William Patrick Corgan, Jr. (born March 17, 1967 in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, U.S.A.) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter best known for his work in the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. The Smashing Pumpkins remain one of alternative rock's biggest acts and are known for their complex, layered style, and Corgan's distinctive vocals and guitar solos.

Music journalist Jim DeRogatis declared, "Of all the memorable artists and characters that the alternative era produced, [Corgan] was the most traditional rock star, with all of the good and bad traits that implies." When the band broke up in 2000, Corgan went on to form the short-lived Zwan with former Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. After releasing a solo album and a collection of poetry, Corgan reformed the Smashing Pumpkins in 2006.

Corgan is the oldest son of William Corgan Sr. and Martha Louise Maes Corgan Lutz. He has a younger half brother, Jesse, a physically and mentally disabled playwright and another younger brother, Ricky, who is a painter. The song "Spaceboy" on Siamese Dream was written about Jesse. Corgan's parents divorced at an early age, and his father remarried soon after. His early years were spent with his grandparents, but most of his childhood was spent living with his father and stepmother in Glendale Heights, Illinois During this time, Corgan alleges he was subject to much physical and emotional abuse by his stepmother. His father was a professional musician. Martha Lutz, Corgan's natural mother, had also been suffering from mental illness. She was committed to a mental institution for a brief period of time. When Corgan's father and stepmother separated, he lived with his allegedly abusive stepmother, with both of his birth parents living separately within an hour's drive. Corgan spent a good deal of his youth taking care of and defending his younger brother Jesse, whom he still visits and supports. Corgan was also an honors student at Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream, Illinois.

Corgan decided to start playing guitar when he went over to a friend's house and saw his friend's Flying V. Corgan gave his savings to his father, in good faith that he would buy him a proper guitar. His first guitar was a used Gibson Les Paul. Corgan Sr., a blues guitarist, steered his son stylistically, encouraging him to listen to Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix; however, in a Howard Stern interview, Billy Corgan claimed he was an autodidactic guitarist. In this, Corgan was similar to contemporaries like Kurt Cobain, who were mostly self taught and not mentored. When asked by Robin Quivers if he could read notes, Billy responded, "No. I play whatever I hear in my head". Corgan has also said that his father refused on-hand instruction because he was skeptical of his son's dedication. However, as years passed Corgan did eventually learn to read music.

Corgan grew up listening to hard rock and heavy metal like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. He eventually discovered alternative rock through Bauhaus, The Cure, and The Smiths. By the time he started attending high school, Corgan had begun playing in bands. Corgan was very active in the Chicago music scene beginning in 1983 and formed a band with Greg Bates named Coat of Eyes which included other guest musicians including Jim Marcus founder of the industrial band Die Warzau. Corgan moved from Chicago to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1985 with his first major band, The Marked, named for the noticeable birthmarks of Billy and Ron Roesing, the drummer. The band lasted for around nine months and disbanded, with Billy returning to Chicago to live with his father.

While working at a record store, Corgan met up with guitarist James Iha through a friend and the two began recording demos in Corgan's father house, described as "doomy little goth-pop records." He then met bassist D'arcy Wretzky after a local show, arguing with her about a band that had just played. Soon after, The Smashing Pumpkins were formed. The trio began to play together at local clubs with only a drum machine for percussion. The band would soon recruit drummer Jimmy Chamberlin to secure a show at Chicago's Cabaret Metro, where they played for the first time as a quartet on October 5, 1988. The new band fused diverse threads such as psychedelic rock and heavy metal into a distinctive sound on their inaugural album, Gish (1991). After the success of Gish, the Pumpkins contributed their 1992 single "Drown," to the Singles soundtrack, and followed that with the massively successful Siamese Dream. The Pumpkins became known for their elaborate production techniques, layering dozens of different guitar tracks over one another with a wide variety of effects. The band also became known for internal drama during this period, with Corgan frequently characterized in the music press as a "control freak" because he often rerecorded Iha and Wretzky's guitar and bass parts on Gish and Siamese Dream. Despite this, the album was well received by critics, and the songs "Today" and "Disarm" became smash hits, with the accompanying music videos receiving heavy airplay on MTV.

The band's 1995 follow up effort, the massive 2 disc set Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, was even more wildly successful, spawning a string of hit singles and eventually a box set (The Aeroplane Flies High, 1996) of outtakes. The album was nominated for seven Grammy awards that year and would eventually be certified 9 times platinum in the United States. The song 1979 was Corgan's biggest hit to date, reaching #1 on Billboard's modern rock chart. Their appearance on Saturday Night Live on November 11, 1995 to promote this material also was the debut TV appearance of Corgan's shaved head, which he has maintained consistently ever since (as of 2007). Previously, Corgan had, in typical rockstar fashion, varied his hair styles fairly often.

During the album's tour, the band was plagued by Chamberlin's heroin addiction. On July 12, 1996, Chamberlin and touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin overdosed in a hotel room. Chamberlin survived, but Melvoin did not. The Pumpkins made the decision to fire Chamberlin and would continue as a trio. Their next effort, 1998's Adore, was undertaken with drum machines and studio drummers, and consisted of more subdued material than the band's previous efforts. Adore earned high praise from some critics and many fans, but other critics and most of the more casual listeners thought the band had strayed too far from its strengths, resulting in a significant decrease in album sales (it sold 1.3 million copies, as opposed to 4.5 with Mellon Collie...).

