Billy is an award winning Anglo-Brazilian instrumental guitarist. Inspired by Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tommy Emmanuel & Mike Oldfield, his style fuses the genres of Flamenco & Classical with Rock & Pop. In 2022 he was awarded a diploma of higher education in classical guitar from The Royal College of Music in London.
Billy’s videos of popular songs played in this style have received many millions of views across online platforms & his performances of Bohemian Rhapsody have been praised and shared by both Queen and Brian May’s official channels.
In 2016, aged just 14, he reached the grand final of ‘Guitar Star’ - a guitar based talent show open to all ages for Sky Arts TV which was broadcast worldwide. Billy stunned audiences with some extraordinary performances - for judges and mentors including George Benson, Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi, and David Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti - who described him as ‘a little genius’.
Website: www.billywatman.com
Location
Arabian Tent, Festival Central, Campbell Park
Access Facilities
What to Expect
⌚ Duration 45 mins (approx)
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly - under 16s must be accompanied by an adult
🪑 Seated & Standing
In 2022 Billy was invited by Adam Wakeman (Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne) to open all of the UK dates of his ‘Jazz Sabbath’ tour. Later that year he was also invited to open the show for UK rock legends ‘Magnum’ at their 50th anniversary concert at KKs Steel Mill in Wolverhampton.
A regular at UK and European festivals, including 'Guitar Summit' & ‘Musikmesse’ (Germany), ‘Latitude' & ‘Edinburgh Fringe’, he has also appeared at 'Towersey Festival' supporting Midge Ure and ‘The Henley Festival’.
Billy has independently released 2 full length studio albums of his arrangements, ‘Riversong’ (2018) and ’Back Street Kid’ (2021), as well as a 6 track Queen inspired EP ‘On With the Show’ (2020).