'Hook Line And Sinker'
International Feedback to
Billy Joe's Single Releases
International feedback to Billy Joe’s single releases, Hook Line and Sinker, Holes In My Pocket, A Rose In The Devil’s Garden and Last Night’s Memories, mark these releases from his current CD as winners. Along with his unique singing style, Billy Joe offers a magical mix of sing-along tunes, stay-in-your-head lyrics and lush romanticism that takes his worldwide audience from from Ciao to Wow! His songs echo the universal yearning for love, passion and commitment. In short, listen up, lay back and prepare to enjoy yourself.
"I Want to Sing Cowboy Songs"
- Billy Joe Conor, age 5
The dreams of a child are now the reality of a man. With the release of his eponymously titled CD, Billy Joe Conor, he has revolutionized America’s love affair with its preeminent style of down home entertainment, Country Music.
In recalling his lifelong interest in American Country Music, Billy fondly remembers an incident from his childhood. “When I was five years old and still living in Italy,” he states, “My dad’s cousin sat me on his knee one day and asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. Without hesitating, I told him, ‘I want to sing cowboy songs’. Then and now, American TV westerns and music are wildly popular in Italy.”
After immigrating to New York City, Billy Joe began making the rounds of music publishers and record companies at the age of 13. Midtown Manhattan may seem an unlikely place to begin a career in an entertainment field traditionally associated with rural America, but Billy Joe quickly discovered that some of the biggest country music publishers and producers had offices in Manhattan as well as Nashville. After school,” Billy recalls, “I use to go to the Brill building on Broadway, the home base for American music publishers and record companies. Starting on the top floor I’d work my way down one floor at a time, knocking on every door until someone would listen to the songs I wrote and the ones I wanted to sing.” After several months of rejection, his persistence paid off in ways that are still affecting his life today.
One day Billy entered the offices of songwriter Rose Marie McCoy. “The receptionist came in my office and said, ‘I don’t know what it is about this kid but I think you should listen to him sing’,” recalls McCoy. Billy was invited into Rose’s office, where he began singing Tryin’ To Get To You, originally recorded by Elvis Presley and later re-recorded by Faith Hill. “As I was giving the song my best shot,” recalls Billy, “Rose looked at me with a startled expression on her face. When I finished she smiled broadly and extended her hand to me. ‘I’m Rose Marie McCoy,’ she said, ‘I wrote Tryin’ To Get To You. Would you like to write songs with me and my partner, George Goehring? Rose and George helped me hone my skills as a songwriter, singer, and eventually Rose and I wrote all the songs we just recorded on my debut CD.”
As an adult, Billy Joe’s meeting with country music producer Danny Bailey proved to be another step in realizing his childhood dream of singing “cowboy songs.” As the executive producer at Red Brick Music and
Recording Studios in Columbia, Kentucky, Danny brings a lifetime of experience in the Country Music field. According to Bailey, “Billy Joe Conor is a star ascendant; he is melodic and has a unique style. The fact that he’s from Italy, lives in New York, and writes and sings country music, makes him a breakout entertainer.” Billy Joe’s romantic lyrics and music are a fresh voice that takes listeners from Ciao to Wow!
Among Billy Joe’s American fans and for those in the international market, his songs of love, longing and hope define him as a leader of the pack in today’s New-Country Music field. Billy Joe’s memorable words and music on this debut CD, address the human issues of love and all of its intricate nuances. The sincerity of his words, and the intensity of his voice make this work a sit up and cheer hit for lovers of New-Country as well as Pop music.
See The Billy Joe Conor Story, from Ciao to Wow! …by Guy Arseneau
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