Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan on June 11, 2005 in Cologne

William "Billy" Patrick Corgan (* 17th March 1967 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American musician , record producer , songwriter , lyricist and band leader of the alternative rock - band Smashing Pumpkins and wrestling -Unternehmer.

life and work

Childhood and youth

Billy Corgan was born in Chicago as the son of blues and rock music guitarists William Corgan Sr. and Martha Lutz . After their parents' divorce in 1970, Corgan moved to live with his father and stepmother in Glendale Heights , where he grew up with his brother and half-brother. Corgan said he was beaten by his stepmother.

During his school days Corgan played in a variety of different bands and after graduating from school decided to pursue a career as a musician. His first major band was The Marked. The band's name alluded to the striking moles of Corgan and drummer Ron Roesing. Disappointed with the Chicago music scene, Corgan and his band moved to Saint Petersburg , Florida in 1985 , but soon returned to Chicago after the band broke up.

The Smashing Pumpkins

In Chicago, Corgan founded the band The Smashing Pumpkins together with guitarist James Iha , with whom he worked in a record store, and they released their first demo tapes. Soon after, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin joined them. Corgan sang, played guitar and wrote most of the songs.

The first album Gish was released in 1991 , the big breakthrough followed two years later with Siamese Dream . The album went platinum several times in the US, and the singles Today and Disarm became hits worldwide. The 1995 album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness even topped this success: The record was nominated for seven Grammys and the song in 1979 became the band's most successful single to date. In 1996 the band temporarily separated from Chamberlin after he became addicted to heroin. The band released the album Adore in 1998 and Machina / The Machines of God in 2000 , a concept album, which, however, could not follow on from their earlier successes. Wretzky left the band while recording the latter album and was replaced by bassist Melissa Auf der Maur .

Soon after, the band announced that they would split up that same year. The album Machina II / The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music was released for free purchase on the Internet.

Zwan and solo career

After the dissolution of the Smashing Pumpkins, Corgan founded the band Zwan in 2001 with Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin . In 2002, Corgan and Zwan contributed a large part to the soundtrack of Jonas Åkerlund's film Spun , in which he also had a brief cameo as a doctor. In 2003 Zwan's first and only album, Mary Star of the Sea, was released . But the band broke up in the same year: With Zwan, Corgan and Chamberlin could not build on their immense success with the Smashing Pumpkins.

After Zwan broke up, Billy Corgan was mainly active as a solo artist and began to write about his life on a blog . Here Corgan also writes of very private details, such as his broken relationship with his parents, suicidal thoughts or disputes between the Smashing Pumpkins. In 2004 his first book, the poetry volume Blinking With Fists , was published by the British publisher Faber & Faber . Corgan also documented the writing process on his blog. Blinking With Fists managed immediately on the bestseller list of the New York Times , but met with mixed reviews.

On June 20, 2005, Corgan's first solo album was released with the title The Future Embrace and the first single Walking Shade . From June to August 2005 he was on a world tour with final concerts in Tokyo with a band consisting of Matt Walker, Linda Strawberry and Brian Liesegang . In 2007 Billy Corgan was a guest singer on the song The Cross by the Scorpions .

Smashing Pumpkins Revival

Corgan announced on his website and a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune on June 22, 2005 that he missed his old band the Pumpkins were trying to bring back to life, and he described the breakup as the worst decision of his life. In 2006 the Smashing Pumpkins reunited, but with the new band members Ginger Pooley on bass and guitarist Jeff Schroeder instead of Wretzky and Iha. In July 2007, the band released the album Zeitgeist , which received mixed reviews. In 2012 the new album Oceania followed , which was largely positively received by music critics. Oceania is also an “album within an album” as part of Corgan’s music project Teargarden by Kaleidyscope .

In 2009 Corgan founded the band Spirit in the Sky , initially to play a tribute concert for the rock and roll singer Sky Saxon .

Solo albums as William Patrick Corgan

Corgan also worked as a solo artist while working with the now reunited Smashing Pumpkins. On October 13, 2017, the album Ogilala was released under his real name William Patrick Corgan (abbreviated to WPC on the cover). The songs on the album, which Corgan produced with Rick Rubin , are based primarily on acoustic guitar and sparing instrumentation. Corgan hired session musicians from Nashville for the double album Cotillions , released on November 22, 2019 , which led to a sound that is strongly oriented towards country and bluegrass .

Wrestling career

In 2011 Corgan founded the indie wrestling league Resistance Pro Wrestling . In 2012 he also opened Madame Zuzu's Tea House in his hometown of Highland Park . In April 2015 Corgan joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , where he was employed as a senior producer. Corgan had invested a total of $ 1.8 million in TNA to fund two taping marathons and the Slammiversary PPV. The deal called for him to receive a $ 900,000 bonus on repayment. A few days before the agreement, Corgan had an exchange on Twitter with TNA and Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corporation, because his money was not returned to him immediately after the judge's verdict. From August 2016 through November 15, 2016, Corgan was the President of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Corgan sued TNA. He agreed with Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corporation that he would be paid his $ 2.7 million. Thus the dispute was settled. Corgan then left TNA.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	US
2005	The Future Embrace	DE67 (1 week) DE	CH82 (1 week) CH	UK89 (1 week) UK	US31 (3 weeks) US	as Billy Corgan
2017	Ogilala	-	CH86 (1 week) CH	-	US183 (1 week) US	as William Patrick Corgan
2019	Cotillions	-	-	-	-	as William Patrick Corgan

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
2005	Walking Shade The Future Embrace	UK74 (1 week) UK

Soundtracks

• 1996: Bounty - One will pay - 6 songs
• 1998: First Love, Last Rites (When I Was Born, I Was Bored)
• 1999: Stigmata - 12 songs
• 2003: Spun - 4 songs
• 2007: Desires of a Housewife - People on the Abyss - 3 songs

Tribute album

• 1995: A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division - 1 song (as Starchildren )

With The Smashing Pumpkins

→ Main article : “Discography” in The Smashing Pumpkins article

With Zwan

→ Main article : "Discography" in the article Zwan

Web links

Commons : Billy Corgan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Billy Corgan on Myspace
• Everything from here to there - Billy Corgan's blog ( Memento from January 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Billy Corgan at Discogs (English)
• Billy Corgan in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Billy Corgan's blog
2. ^ Corgans Blog - Poetry
3. ↑ http://www.hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Scorpions+feat.+Billy+Corgan&titel=The+Cross&cat=s
4. ^ Pro wrestling
5. ^ Pitchfork: Billy Corgan opens Tea Shop
6. ↑ Big update: TNA and Anthem agree with Billy Corgan! - Smashing Pumpkins frontman leaves and Dixie Carter stays! - What does the future of the company look like? wrestling-infos.de. Retrieved November 17, 2016
7. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE CH UK US