Photo: Frank Schwichtenberg / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Billy Sheehan is the guy who completely broke my brain the first time I saw him play. Bass is supposed to hold the bottom end, right? But this dude from Buffalo, New York treats the instrument like it's a lead guitar — chording, two-handed tapping, three-finger picking, controlled feedback — the full shredder toolkit applied to four strings and somehow it works every single time. His run through Talas and then David Lee Roth's band got people's attention, but Mr. Big and The Winery Dogs showed he could operate in wildly different contexts and still be the most technically jaw-dropping person on stage. Born in 1953 and still going, he's proof that elite technique isn't a young person's game — the man has been doing impossible things on bass for over fifty years and he makes it look casual, which might be the most impressive part.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Billy Sheehan
- Name (Japanese)
- ビリー・シーン
- Reading
- びりー・しーん
- Born
- March 19, 1953 (age 73)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Snake
- Origin
- Buffalo, New York, United States
- Occupation
- bass guitarist / musician
2. Background
- High school
- Kenmore East High School
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Billy Sheehan born?
Born March 19, 1953 (age 73).
Where is Billy Sheehan from?
Billy Sheehan is from Buffalo, New York, United States.
What does Billy Sheehan do?
Billy Sheehan works as bass guitarist, musician.
Bass guitarist — see all → · Musician — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.