Billy Idol's Rise as one of the most influential rock star of the 1980

Billy Idol's Rise

as one of the most influential rock star of the 1980s

Let's rock !

The beginning

30 November 1955

Birth

1976

From the early success of the English punk underground world to the international fame

Start as guitarist with the band Chelsea

Late 1076

Lead singer in Generation X

1981

Moved to NYC for solo career

Don't Stop Me

Billy Idol's first solo album allowed him to settle his name in the USA while launching his career in a direction he could have never thought of.

Billy Idol

The next year in 1982, this second album is produced and released, taking inspiration this time in the New Wave genre. Its most famous song, "White Wedding" peaked at number 3 on Mainstream Rock chart 1983.

Rebel Yell

Taking advantage of the Second British Invasion, his third album with a new hard rock influence, cemented his position as one of the most influential rock star of his era. It lead him to his first world tour to cities such as NYC, London, Sydney, and Tokyo.

Relevant data

+10k

20-30M

concerts overall

Copies worldwide

It is difficult to know how many copies were sold worldwide, but an estimation proposed in 2022 a range between 20-30M, and that's without talking about the digitization of his songs on platforms like Spotify

The numbers are only approximative, as it is important to know that he has been performing since the late 1970s and is still doing it.

But how did I hear about him?

American Horror Story

In the ninth season of the show American horror Story title "1984", between murders, several mentions of the artist are made, and we can hear multiple times his songs playing in the background.