Billy Corgan Headshot
Report a problem with this profile
[email protected]

Billy Corgan        

Frontman for the Smashing Pumpkins

Billy Corgan is a musician, singer, songwriter, and owner and promoter of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of the rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois, in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the addition of bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The band's direction has largely been driven by Corgan through his confessional lyrics, grandiose production values, and virtuosic musical interplay, notably with Chamberlin. In three years, The Smashing Pumpkins had transformed themselves into a major label success. Strong album sales and large-scale tours propelled the band's increasing fame in the 1990s.

After 2000, Corgan started a new band with Chamberlin called Zwan, and after their demise, he released a solo album (TheFutureEmbrace) and a collection of poetry (Blinking with Fists) before setting his sights on reforming the Smashing Pumpkins. He also assisted Breaking Benjamin in making their album We Are Not Alone.

The new version of that band, consisting of Corgan, Chamberlin and a revolving tour lineup, released an album in 2007 and followed it with extensive touring over the next year and a half. Chamberlin left the Smashing Pumpkins in March 2009, while Corgan has continued to record and tour with a new lineup.

In 2011, Corgan formed an independent wrestling promotion called Resistance Pro. He later joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2015, becoming its president in August 2016. After leaving TNA in November 2016, he purchased the NWA in October 2017. In 2012, he opened a tea house in his native Highland Park called Madame Zuzu's Tea House. He also worked on a spiritual memoir, entitled "God is Everywhere from Here to There."

In April 2014, Corgan announced a new solo record of "experimental" recordings he made in 2007. The album was called AEGEA.

News


Billy Corgan: “Nick Aldis vs Cody Rhodes for a third time, that is an epic, epic, matchup waiting to happen.”
NWA owner Billy Corgan appeared last week on Busted Open Radio and he was asked what he sees coming up for the NWA in the next year: “First of all, I feel like the little guy running around ringing a bell. I see stuff I think maybe not everybody sees. It’s going to be a hot second here, but pretty quickly, all the non-WWE forces out there at play are going to figure out that if they work together, you can topple the giant. You might not topple them to the ground, but you can bring them to a knee."
Billy Corgan says he was “not considered good looking” in Smashing Pumpkins’ early days
Speaking on the most recent edition of Best Advice: The Podcast on Spotify (released May 20), Corgan touched upon a range of subjects including ego, his daily routine and his competitive nature. At one point in the conversation, the musician recalled a piece of advice he was given by Smashing Pumpkins’ former manager in 1990 before they had released a studio album (their debut record ‘Gish’ came out in 1991). “He said, ‘You write really pretty songs that girls like, and that’s all you should do. And if you do that you’ll be very successful. Skip all this rock and riffing – you don’t need any of that’.”

Related Speakers View all


More like Billy