Chamberlin was reunited with the band in 1999, and 2000 saw Machina/The Machines of God, a concept album on which the band deliberately played to their public image; critics were again divided, and sales were lower than ever. At the end of the recording for Machina, bassist D'Arcy quit the band and was replaced for the upcoming tour by former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. In 2000, the band released Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music for free over the internet.

The Smashing Pumpkins split up later in 2000 and played their last show on December 2 of that year at the Cabaret Metro.

Later in 2001, Corgan formed Zwan with Chamberlin and guitarists Matt Sweeney and David Pajo, with former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin joining in 2002. Zwan's focus on sunny, melodic pop-rock surprised fans and critics, and its album Mary Star of the Sea garnered generally positive reviews. Billy and Zwan also contributed tracks to the 2002 film Spun. In March 2003, Corgan and Chamberlin performed with Jazz vocalist Kurt Elling at "The Waltz", an annual benefit for homeless and abused teenagers. Together, they performed a version of Jimi Hendrix's "Freedom". Despite Zwan's critical success, the band disbanded in mid-2003.

In addition to performing, Corgan has produced albums for Ric Ocasek, Hole, The Frogs, and Catherine. He shared songwriting credit on several songs on Hole's 1998 album Celebrity Skin; the title track became Corgan's second #1 modern rock hit. He also acted as a consultant for Marilyn Manson during the album Mechanical Animals. He has produced three soundtracks for the movies Ransom (1996), Stigmata (1999) and Spun (2002). He has performed vocals and guitar for Tony Iommi, Blindside, New Order and Marianne Faithfull. Corgan would also guide and collaborate with two bands in the early 2000's - Breaking Benjamin (during sessions for 2004's We Are Not Alone) and Taproot (for Blue-Sky Research, 2005). Corgan appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Loki Cat" on Jimmy Chamberlin's first solo album Life Begins Again and Chamberlin played drums for the song "DIA" on Corgan's solo debut.

Recently, Corgan has worked on several collaborations - Courtney Love's Nobody's Daughter, Garbage vocalist Shirley Manson's debut solo album, and the Scorpions' Humanity - Hour 1.

Corgan began writing revealing autobiographical posts on his website and his MySpace page. Corgan told interviewers he was essentially writing his autobiography, and, "That part of my life is public, and I decided that I no longer want to protect the people I tormented." On February 17, 2004, Corgan posted a bitter message in which he blamed guitarist James Iha for the breakup of The Smashing Pumpkins four years prior. He also referred to bassist D'arcy Wretzky as "a mean spirited drug addict." On June 3, 2004 he posted an apology of sorts to Iha, writing that "i love [Iha] very, very much...the depth of my hurt is only matched by the depth of my gratitude". In another post, Corgan insulted his former Zwan bandmates, claiming they had been obnoxiously self-conscious about their "indie cred" to the point of hurting those around them. Poking fun at their indie stance, he called them "poseurs" and declared them to be "filthy", opportunistic, and selfish.

In late 2004, Corgan published Blinking with Fists, a book of poetry. The book debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list. It was also the best-selling poetry book in the United States in its first week of release. Throughout 2004, he worked on a number of folk songs related to Chicago history, and had planned to release an EP/DVD tentatively called "ChicagoSongs." In his 2005 newspaper announcement, he mentioned that he still intended to release the collection, but as of 2007, there have been no further reports.

Corgan released his first solo album TheFutureEmbrace on June 21, 2005 through Reprise Records. It warranted mostly lukewarm reviews from the press and only sold 69,000 copies.

Corgan toured behind his solo album with a touring band that included Linda Strawberry, Brian Liesegang and Matt Walker in 2005. This tour was nowhere near as extensive as previous Smashing Pumpkins or Zwan tours.

In an 2005 interview with Spin magazine, Corgan rejected the possibilty that the Pumpkins would reunite. He told the interviewer, "If we're standing onstage in seven years, I owe you a good deal of money." However, by the time the interview was published, Corgan had taken out a full-page ad in Chicago's two most prominent newspapers (The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times) revealing his desire to reform the Smashing Pumpkins. Several days later, Jimmy Chamberlin accepted Billy Corgan's offer for a reunion. http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2005/06/2830.cfm On December 11 2005, Corgan wrote on his MySpace account that a "big surprise" is shortly to be announced. He posted: "The surprise I have in store for you all will be announced soon enough....hold on to your horses. After all, good things surely comes to those who wait....Don't you just love the suspense?".

On April 20, 2006 the band's official website confirmed that the group was indeed reuniting. . On February 7, 2007 at 7:07 AM the name of the new album and the release date were made public by Corgan through the band MySpace page. The band performed its first show in seven years on May 22, 2007, with new members Ginger Reyes (bass) and Jeff Schroeder (guitar) replacing Wretzky and Iha. The album, titled Zeitgeist, was released in the U.S. on July 10, 2007, and debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts. Corgan and the rest of the Pumpkins have been touring extensively in support of the album.

