William Hammond Talbot (born October 23, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of Crazy Horse.

Music career

Born in New York City, Talbot started his musical career singing on street corners at the age of 14. He moved to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

with his family the next year, and by 17 he had moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. There, he befriended fellow expatriate New Yorker

Ralph Molina Ralph Molina (born June 22, 1943) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse. Born in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth o ...

Danny Whitten Danny Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse, and for the song "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a hit for Rod Stewart and Every ...

and Benjamin Rocco. Together they formed a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

group called Danny and the Memories. After moving the group to San Francisco, they morphed into The Psyrcle, which eventually grew to encompass Leon and George Whitsell along with

Bobby Notkoff Bobby Notkoff (31 December 1940 - 5 October 2018) was a violinist who played with The Rockets in the 1960s and Family Lotus in the 1970s. Notkoff was also part of one of the first supergroups Electric Flag, with Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles ...

. At this point, Talbot and his bandmates renamed the group The Rockets. In 1967, the group met

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

, who at the time was a member of

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...

. This meeting saw Molina, Whitten, and Talbot join forces with Young to create Crazy Horse. Talbot began performing solo in 1999 at small venues. In October 2004, Talbot struck out on his own with The Billy Talbot Band, releasing the album ''Alive in the Spirit World'' on

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...

. In 2013, the band released their second album ''On the Road to Spearfish'' on Vapor Records. In 2013 Talbot joined forces with Ralph Molina, George Whitsell and Ryan James Holzer to form the band Wolves. They released their first album ''Wolves EP'' on February 16, 2014. In June 2014, Talbot suffered a minor

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and was forced to sit out Crazy Horse's imminent European tour. He successfully recovered and has since rejoined the band.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Billy 1943 births Living people American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists American male singer-songwriters American rock songwriters American rock singers Singers from New York City Crazy Horse (band) members Guitarists from New York City American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Singer-songwriters from New York (state)