William Haislip "Billy" Squier (born May 12, 1950) is an American rock musician. Squier had a string of arena rock hits in the 1980s. He is probably best known for the song "The Stroke" on his 1981 album release Don't Say No. Other hits include "In the Dark", "Rock Me Tonite", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", "Everybody Wants You", "All Night Long" and "Emotions in Motion".
Billy Squier's third album for Capitol, Emotions in Motion, was released in 1982 and became nearly as successful as Don't Say No. The album also climbed into Billboard's Top 5 and sold just under 3 million copies in the US alone. The lead single was the album's title track, but the album's biggest hit was "Everybody Wants You" which held the #1 spot on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks for 6 weeks and reached #32 on the Hot 100. Squier was also popular on MTV. That same year, he recorded a song, "Fast Times (The Best Years of Our Lives)" for the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In the early 1980s Squier did his several headlining arena tours - most notably with Foreigner and Def Leppard - as opening act, with a backup band that included former Savage frontman Kevin Osborn on guitar.
Two years passed before Squier's next album Signs of Life. It was his third consecutive Platinum album. The album's first single release, "Rock Me Tonite" was Squier's biggest Pop hit. It reached #15 on Billboard's Hot 100, as well as #1 on the Album Rock Tracks chart in late 1984. However, the video for the track (directed by Kenny Ortega - Xanadu, High School Musical) which shows Squier dancing around a bedroom in a pink tank top, frequently appears on "worst music video ever" lists.[citation needed] On the VH1 show Ultimate Albums (Def Leppard's "Pyromania" episode), Squier revealed that his career as a chart-topping rocker came to a rapid and sudden end with the release of the "Rock Me Tonite" video, derided by his fans who saw him as a sellout.
Billy Squier's career took a major downturn afterward and he began playing smaller venues. His next two albums Enough is Enough (1986) and Hear & Now (1989) sold in the neighborhood of 300,000 copies each. Enough is Enough featured collaborations with Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the songs "Love Is The Hero" and "Lady With A Tenor Sax". Mercury had also sung background vocals on Squier's hit single "Emotions in Motion", along with Queen drummer Roger Taylor.
This show from the Santa Monica Civic Center in 1981 will give you an idea well beyond his MTV videos just how good Billy and his band actually where. The set list includes In the dark, Rich Kid, My Kinda Lover, Whadda You Want From Me, Lonely Is The Night, Young Girls, I Need You, The Stroke, You Should Be High Love, Two Daze Gone, The Big Beat, and You Know What I Like.
