The Billy Mersey Band

about

Billy Mersey was a session and road musician in New York City from 1972 - 1988. On guitar or bass, he performed on stage with The Shirelles, Crystals, Stephanie Mills, The Main Ingredient, The Dubs, The Moonglows, Universal Robot Band, Bumblebee Unlimited, The Chiffons, Joey Dee and the Starlighters, The Belmonts, The Marvelettes, and several others. In the studio, he played the guitar for Johnny Mathis, Musique, Carol Douglas, and Billy Vaughan among others. Frustrated that the songs he wrote didn't meet his exacting standards when recorded by other producers, Mersey integrated into arranging and production and that was when he formed the Avenue B Boogie Band and the Billy Mersey Band - which were in fact one and the same. With this group of studio musicians, he wrote, produced and arranged two recordings for Salsoul Records, one for a fledgling outfit called GMI Records, and one on the CBS affiliate Zoo York Records. The prevailing consensus in the marketplace and at the labels was that Mersey made good records but really had no band to speak of as most of his friends and associates were studio musicians who had little interest in joining and signing with a band unless it was on the top ten in the pop charts. Mersey went on to start his own record company and released a few rap records before retiring from the music business and starting a very successful adult advertising agency. He still lives in New York and now runs a popular blog which relates his experiences in the

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