Billy Corgan dated Courtney Love prior to her courtship and marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In about 1992, he married museum worker Chris Fabian. Rumors circulated that Corgan and Love rekindled their romance during the Pumpkins' 1994 Lollapalooza tour, after Cobain's death. Corgan and Fabian separated sometime in 1995, and divorced in 1997. Corgan refused to discuss the subject in interviews, saying "There is not and will not be any public record on my marriage - that's one thing I have to draw lines around."

In late 1995, he started dating photographer Yelena Yemchuk, who had contributed to several Smashing Pumpkins videos and album art. The 2000 Smashing Pumpkins hit "Stand Inside Your Love" was written about her. He continued to date Yemchuk until around 2004. According to Corgan, his breakup with her contributed to the themes of his 2005 solo release, ‘’TheFutureEmbrace’’.

In early 2006, he moved in with Courtney Love and her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. According to Love, he had his own wing in her new Hollywood Hills mansion.

His mother Martha died in 1996. The song "For Martha", from Adore, was written in her honor. In the early 2000s, Corgan would name his label Martha's Music after her as well.

Corgan is an avowed sports fan. He is particularly fond of the Chicago Cubs, and has commented on that team for WXRT DJ Lin Brehmer. He has also appeared at Cubs games many times, and has thrown first pitches and sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." He was a devoted fan of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks in the 1990s, and became personal friends with Dennis Rodman and Chris Chelios. He is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, and appeared in an ECW pro wrestling match wielding an acoustic guitar as a weapon. As far as other entertainment, Corgan once commented that all he watches on TV are "sports and Three Stooges."

Corgan has often mentioned or developed projects that remain commercially unreleased. In 1998, he spoke of his hope to release a solo acoustic album, a sequel to Vieuphoria, and a comprehensive boxset of live Smashing Pumpkins recordings. Around the time of the Pumpkins' disbandment, Corgan explained plans to reissue every Pumpkins album complete with bonus tracks, which has not yet happened. Also at this time, Corgan hoped to record an instrumental progressive rock album with Jimmy Chamberlin and Mike Garson. The final Pumpkins concert before the 2000 breakup was recorded professionally, and a DVD of this performance had been mentioned frequently after the breakup but never materialized (though one song from the concert, "An Ode to No One," was later released on the DVD Greatest Hits Video Collection). Meanwhile, the Glass and the Machines of God animated series, a tie-in to the Machina albums, was never completed, though several apparent cuts of episodes were leaked in 2003. Also that year, Zwan recorded "tons of music" outside of their Mary Star of the Sea album, possibly including an entire second album as the "Djali Zwan", but neither the album nor the footage were released (and won't be released until Corgan "can stomach it"), and Zwan soon broke up. In 2004, Corgan publicly acknowledged that he was writing a novel, via the "About the Author" section of Blinking with Fists. It is not known whether the novel was finished, but no portion has been made available. His life story, The Confessions of Billy Corgan, was also published at this time, but was apparently never completed. Also in this era, he gave several interviews promoting a ChicagoSongs DVD/EP, a release of several songs related to his native Chicago, which was apparently shelved when he and Jimmy Chamberlin began work on Zeitgeist.

When asked in a 1994 Rolling Stone interview about his influences, Corgan replied:

Eight years old, I put on the Black Sabbath record, and my life is forever changed. It sounded so fucking heavy. It rattled the bones. I wanted that feeling. With [[Bauhaus (band)

Although Corgan is not widely recognized for his guitar playing, it has been praised numerous times. All Music Guide said "Starla" "proves that Corgan was one of the finest (and most underrated) rock guitarists of the '90s", while Rolling Stone called he and his Smashing Pumpkins bandmates "ruthless virtuosos". Within guitar circles, he has assumed a position of respect. He wrote six articles for Guitar World in 1995, and his solos for "Cherub Rock" and "Geek USA" were included on their list of the top guitar solos of all time. He is a fan of Eddie Van Halen and interviewed him in the late nineties for Guitar World.

His distinctive, nasal singing style is often a point of contention among critics. The Miami Herald called his voice "one of rock's most annoying sounds."

In a Chicago weekly newspaper during the late '90s, Corgan was quoted as listening to "Pantera. I really like Pantera." Pantera producer Terry Date would later be brought in to produce the Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist.

His literary influences include William S. Burroughs and Philip K. Dick.

* TheFutureEmbrace - (21 June 2005) #31 US, #67 GER

* "Walking Shade" - (13 June 2005) #74 UK

* 1996 Ransom * 1997 First Love, Last Rites ("When I Was Born, I Was Bored") * 1999 Stigmata * 2002 Spun * 2006 Dance of the Dead (Masters of Horror episode) * 2007 When a Man Falls in the Forest

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* Billy Corgan at MySpace * The Smashing Pumpkins official website * BillyCorgan.Livejournal.com - An extensive archive of Billy's journal entries, including The Confessions of Billy Corgan. *

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