Billy is an award winning 18 year old Anglo-Brazilian classical / fingerstyle instrumental guitarist, inspired by the likes of Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tommy Emmanuel, Mike Oldfield and Paco De Lucia. In 2016, he reached the grand final of ‘Guitar Star’ – a guitar based talent show open to all ages and genres for Sky Arts TV, which was broadcast in Europe, Australia and South America. An experienced live performer, he has graced the main stage of Towersey Festival along with Midge Ure and Billy Bragg and was musical guest of comedian Rory Bremner, performing live on BBC Radio Scotland and at 2 sold out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016, where he has regularly performed on the Royal Mile since the age of 9. During ‘Guitar Star’ Billy stunned audiences with some extraordinary performances – for judges and mentors including Jazz legend George Benson, Classical Virtuoso Miloš Karadaglic, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, and David Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti – who described him as ‘a little genius’. His audition for the show, performing a classical arrangement of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was a viral internet sensation, and altogether his videos have been seen by over 60 million people. He has performed live at numerous iconic UK music venues, including the legendary Abbey Road Studio number 2 of Beatles fame, London’s Royal Festival Hall, The Cavern Club and The Latitude Festival. Billy has supported virtuoso acoustic guitarists Jon Gomm and Clive Carroll, performed at numerous UK and European festivals, including ‘Musikmesse’ (Frankfurt), ‘The Acoustic Festival of Britain’, the iconic ‘Ullapool Guitar Festival’ (Scotland) and ‘The Henley Festival’ – on the same bill as The Pet Shop Boys and Chaka Khan. Equally at ease on both steel and nylon strings, and refusing to be ‘pigeon holed’ into a specific musical style, Billy’s live show offers a mesmerizing, genre defying journey through music, with repertoire spanning Classical, Flamenco and Pop, through to Electronic Trance and Classic Rock – all on 1 guitar. Billy is officially endorsed by several major brands and regularly performs at music shows and exhibitions. He is also available for TV and Session Work, Private Bookings and Festival Performances. From September 2019 Billy will take up a place at the Royal College of Music in London, studying classical guitar performance under the guidance of critically acclaimed guitarist Gary Ryan.