Billy Squier

Squier was on a genuine rocket ride in the early 1980s, with Don't Say No standing as one of the era's tightest, most muscular hard-rock records. The Stroke is a perfect arena-rock riff machine. The painful irony of his story is how a single ill-judged music video supposedly knocked his momentum sideways just as he peaked, which always struck me as one of rock's saddest what-ifs. But his real legacy might be that drum break from The Big Beat, sampled endlessly across hip-hop. The man's groove outlived his charts, and I think that counts for a lot.

Billy Squier (born May 12, 1950) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist who rose to prominence in the early 1980s. He is best known for hits such as The Stroke, Everybody Wants You, and Lonely Is the Night, drawn from his commercially successful albums Don't Say No and Emotions in Motion. His riff from The Big Beat has been widely sampled in hip-hop.

Name (English)

Billy Squier

Name (Japanese)

ビリー・スクワイア

Reading

びりー・すくわいあ

Born

May 12, 1950 (age 76)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Tiger

Origin

Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States

Blood type

Private

Height

Private

Agency

Private

Occupation

Songwriter / Singer-songwriter / Guitarist / Singer / Keyboardist

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Wellesley High School

University

Berklee College of Music

Spouse

Private

Children

Private

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.billysquier.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%93%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%A2

Tags

• Massachusetts native
• Songwriter
• Singer-songwriter
• Guitarist

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.