Biography
William "Billy" Henry is a composer, singer, musician, and actor who has been on the music and theater scene for the past 30 years. He is grateful to be a part of the Texas State Music department. He has done sound design, performed as a musician, and written music for Off-Broadway and many other plays including Harvey Schmitt and Tom Jones’s The Fantasticks and Roadside, Louis Sachar’s Holes, Sondheim’s Assassins, David Sapatico’s, Bad Blood, The Moving Company’s Refugia and has won numerous awards for his work.
Billy has written and performed music for TV, radio, and film, including commercials for Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Chili’s, Daisy Sour Cream, Texas Tourism, Bud Light, Sonic, Party of Five, Mustang Makeover, Blue Bell, Rolling Stone Magazine, NASCAR, Discovery Channel, Lone Star, and countless others. He has worked extensively with Paramount Pictures, arranging Henry Mancini tunes, and other movie music, and producing and arranging the entire Grease soundtrack for the Wii and Xbox gaming consoles. His latest work with Paramount Pictures has been re-recording the music for Paint Your Wagon which has since been used in a commercial for Amazon.
He is currently the 3rd person in the last 40 years to voice the radio show Star Date which is the longest running NPR show and is played daily on more than 350 radio stations and reaches over 2 million listers a week nationwide. He has done hundreds of voiceovers for TV, radio, and film including Texas Tourism, Schlotzky’s, Southwest Airlines, NASCAR, Guitar Center, Dell, AMD, Velocity Credit Union, the IMAX film, Texas: The Big Picture, and many more. He has sung on numerous Disney records as the voice of Sergeant Green of Toy Story and Mike Wazowski of Monsters, Inc. As an actor, he has portrayed the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, Curly in Oklahoma, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, Javert in Les Miserables, Band Leader, and News Man in Best Little Whore House in Texas.
He started a tour with The Chicks in 2020 which was cut short because of the Covid pandemic after an Ellen and Colbert appearance. The Chicks tour finally resumed in 2022 where he performed at over 50 venues across the US, Canada, and Europe. A few of the highlights from that tour were getting to play at venues like Hyde Park, Glassenbury, Red Rocks and of course Willie Nelson's 90th birthday party. Billy went on a World tour with Shakira on her El Dorado World Tour in 2018. In 2017 he went on a European and US tour with The Chicks and continued to work frequently with the Courtyard Hounds. He has recorded bands such as Alabama Shakes, Mumford and Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Edward Sharp live. He has worked with musical legends like Don Henley, Martie Maguire, Emily Robison, Sheryl Crow, Dale Watson, Charlie Sexton, Ray Benson, David Grissom, Shawn Colvin, Cindy Cashdollar, Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, and many more. This past summer he played a benefit show with Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Bonnie Rait, Edie Brickell, and The New Bohemians, and Asleep at the Wheel.
He is a member of BMI, AES, and The Recording Academy (Grammys), and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance, and a Master of Music degree in Composition from Texas State University. He has taught music and sound design at the university level since 2003.
Billy has written and performed music for TV, radio, and film, including commercials for Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Chili’s, Daisy Sour Cream, Texas Tourism, Bud Light, Sonic, Party of Five, Mustang Makeover, Blue Bell, Rolling Stone Magazine, NASCAR, Discovery Channel, Lone Star, and countless others. He has worked extensively with Paramount Pictures, arranging Henry Mancini tunes, and other movie music, and producing and arranging the entire Grease soundtrack for the Wii and Xbox gaming consoles. His latest work with Paramount Pictures has been re-recording the music for Paint Your Wagon which has since been used in a commercial for Amazon.
He is currently the 3rd person in the last 40 years to voice the radio show Star Date which is the longest running NPR show and is played daily on more than 350 radio stations and reaches over 2 million listers a week nationwide. He has done hundreds of voiceovers for TV, radio, and film including Texas Tourism, Schlotzky’s, Southwest Airlines, NASCAR, Guitar Center, Dell, AMD, Velocity Credit Union, the IMAX film, Texas: The Big Picture, and many more. He has sung on numerous Disney records as the voice of Sergeant Green of Toy Story and Mike Wazowski of Monsters, Inc. As an actor, he has portrayed the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, Curly in Oklahoma, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, Javert in Les Miserables, Band Leader, and News Man in Best Little Whore House in Texas.
He started a tour with The Chicks in 2020 which was cut short because of the Covid pandemic after an Ellen and Colbert appearance. The Chicks tour finally resumed in 2022 where he performed at over 50 venues across the US, Canada, and Europe. A few of the highlights from that tour were getting to play at venues like Hyde Park, Glassenbury, Red Rocks and of course Willie Nelson's 90th birthday party. Billy went on a World tour with Shakira on her El Dorado World Tour in 2018. In 2017 he went on a European and US tour with The Chicks and continued to work frequently with the Courtyard Hounds. He has recorded bands such as Alabama Shakes, Mumford and Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Edward Sharp live. He has worked with musical legends like Don Henley, Martie Maguire, Emily Robison, Sheryl Crow, Dale Watson, Charlie Sexton, Ray Benson, David Grissom, Shawn Colvin, Cindy Cashdollar, Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, and many more. This past summer he played a benefit show with Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Bonnie Rait, Edie Brickell, and The New Bohemians, and Asleep at the Wheel.
He is a member of BMI, AES, and The Recording Academy (Grammys), and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance, and a Master of Music degree in Composition from Texas State University. He has taught music and sound design at the university level since 2003.
Research Interests
Mental health and job stress for the working musician.
Teaching Interests
Composition for multi-media projects which include live theater and video games.