Billy Mure


Sebastian "Billy" Mure was an American session musician, guitarist, and songwriter who recorded several albums in the 1950s and 1960s in a variety of styles, including surf, Hawaiian, swing, pop, twist, garage rock, pioneered early arena rock and use of power chords, as well as lounge music. He pioneered proto hard rock in the 1950s.

Biography

Mure was born in New York City and played violin at age of nine, before making guitar his primary instrument. He played in bands while in the service during World War II and found work at a radio station WNEW after the war until 1957. In addition to his solo recordings, he worked as a session musician, composer, and arranger. He wrote the popular instrumental "Toy Balloons". In 1959, he released the single "A String of Trumpets", credited to Billy Mure and the Trumpeteers; the song reached #64 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mure had been performing for the past seven years with his band—Top Hats—at Squid Lips in Sebastian, Florida. He died in 2013 at 98

Discography

As leader