Billy Corgan (born William Patrick Corgan, Jr.) was born March 17, 1967 in Chicago, IL to parents Bill Sr. and Martha Corgan. Ever since Billy was a small child, he has said that he has always dealt with his life being on the outside. He says he has never quite fit in with any group of kids has has ever encountered. As a young boy, Billy was always reminded of his detachment to the world through his large red birthmark on his left arm and hand. Kids treated him differently because of his birthmark and he explained that even though he is no longer as concerned about it as before, he has never forgotten what a difference in treatment he was given by them. And as he commented, "When you're that young, anything that simple can set you apart."

As well as his birthmark to set him apart from the other kids, Billy was also "literally twice as tall as everyone" in his grade school years. Up until he was fourteen years of age, Billy played in little league baseball and led everyone in homeruns and as he put it, was "league superstar." At the age of fifteen, Billy quit baseball in part to the feeling that he felt the other kids were catching up to him, both physically and proficiently, and as confessed, his parents wouldn't enroll him "because it costed forty dollars."

So as the summer passed without baseball, Billy visited a friend. He walked into his basement and literally into a new world. He saw his friend playing a black and white Flying-V guitar. Not so much as actually playing, but making some noise on it. Billy remembered the scene as a "light bulb going off and at that moment it all made sense: this is what I was supposed to do."

From then on, Billy saved all of his money and told his father, a professional blues guitarist, to buy him his first electric guitar. Never before had Billy been interested in guitar, even thought his father was a musician. He hardly ever had been close to his father, even before his parents had divorced when he was still young. Billy had been passed around from family member to family member at least four times before he reached the age of nine which made him "feel like a living rejection." He finally ended up living with his stepmother after his father remarried. He hardly ever got to see him because of his touring schedules with different bands.

When Billy began to learn guitar, he didn't take lessons and to this day, he still does not even know how to read music. Instead, he practiced for hours everyday alone in his bedroom. Even when he visited relatives, he took his guitar to practice. Little did he know how all of his hard practice and ironically, his messed up childhood memories would get him somewhere.

Graduating from Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream, IL in 1985 (which he described as "a living hell"), Billy didn't have his sights set on attending college but instead, forming a band (which he had done in high school with a band called An Evil Day With Hexen). When he set out to find bandmates for an all original band he wanted to form, he did and named it The Marked. This group of young men would soon be what Billy would later call a prototype to the Pumpkins. he eventually moved out of his house at 18 and relocated with his band to Florida. The group had a very short-lived career which after only a few gigs, had broken up. Billy once again returned to Chicago to move back in with his father yet was still determined to form a band that would become as important as any other band out there.

Once Billy returned to Chicago, he began to work at a local used record store. Once he was financially fit enough to move out of the house, he moved into an apartment. He also encountered many new people, one of whom introduced him to now Smashing Pumpkins bandmate James Iha. Billy invited James to join a new band he was forming but James was already in another band that he had, called The Feds. Despite this problem however, James decided to join Billy's band.

Now with James, Billy decided to play some live shows, the first being at a Chicago Polish bar called Chicago 21. James played bass while Billy played guitar and they used a drum machine. The show was not very much of a success, being that no one understood the vision Billy tried to get across. However, Billy never gave up easily, and still played other live shows, no matter how horrible they were.

After playing shows with James, Billy was determined to find a bass player. After attending a show at the Avalon nightclub in Chicago, Billy ran into a young woman who had also seen the show. Billy thought that the show was put on by a bunch of record company people who told the band exactly what to do, therefore he did not completely agree with their display of "jumping around onstage" and the rest of their antics. His alleged first words to her were "You're full of shit." The woman however, thought that the show was really good, and argued with him about it. It was then that she let it spill that she played bass in a band, and Billy immediately decided to ask if she would join his band. She introduced herself as D'Arcy Wretzky, and he handed her his name and number and told her to give him a call about the band. She did.

D'Arcy became the latest member of the band and soon began playing live shows with Billy and James as well as the drum machine. Later that year, Billy met Jimmy Chamberlin through another one of his friends, and the band was finally complete. They played their first show together at the Metro nightclub in Chicago.

Today, Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins have become one of the most recognized bands in the world, with legions of fans from every corner of the globe. They have sold over 30 million records worldwide to date and have won over a dozen awards ranging from music giants MTV to the world-respected Grammys to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. June 30th was even named Smashing Pumpkins Day in San Francisco. Billy Corgan has influenced countless numbers of people just like you and me to famous celebrities. Every Smashing Pumpkins fan seems to know where Billy is coming from in his heartfelt and angry lyrics that permeate through his awesome guitar playing. He is often called the King of Alternative or Prince of Rock by several publications, namely Guitar World magazine. He has an extreme talent that no one can touch. I myself have never found a songwriter as touching nor as perfect as this one. There isn't one Smashing Pumpkins song that I do not like, and my admiration for Billy everyday seemingly never ceases to stop growing. Thanks so much Billy for everything you do and making my life better everyday. You are an angel to everyone who knows you and your music and you will never be forgotten.