Billy Darr
Bass Guitar
Billy began his music journey at the tender age of 7 years old when he got his first set of drums. He honed his skills until he joined and formed his first band called “Spectrum” in 1975. His early musical influences were John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Neal Peart, Peter Cris of Kiss and Buddy Rich. Later he joined a group called “Gunshy”. In late 1976 Billy taught himself how to play the guitar which would prove to be very valuable later on.
In 1978 he joined a group of musicians from Lexington North Carolina that formed the band “Whisper Wind” as rhythm guitarist and second lead player. After the bass player left the group Billy picked up the bass and became the group’s fulltime bass player in 1980. This band had an unbelievable group of talented musicians.
They were one of the top booked bands from Hit Attractions in Charlotte NC. They covered a large portion of the Mid-Atlantic States from West Virginia to Northern Florida.
Billy took a break from music for 28 years after 2 record deals fell through with Arista and RCA records. And his dad told Billy to cut his hair and get “a real job”.
Billy joined a Country Rock Variety Band in 1999 called “Steel Kickin” in Durham North Carolina going back to his passion, the drums.
After that group disbanded Billy joined the “Pizazz Band” and then later joined a classic rock band called “751” from Durham, NC. In 2005 Billy stepped away from music completely.
In late November 2015 after being encouraged by a dear friend, Billy picked the bass up again for the first time in 34 years to rejoin some players from the Whisper Wind Band to form a Classic Rock Band. And in early 2016 a touring grade Classic Rock band was formed named “Clockworx”. This group brought together 4 of the 7 original members of Whisper Wind along with Max Riley and Phil Giallombardo (Founding member of The James Gang).
Clockworx did cover tunes that most bands did not try to perform. Covering tunes from Boston, Kansas, Journey, Heart, Head East, etc…Clockworx was an immediate success. In the fall of 2017 Billy filled on bass for the country band “Red Dirt Revival”.
Later in 2018 Billy received a call from the lead singer of “Heart Breaker” a Heart Tribute Band from Greensboro NC to join the band as bassist.
On an October afternoon in 2019, Billy received a call from Tim Sidden of Cat5 Band saying they needed his bass playing skills to fill in for Tuff Blanton. Tuff had been a long-time friend and mentor for 40 years to Billy. Tuff had been diagnosed with cancer.
Unfortunately Tuff lost his battle with cancer and went on to be with the Lord on June 20th 2020. His last words to Billy on Friday June 19th, was to “Keep the Band going”. Then he said “I Love You” and smiled. Tuff will never be replaced as a musician or a person. His memory will last forever! RIP Brother!