Bill Hornsby
About me
Hi everyone and welcome to my profile page. Firstly can I say that to be asked by the guys to front and provide lead vocals for The Force came as a complete surprise to me and also an honour.To sing for what are without doubt the finest North East hard rock band for me doesn't get any better.
Personal bio
I actually started out as a drummer at the age of fifteen and so with a bunch of school pals decided to put a band together.I quickly realised that drumming wasn't my forte and also because this newly formed school kid band was bereft of a singer/frontman it followed that I was outvoted by the boys and was thrust behind a microphone and duly nominated as the lead singer!
I have my dad to thank for the ability to sing as he has a rather good singing voice. ( an old crooner ha ha ).
It was by listening to and watching live rock bands that I got the musical bug. I was weened on a daily diet of Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers and to be honest my first two bands set lists consisted of only tracks by Led Zeppelin and Free.
At the age of nineteen I auditioned for two ex members of the welsh rockband Budgie who were Ray Philips (drums) and Tony Bourge ( lead guitar) . We went on to recruit the former bass player from The Groundhogs and so formed a band called Tredega.. I spent two years touring with these guys playing every club, hall, toilet on the planet. As time went by my musical taste and direction began to change slightly moving away from my blues/rock influences and toward a more AOR American west coast feel. Bands and singers from the " Bay Area " in particular Steve Perry who to my mind personified what a true melodic rock singer should be at that time in the early eighties. This was the guy I aspired to be like but in reality could and would never attain this level of vocal ability/ athleticism.
I then spent around ten or so years in Central Europe in particular Switzerland writing and recording original material with my now life long friend Peter.
After returning home and settling down with my family and taking a lengthy break I decided to dip my toes again and so began singing again on the local circuits and really started to enjoy my music / singing .Two of the more recent bands I sang with were Damage Control who among others featured none other than our own Geordie Clark, the second band was a Whitesnake tribute called Slip Of The Tongue. Both North East bands gained critical acclaim and I can honestly say I had a real blast with those guys. The North East is blessed with an abundance of top quality musicians and vocalists be it on a professional level or amateur and I'm proud of the North Easts rich heritage of music and it's standing upon the world stage.
I now intend to thoroughly enjoy what is a fantastic opportunity with Mick, Phil, Dave and Geordie and together move the band onwards and upwards. These four guys are unsurpassed in their respective instruments and I can't wait to play "live" on stage with them.
Techno stuff
I'm currently using:
Shure SM 58 Beta radio mic
Sennheiser In ear radio pack with
ACS Custom T1 Live series in ear monitors ( The dogs bollocks ! )