Bill Zucker

Once upon a time in a small little city called Springfield in Massachusetts a child was born into a loving family on a cold October evening, as bright shiny stars covered a crisp moonlit sky. Not content with being the birthplace of basketball or Dr... more »

Once upon a time in a small little city called Springfield in Massachusetts a child was born into a loving family on a cold October evening, as bright shiny stars covered a crisp moonlit sky. Not content with being the birthplace of basketball or Dr Seuss, this quaint little City that sits on the bank of the Connecticut River, had gained yet another reason to be remembered in popular culture for decades to come.

So it was in Springfield where the child prodigy William Cary Zucker (Bill Zucker) started to create music starting with some beautiful piano recitals at the age of nine. Fast forward by a few years and by eleven, Bill had started his garage band “The Divided Line” using his very first drum kit. He jammed with his buddies until the age of fifteen when he picked up his first guitar and wrote the tenderly entitled song “Show Me” about his break-up with his childhood sweetheart.

That guitar was perfectly suited for Bill because he could take it with him everywhere. It went with him through high school where Bill was picked to play many concerts and events, often receiving standing ovations. He drew countless encores as a vocalist when he played acoustic guitar as a solo performer.

After high school Bill was overjoyed when he was accepted into the prestigious Berklee College of Music because it gave him the opportunity to continue his musical journey and the opportunity to study a variety of musical techniques.

Zucker absorbed everything that Berklee had to offer and his desire for fresh challenges, took him west after his graduation. Finally he arrived in Breckenridge Colorado where he stayed for 12 months. From there (with trusted guitar by his side) he travelled on to Seattle Washington where he lived for three years and attended Western Washington College in Bellingham, Washington where Zucker hosted his own campus radio show, was the front man and the electric fiddler for a country-rock band “Colraine.” Colraine toured across America to Bill’s home town of Springfield and back.

From there Zucker ended up in Hollywood California, where he found a writing partner in Ron Fair and together they wrote songs that were published by Paramount. Fortunately Bill landed a job at NBC Studios where his talent for comedy was first recognised, and he joined the production staff of The Steve Allen Comedy Hour and Barbara Mandrell Show. Bill relished his first taste of Hollywood and

formed his first professional touring band “Cruise Control” which later evolved into BZB “The Bill Zucker Band.” BZB featured Zucker’s lead vocals and his multi-instrumental ability to play the guitar, drum, harmonica, fiddle and keyboard/synthesizer. He had turned into an exceptionally gifted Musician and soon had built a catalog of over 300 original songs.

Not content with just playing music Zucker also displayed an entrepreneurial streak when he opened a night club called “Z Street.” Being the owner gave his endless opportunity to perform and he did so with numerous bands, artists and musicians.

At the turn of the new millennium in 2000, Bill had landed himself a record deal in Philadelphia and recorded a critically acclaimed twelve song CD entitled “Millennium” but the album’s arrival could not save the Label from closing so it never received the global distribution that was promised to him. Bill decided it was perhaps a blessing in disguise and decided he needed to be by the warm tropical breezes of Miami Florida.

As a Miami transplant Zucker wrote and produced “The TARP Song” and Bill recorded it at Audacity Recording in Hollywood Florida. The song which was actually called “I Want Some Tarp” became a powerful political parody and become an online phenomenon within 24 hours of release on YouTube. It finished up receiving tens of thousands of views each day and inspired viewers to write hundreds of comments in the first weeks since of being posted. That single song thrust Zucker under the national and global spotlight - something that was acknowledged by Neil Cavuto on Fox News who commented:

“The Tarp Song says in 3 minutes what every American is feeling and the song immortalizes the TARP forever.”

Swayed by his new found online notoriety and using an endless ability to tap into the mainstream and popular culture, Bill next wrote and produced “The Twitter Song” and instantly had another huge viral YouTube hit on his hands. In the The Twitter Song Zucker parodied about twitter facebook myspace addiction which even Megastar Ashton Kutcher publicly loved. Members of Zucker growing online fanbase sent in video clips of themselves singing the song – which Bill included in the final video release. His efforts were rewarded by the online industry when he became the recipient of an award by YouTube for having the funniest comedy video in 2009.

Zucker’s ability to connect with an online audience was being observed by Hollywood and an enthusiastic Kelsey Grammer star of NBC’s “Frasier” phoned him one day to compliment him on his success. Zucker and Grammer had an instant rapport and they both decided that they should work together over the next few conversations. It was an alliance that even “Laurel and Hardy” would be laughing down at.

So over the next few months Zucker used his experience of the comedy world and penned the first instalment of “The Kelsey Grammer and Bill Zucker Comedy Hour” which featured skits and rude jokes and exquisitely captured the “Benny Hill” humour of Zucker and the dry neurotic wit and effervescent charm of Grammer. The show was broadcast exclusively on Kelseylive.com – Grammer’s online channel and audiences from across the world adored the show and new episodes are currently being penned by Zucker.

In 2010 Zucker is involved in many projects and his public profile is rising dramatically. Just one example is his new live TV channel on Grammer’s network which can be accessed at www.billzuckerlive.com where he plans to bring fresh music, mayhem and a very big splattering of his unique brand of sauciness. Who else but Zucker could get his female fans from across the world desperate to wear his boxers on their heads!.

Unable to relinquish his desire to compose, produce and perform, Zucker has compiled two new hit Albums "Stranded" and "Every Window" which are available at www.billzucker.com and solidify the self-belief and tenacity of this musical showman.

But if music isn’t enough then head along to www.billandkel.com to read the wild tabloid stories of the self-proclaimed playboy himself – but be warned – lock up your rolls of toilet paper before you do!

So the future is extremely bright for one of the online world’s favourite people, and who really knows where next you might see this quintessential showman with his special gift for music and comedy pop up... maybe on NBC...or on tour with Bon Jovi....perhaps firing Donald Trump..or even becoming the first human to orbit Mars..but whatever happens make sure you strap yourself in for the ride of your life...because with Bill Zucker its gonna be wild!

(C) Copyright 2010 RBC Media « less