Billy Bishop

Born as Billy Blissett in Toronto, Canada, the musician adopted the professional name Bishop upon crossing into the United States during the 1940s. In his hometown he had already assembled the Blissett-McLean Orchestra by 1931 and soon afterward directed his initial self-titled ensemble at the Silver Slipper. Airplay on both the Canadian Radio Commission and NBC helped enlarge his audience, as did regular bookings at vacation spots throughout Quebec and Montreal. International dates followed, among them an engagement at Monte Carlo’s International Sporting Club and appearances in London; wartime conditions, however, curtailed further progress in England. During this period he cut numerous sides for Victor Records and HMV Records and performed on the programs The Rinso Radio Revue and Waltz Time. His first U.S. ensemble was organized in California in 1940 and later moved to Chicago, where Billy Bishop And His Orchestra became a regular attraction at the Aragon Ballroom, the Trianon Ballroom, the Blackhawk Restaurant, the Shroeder Peabody, and the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. By 1953 the big-band era had faded, prompting Bishop to leave music for a career in stockbroking; in 1969 he and his wife, the former band vocalist Alice Mann, settled in San Diego.