Billy White Acre
| Billy White Acre | |
|---|---|
| Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Folk, Rock, Alternative, Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Film score composer, Singer-Songwriter, Guitarist |
| Instruments | Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Synthesizers, Piano |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Website | http://www.billywhiteacre.com |
Billy White Acre, also known as Bill White Acre, and Bill Whiteacre, is a Canadian film score composer, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He is the founder and creative director of Big Planet Music, Inc., a Los Angeles-based music house that scores music for television, film and advertising. He is best known for his versatility as a composer and his use of open tunings and percussive guitar playing.
Billy White Acre was a choirboy in his hometown of Toronto. He spent his preteen years at St. Michaels College in Worcestershire, England on a singing scholarship, training in classical music, performing two services a day as head chorister, and learning the rudiments of piano and cello. Tired of singing Anglican Church music, Billy faked his voice change at 14 and returned to Toronto. He picked up the guitar in his late teens under the metal influences of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and the Tele-kinetics of Roy Buchanan. The early records of Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn turned him on to open-tuned solo guitar music, leading him to Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, and eventually the '80s soundscapes of Johnny Marr, Adrian Belew, and Andy Summers.
After high school, White Acre moved to Boulder, Colorado to study music at Naropa University. His studies included composition with Ralph Towner, African rhythm with Kobla Ladzekpo, world music and bebop with Bill Douglas, music concrete and the electronic studio with Steve Tibbetts, and blues and jazz improvisation with Robben Ford. White Acre stayed in Colorado long enough to be voted Denver's "Best Solo Performer" in 1987 and to share the stage with Bobby McFerrin, Suzanne Vega, Al Di Meola, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, The Washington Squares, and one of his first guitar heroes, Roy Buchanan. He also made friends with Naropa teacher and howling poet, Allen Ginsberg and accompanied the Beat poet in a mixed media performance at Naropa in 1983. The experience led White Acre to write and record Automatic Forest on the occasion of Ginsberg's death in 1997.
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