Billy Reeves (born 7 June 1965) is an English songwriter, musician, record producer and broadcaster. In 1996 he formed the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based indie-band Theaudience, (featuring

Sophie Ellis-Bextor Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is an English singer and songwriter. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s as the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo and ...

on vocals). Theaudience quickly established themselves in the Camden scene of 1997. They scored two top 30 (UK) hits - " A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed" and " I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)" - and a top 20 (UK) eponymous album, before Reeves left the band following the 1998

Glastonbury festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

. Prior to theaudience, Reeves had briefly been drummer for the bands Blow Up and The Grooveyard, and later formed indie band Congregation while working at the band's label

Fire Records Fire Records was an American independent record label, set up in 1959 by Bobby Robinson. Amongst others, it released records by Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Buster Brown and Arthur Crudup. At one point it was thought Fire had issued the l ...

in the early 1990s. Reeves signed to

Sony Records Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation. Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the la ...

with a new act ('Yours') in 1999. He also ran the club ('Uncle Bob's Wedding Reception') which provided The Darkness with their first London show. Around this time he also had a brief stint in Los Angeles producing new artist demos for Rondor Publishing. His performing career was interrupted by injuries sustained in a near-fatal car accident in 2001, although he returned to live music from 2006 with the short-lived pop band Friends of the Bride, among other projects. A later project, Sugar Coat, was awarded with a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

following the release of the world's first playable jigsaw puzzle. After recovering from his accident Reeves studied under the noted writer and journalist Chris Horrie at the University of Westminster. Reeves achieved a distinction in his post graduate degree under Horrie and was therefore able to reinvent himself as a

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

and broadcaster on BBC London 94.9. His travel and sports reports are distinctive due to an eccentric delivery, which his friend

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fa ...

has compared to the late Cyril Fletcher. He produced the 2005

Sony Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

-winning Charlie Gillett Show (which featured

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel music, gospel singer and civil rights activism, activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving memb ...

), and as part of the BBC London Travel Team has won two Frank Gillard Awards - in 2009 and 2011. The team was nominated for the 2011 Sony in the 'Multiplatform' category (for coverage of the Tube Strike) and commended in the 2011 Online Media Awards in the '

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

feed of the year' category. Outside of the BBC he presents a monthly

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

for Kscope Records, the forefront of the uniquely British 'post-progressive' rock scene. Reeves has also turned his hand to sports commentary for BBC Radio. He lends an eloquence to reports from

Brentford FC Brentford Football Club is a professional association football club based in Brentford, England. The team competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Nicknamed "The Bees", the club was found ...

, and commentates live on the club's website 'Bees Player' - as well as writing a column in the match-day programme. In 2021, Reeves announced that he would be releasing a new record called ''Afters'' consisting of re-recorded versions of songs that he wrote shortly before his accident in 2001. The album was released under the pseudonym ''The Helicopter of the Holy Ghost'' and features Mark Morriss and

Simon Raymonde Simon Philip Raymonde (born 3 April 1962) is an English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer Ivor Raymonde. He is best known as the bass guitarist and keyboard player with the Scottish band Cocteau Twins ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, Billy Living people English male songwriters 1965 births Place of birth missing (living people) British record producers Alumni of the University of Westminster Musicians from London