Billy Klippert

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Going Under

Billy Klippert
Billy Klippert is back, baring it all and portraying who he really is. With his new record is being produced by Matt Dematteo (Ashley MacIsaac, Edwin, Big Wreck) he has been able to tap in and make his music very personal. Billys got a new look, a new attitude, and a modern new sound, but hes still the same sweet guy we always knew and loved from IDOL. With the quality of the new material and Billy's soulful delivery, he is bound to please his current fans and attract some new ones as well.

In a parallel universe Billy Klippert is probably playing an accordion. Billy was born into a musical family, his fathers musical instrument store still a fixture in Calgary. As a toddler, Billys playground was the store, his toys the fascinating instruments (many of which, he confesses, he broke). Billys father is a world-class accordion player and every year, Billy and his brother Benny, were taken to the Kimberley Accordion International Championship to watch their father play. We had to pack at least 300 accordions into the family motor home, and man, they were heavy, relates Billy, his dad not only a great player but the largest accordion dealer in Western Canada. But Billy had other ideas. When I heard Metallica, I felt really guilty that I liked it, confessed a recalcitrant Billy. But his musical course was set. Leaving polkas and waltzes behind, Billy embarked on the life of a rock n roller. Hey, I learned guitar for the same reason every guy does to impress the ladies.

Billy plays guitar, piano and bass and has taught guitar at the family store. In 200l, he packed his bags and moved to Australia where he picked fruit, chipped cotton, slept on beaches and eventually became a professional musician in a most traditional manner. He played a variety of sidewalks in towns up and down Australias Gold Coast, his patrons, passers-by who would occasionally throw a few coins into the buskers guitar case. He didnt have a permit but the cops liked his sound and would show up now and then and request their favourite tunes. The pay wasnt great but it beat picking cotton and the experience ignited his passion to make music his career.

Back home in Calgary, Billy formed a band with his brother, a hard rock outfit called Kovered In Lies. The band developed a loyal local following, Billys gravely-edged voice, his commanding 62 frame and blonde-spiked hair making him a compelling front man.

It was Billys sister who re-directed Billys fate. She insisted that he audition for a new television talent show that was holding auditions in Calgary. She went so far as to get into line at 3 oclock in the morning with the hundreds of other talented and not-so talented Canadian Idol aspirants. A call at about 5 in the morning from sister to brother convinced Billy to come down to the audition and replace her in line. The rest, as they are fond of saying, is history. By 9:30 pm that same day, Billy had his ticket to Toronto and the Canadian Idol finals. And for any of you who have been out of the country for a year, Billy was the 2nd runner-up, a position that his loyal fans still debate and ponder.

In the winter of 2003, Billy was approached by The Orange Record Label. The fledgling label, recording home for singer/songwriters, were intrigued by something they saw in those TV appearances, a talent who seemed to be ill-suited for a talent show, an artist whose fans adored him, a songwriter whose voice and stage presence could make him a successful recording artist.