 Corgan performing with the Smashing Pumpkins in 1993 | |
| Born | March 17, 1967 Elk Grove Village, Illinois, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Died | April 5, 1994 (aged 27) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Years active | 1985-1994 |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, songwriter |
| Genre | Alternative rock |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, bass |
| Spouse | Chris Fabian (m. 1993-1994) |
William Patrick Corgan Jr. (March 17, 1967 - April 5, 1994), simply known as Billy Corgan, was an American musician, singer, songwriter who performed the genre of alternative rock, he was best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band the Smashing Pumpkins.
Corgan formed the Smashing Pumpkins in Chicago in 1988 along with guitarist James Iha, followed by bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Strong album sales and large-scale tours propelled the band's increasing fame in the 1990s until Corgan's death in 1994 from an overdose at the age of 27.
Biography[]
Early life[]
William Patrick Corgan Jr. was born at Columbus Hospital in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1967, the oldest son of guitarist William Dale Corgan (1947-2021) and his wife Martha Louise Maes Corgan Lutz. He was raised Catholic and is of Irish and German-Swiss descent. His parents had one more son, Ricky, before divorcing in 1970. His father was remarried to a flight attendant, and Corgan and his brother went to live with them in Glendale Heights, Illinois. Corgan alleges that his stepmother was abusive to him, both physically and emotionally. He developed a protective bond with his younger paternal half-brother, Jesse, who had special needs as a child. When Corgan's father and stepmother separated, all three boys lived alone with their stepmother, and both of his birth parents lived separately within an hour's drive.
Corgan described his father as a "drug dealing, gun-toting, musician [and] mad man". Although this had a huge negative impact on his childhood, in retrospect he respects his father as a great musician.
Corgan, who grew much faster than his fellow students, was a strong athlete in elementary school. In addition to being a member of his baseball team at Marquardt Middle School, he amassed over 10,000 baseball cards and listened to every Chicago Cubs game on the radio. However, by the time he began attending Glenbard North High School, his athletic prowess had greatly diminished. He decided to start playing guitar after seeing a Flying V when he went over to a friend's house. Corgan gave his savings to his father, who bought him a used Les Paul knock-off. His father encouraged him to listen to Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix but offered little other support, so Corgan taught himself to play the instrument. His musical interests in his formative years included hard rock like Guts-era John Cale, heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath, and mainstream rock like Boston, ELO, and Rush. In high school, Corgan discovered alternative rock through Bauhaus and The Cure. He performed in a string of bands in high school and graduated as an honor student. Despite grant and scholarship offers from a number of schools, and a tuition fund left by his grandmother, Corgan decided to pursue music full-time.
Music career and death: 1985-1994[]
Not finding the Chicago music scene to his liking, Corgan moved to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1985 with his first major band, the Marked (so named for the conspicuous birthmarks of both Corgan and drummer Ron Roesing). Not finding success in St. Petersburg, the band was dissolved, Corgan moved back to Chicago to live with his father. From 1987 to 1988, he played guitar in Chicago band Deep Blue Dream, which also featured future Static-X frontman Wayne Static. He left the band to focus on the Smashing Pumpkins.
Upon his return to Chicago, Corgan had already devised his next project – a band that would be called The Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan met guitarist James Iha while working in a record store, and the two began recording demos, which Corgan describes as "gloomy little goth-pop records". He met bassist D'arcy Wretzky after a local show, arguing with her about a band that had just played, The Dan Reed Network. Soon after, the Smashing Pumpkins were formed. The trio began to play together at local clubs with a drum machine for percussion. To secure a show at the Metro in Chicago, the band recruited drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and played for the first time as a quartet on October 5, 1988.
The addition of Chamberlin drove the band in a heavier direction almost immediately. On the band's debut album, Gish (1991), the band integrated psychedelic rock and heavy metal into their sound. Gish fared better than expected, but the follow-up and their final album, Siamese Dream, released on Virgin Records in 1993, became a multi-platinum hit. The band became known for internal drama during this period, with Corgan frequently characterized in the music press as a "control freak" due to rumors that Corgan played all the guitar and bass parts on Siamese Dream (a rumor that Corgan later confirmed as true). Despite this, the album was well received by critics, and the songs "Today", "Cherub Rock", and "Disarm" became hits.
On April 5, 1994, at around 4:57 a.m., Corgan was found dead on his couch in his Chicago home by Smashing Pumpkins member D'arcy Wretzky, who was sobered by the event. Corgan was 27 years old.
The Smashing Pumpkins would shortly disband due to his passing, and Wretzky would collaborate with groups such as the Blood Farmers for a single song from their fifth album Melancholy and Temple of the Dog for a few live performances before forming her own band, Sage in late 1995, an all female alternative rock band.
| ||||||||||||||||||
