That is very sad news about Billy.

He was one of the originals at Sun and a great artist.

He was always very friendly to rock'n'roll fans and I have a big Billy Lee Riley folder on my PC with all his old e-mails - sadly it is not going to get any bigger.

I was just re-reading some of them - here are a couple of snippets that illustrate that he was a kind and caring man:

"I love the blues and was the only white guy doing it in the fifties..Yeah, you ask about that Bo Diddley album...That was suppose to have been mine but the people at Chess took most of my harp and guitar off and added a little by Bo Diddley and called it "Surfin With Bo Diddley". So I never got the credit for it but that's life.
I will be in Paris on June 29th, maybe see you there. If you see Bob Fish, the leader of Johhny and The Roccos tell him I said hello and I need to get a new phone number for him."

"Thanks a million for mentioning my name in your letter to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.  It is much appreciated and it is good that you know Bill Ellis the paper's editor.
My new CD which will be ready for shipment to the fans via Mail Order in the next week.
It is to my sorrow that I will not be at the Jerry Lee Lewis birthday bash this year. I was booked but apparently something came up and I got word that I was canceled....Jerry and I go a way back and I concider him a good friend. We have done a few gig's together in the past few years and I have enjoyed them all."

The following was his reply when I told him that a re-release of a record he had made under the name "Skip Wiley" was at No 59 in the European Radio Charts:

Hi Graham;
It is a funny damn world...isn't it. To have a song to sit around for three decades and then suddenly POW!. Thanks for writing me to let me know I have a hit in Europe. I was surprised....But this is not the original record that was recorded in 1960, this one was recorded in Nashville back in 1982. I released it four years ago on a CD titled, "Rockin' Fifties"....It really is a good record. And thanks for letting Bill Ellis know too. Maybe he will do a write up in the Memphis paper....
I am now planning to record a Classic styles country CD very soon. All original songs (Written by me) but done in the old fashioned way.
You never know what is going to happen in this crazy music business. Thanks for your email, it was great hearing that I have a hit. An overnight sensation that only took me 34 years."


Billy was a hard working musician that deserved to be a huge star.  Unfortunately real fame eluded him but he was a great guitarist and songwriter and he always put on a rockin' show.  

My thoughts are with his wife Joyce and all the family. Billy will be missed.

Graham