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Billy Duffy (born William Henry Duffy, 12 May 1961, Hulme, Manchester^[1]) is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known for his membership of The Cult.

Early days

He grew up in Manchester, where he began playing guitar at the age of fourteen. Duffy got his start playing in different punk line-ups in the late 1970s, but these earlier years were more notable for his introducing Johnny Marr (The Smiths) to the guitar and encouraging Morrissey to make his singing debut with Duffy in The Nosebleeds.^[1]

When the initial punk rock movement (led by the Sex Pistols) died out, Duffy eventually settled as guitarist for the moodier and more arty Theatre of Hate. He eventually met Ian Astbury (the frontman for positive punk band Southern Death Cult) who was impressed with Duffy's playing and abandoned Southern Death Cult to start a new band with him. Together, they exploited the Southern Death Cult's success by calling themselves Death Cult. After initial fanfare and a couple of singles, Duffy, following a trip to New York, convinced Astbury to shorten the band's name to The Cult in 1984.^[1]

As early as The Cult's debut single "Spiritwalker", Duffy began establishing a distinctive flanged sound with an offbeat choice of guitar, a mid 1970s Gretsch White Falcon.

Late 1980s

Duffy's helped change The Cult's sound into metal-blues for their third album, 1987's Electric, the credit to an AC/DC fan, Rick Rubin. Fresh from his work producing the Beastie Boys' debut album Licensed to Ill, Rubin gave both Duffy and The Cult a new musical direction.

Duffy moved to Los Angeles in 1988 with Astbury, where both remain. There, the two writing partners (with longtime bassist Jamie Stewart) turned to stadium rock and recorded Sonic Temple. The Cult reached a larger, mainstream audience, but the public's attention could not be sustained with their next album, Ceremony, at the dawn of the grunge age.

Following the 'Ceremonial Stomp' tour of 1992, Astbury pressured Duffy to return to their roots, with The Cult's Black Sheep album. This would ultimately lead to Astbury's departure from Duffy and The Cult in 1995.

During The Cult's four-year hiatus, Duffy played with Mike Peters of The Alarm in a project called Coloursound.^[1]

Cult reformation

Duffy reformed The Cult with Astbury in 1999,^[1] which led to a new recording contract with Atlantic Records. This was capped off by a show at Atlanta's Music Midtown Festival in May 2001, where over 60,000 people watched them perform, leading up to the release of Beyond Good and Evil.

Their single to promote it, "Rise", which reached #41 in the US and #2 on the mainstream rock chart, was removed from radio rotation a week after the album's release. Disappointing sales, reviews, and tour attendance ensued, and in 2002 Astbury sent The Cult onto a hiatus once more, when an offer to sing with The Doors came his way.

2006 onwards

The Cult reformed in early 2006 and after playing several US concerts toured Europe. Duffy appeared in Ethan Dettenmaier's film, Sin-Jin Smyth, which was filmed in 2006, but remains unreleased.

In early 2006 Duffy recorded a debut album with his new band, Circus Diablo. The album was recorded with Duffy playing lead guitar and former Cult touring bass player Billy Morrison handling lead vocals and bass guitar duties. Former The Almighty frontman, Ricky Warwick, played rhythm guitar on the CD. The former Cult, current Velvet Revolver drummer, Matt Sorum also played on the record and appears courtesy of RCA Records.

After the completion of the album, former Fuel member Brett Scallions was added to be the bassist, so Morrison could focus on being the lead singer. Then, Jeremy Colson formerly with Steve Vai, was brought in to be the full time drummer for the band. Duffy's involvement ended in 2007.

In 2007 he was a judge on Bodog Music's Battle Of The Bands.

References