Billy Squier (born May 12, 1950, in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts) is a rock musician. Squier had a string of arena rock and power ballad hits in the early 1980s. He is probably best known for the song " The Stroke" on his 1981 release "Don't Say No". Other hits include " In The Dark", " Rock Me Tonite" and " Everybody Wants You".
Originally he performed with The Sidewinders, a band that premiered during the early 1970s. He played with members including Mike Reed, Henry Stern and Bryan Chase. Squier left them to form the band Piper, which released a couple of albums in the mid '70s, ( "Piper" and "Can't Wait" ) but broke off soon after. Upon reviewing the debut release entitled "Piper", "Circus" magazine touted it as the greatest debut album ever produced by an American rock band. He then pursued a solo career. Piper was managed by the same management company as Kiss, and opened for Kiss for some of their most memorable performances during their 1977 tour, including a three night sold out run at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Squier signed with Capitol Records to release his solo debut in 1980. "Tale of the Tape" was a minor hit. One reason is that Squier played a mixture of pop and rock, which earned him a large crossover audience. The song "You Should Be High Love" received a fair amount of play on album rock stations, but no single cracked the pop charts. Years later, the song "the Big Beat" began to become sampled in rap songs.
Squier asked Brian May to produce his album "Don't Say No". Unfortunately, May had to decline due to scheduling conflicts, but recommended Reinhold Mack, who had produced Queen's 1980 smash hit album " The Game". Squier agreed, and Mack did produce "Don't Say No".
