Billy Idol Biography

Billy Idol is a punk rock musician who rose to fame as a member of the band Generation X. Born as William Michael Albert Broad, he adopted the name Billy Idol when he embarked on a musical career. He was a bright teenager though he was not really academically inclined. His teacher had once called him “idle” and as a joke, he started calling himself “Idol”! His parents wanted him to go to college and he enrolled at the Sussex University to pursue a degree in English. However he found studies to be extremely boring and dropped out within a year to join the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans. At the initial stages of his musical career he played the guitar for the band Chelsea. Along with a band mate Tony James he co-founded Generation X and he made a switch from being the guitarist to become the lead singer. The team went on to release three successful albums and was one of the first punk bands to be featured on the BBC Television music programme ‘Top of the Pops’. He built up a “bad boy” image which was well loved by the fans of rock music when he embarked on a solo career post the disbanding of Generation X.