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William Haislip "Billy" Squier (born May 12, 1950) is an American rock musician. Squier had a string of arena rock hits in the 1980s. He is best known for the song "The Stroke" on his 1981 album release Don't Say No. Other hits include "In the Dark", "Rock Me Tonite", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", "Everybody Wants You", "All Night Long" and "Emotions in Motion".
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Squire grew up playing the piano & guitar, and became serious after listening to an album by Eric Clapton and The Blues Breakers. He started doing gigs at the Boston nightclub Psychedelic Supermarket in 1968. After a couple of initial bands, Squier formed Piper in 1976, and released two albums: “Piper” and “Can’t Wait” before leaving the band to sign as a solo artist with Capital Records in 1980. A string of successful albums and singles during the mid-80’s was derailed by the music video for the single “Rock Me Tonite” (named by Video GaGa as the “worst video of all time”). Subsequent album sales slumped, and although he continued to perform and record, never achieved the same level success prior to “Rock Me Tonite”. After 13 years with Capital Records, Squire’s last album with them “Tell The Truth” received little promotion, and led to him leaving. His last studio album “Happy Blue” was produced with an independent label.
