...

 with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

. This was capped off by a show at Atlanta's Music Midtown Festival in May 2001, where over 60,000 people watched them perform, leading up to the release of Beyond Good and Evil
Beyond Good and Evil (The Cult album)
Beyond Good and Evil is the seventh studio album by English rock band The Cult. Released in 2001, it marked their first new recording in six and a half years. The record debuted at #37 on the charts in the United States, #22 in Canada, #25 in Spain....

.

Their single to promote it, "Rise", which reached No.41 in the US and No.2 on the mainstream rock chart, was removed from radio rotation a week after the album's release. Disappointing sales, reviews, and tour attendance ensued, and in 2002 Astbury sent The Cult onto a hiatus once more, when an offer to sing with The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

 came his way.

2006 onwards

The Cult reformed in early 2006 and after playing several US concerts toured Europe. Duffy appeared in Ethan Dettenmaier
Ethan Dettenmaier
Ethan Dettenmaier is an American screenwriter, producer, and director.-Early Career:After starting out in the mail room at Warner Bros., he landed a position with Bel-Air Productions and Producer Steven Reuther He went on to become a script doctor for Idiom Films and has since scripted work for...

's film, Sin-Jin Smyth
Sin-Jin Smyth
Sin-Jin Smyth is an unreleased horror film written and directed by Ethan Dettenmaier, based on an old legend inspired by the Kansas Stull Cemetery...

, which was filmed in 2006, but remains unreleased.

In early 2006 Duffy recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 a debut album with his new band, Circus Diablo
Circus Diablo
Circus Diablo is a Los Angeles-based hard rock band, formed in early 2006 by Billy Morrison , Billy Duffy and Ricky Warwick . Former Fuel frontman Brett Scallions and Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum subsequently joined the band on bass and drums, respectively...

. The album was recorded with Duffy playing lead guitar and former Cult touring bass player Billy Morrison handling lead vocals and bass guitar duties. Former The Almighty
The Almighty (band)
The Almighty are a hard rock/heavy metal band, from Glasgow in Scotland who formed in 1988. They have released seven studio albums, two anthologies and one live album.-1988-1993:...

 frontman, Ricky Warwick
Ricky Warwick
Ricky Warwick is possibly best known as the frontman for the Scottish band The Almighty. Starting out as a rhythm guitarist in New Model Army, Ricky formed The Almighty in 1988. Warwick was the lead vocalist and played guitar in various formats of the band. In 1996 he left The Almighty...

, played rhythm guitar on the CD. The former Cult, current Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver is an American hard rock supergroup consisting of former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, alongside Dave Kushner formerly of punk band Wasted Youth. Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was Velvet Revolver's lead singer from their formation until...

 drummer, Matt Sorum
Matt Sorum
Matthew William Sorum is an American rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum is most famous for his 7-year stint in Guns N' Roses and supergroup Velvet Revolver , which is comprised in part of former Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Slash .-Early career :Matt Sorum was born Matthew William...

 also played on the record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

.

After the completion of the album, former Fuel
Fuel (band)
Fuel is an American rock band formed by guitarist/songwriter Carl Bell and bassist Jeff Abercrombie in 1989. Originally known as Small the Joy, they changed the group's name to Fuel sometime in 1994...

 member Brett Scallions
Brett Scallions
Brett Allen Scallions is an American musician. He is currently the lead vocalist for current lineup of Fuel after being the vocalist for the original incarnation of the band from 1993 to 2006. During that time, the band released multiple albums including the double platinum Something Like Human...

 was added to be the bassist, so Morrison could focus on being the lead singer. Then, Jeremy Colson formerly with Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....

, was brought in to be the full time drummer for the band. Duffy's involvement ended in 2007.

In 2007 he was a judge on Bodog
Bodog
Bodog is an online entertainment brand launched in 1994 by Calvin Ayre.Originally the company traded at but the brand was later divested and intellectual property rights were assigned to and consolidated in BodogBrand.com...

 Music's Battle Of The Bands.

In 2010 Billy Duffy appeared on the TV-series Married to Rock
Married to Rock
Married to Rock is an American reality television series broadcast on the E! cable television network. The show is produced by Bunim-Murray Productions.-Synopsis:The series focuses on the lives of the spouses of four rock musicians...

, which starred his girlfriend AJ Celi.

2011 – He is currently on tour with The Cult
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