Bill managed a fulltime managerial career and a lively music lifestyle since the mid 1950’s.
At 15 he started his recording and live music career, playing all over Geelong and Melbourne. Good friend Peter DeVisa from the channel 9 band, introduced Bill to a larger crowd of musicians which gave him plenty of opportunities to do what he liked most, learning and playing jazz.
Any function was a good excuse to put together a band to keep the party goers entertained and he was always available to play at school concerts every year.
Most weekends he played gigs, whether it be at The Sailors Rest, The Shadow Fax Winery The Elephant and Castle and many more with such great local artists such as Owen Yateman, Gary Tigani and Paul Retke.
Billy took great enjoyment showing interested people how to play, including myself and big brother Jamie. In 2002, after retiring from the Nissan Motor Company, he started teaching percussion at the Geelong Grammar School. A friendship with the Moneas also had him passing on his years of experience at their school. He was thrilled to be able to give back to the drumming community and his students filled him with much pride. At that time Bill took lessons from Australian session drummer Daryn Farugia for his own growth and to help give his students a blend of both new and old techniques. He practiced everyday and was known to carry a pair of drum sticks and a practice pad in his car just in case he needed to play the new stick pattern he’d just learnt.
I was very lucky to have him as my father and proud that his drumming legacy continues through this award.
Julien Ellis