Bill Carroll (born December 29, 1966 in Wilmington, Delaware) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, bassist and guitarist. He has been a professional musician since the mid-1980s, and has been a member of the groups No Such Thing, Doubting Thomas, and The Real Underground. As solo artist, he scored a Rate-A-Record appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand program on April 2, 1988, shortly after being signed to Hollywood-based Aardvark Records.[1] Carroll's musical styles have ranged from serious orchestral arrangements (Dune I from 1994's Kohoutek) to sitcom themes (The Mecklenburgers) to what he is best-known for: rock and roll power pop. He is heavily influenced by The Beatles, The Who, The Jam, R.E.M., Jellyfish, and less mainstream artists such as Bruce Foxton, Lee Mavers, Kevin Gilbert and John Wetton. Carroll joined Doubting Thomas as vocalist/bassist in 1997, contributing songs to the band’s last two albums, "Who Died and Made You King" (1998) and their eponymous "Live" recording (1999). He remained with the group until it disbanded in 2001. In 2004, Carroll composed and performed the theme for the PBS program The Mecklenburgers. He was nominated for a regional Emmy Award for the song in late 2005. [2] A second solo album, Old-School Battle-Ax, is set for release in 2007, on Starry December Records.
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Albums
- Summer of Light/Get Away, 1986, Alpha Records
- When We're Apart/So Lonely, 1987, Aardvark Records
- Lonely Stories From The One-Horse Town, (with No Such Thing) 1991, Aardvark Records
- Kohoutek, 1994
- Cut It Out (with Doubting Thomas), 1998, Oh Very Records
- Who Died and Made You King? (with Doubting Thomas), 1998, Oh Very Records
- Live (with Doubting Thomas), 1999, Indievision Records
- City of Peace Soundtrack (with Gina Stewart and Brenda Gambill), 2001
- The Mecklenburgers Soundtrack, 2005
Production credits
- Lonely Stories From The One-Horse Town (with No Such Thing and Kevin H. Short), 1991
- Kohoutek, 1994
- Concrete Mary, (Concrete Mary, w/ Joe Dorn and Rick Dior) 1999
- Right In The Nuts: A Tribute to Aerosmith (with Gideon Smith & The Dixie Damned), 2000, Small Stone Records
- Sad Stories, (T&A), 2000
- The Mecklenburgers Soundtrack, 2005
- Old-School Battle-Ax, (Bill Carroll) November 2007, Starry December Records
Trivia
- Carroll served as an exchange teacher at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, The People's Republic of China.
- Carroll was classmates with Benicio del Toro, Sean Kanan, and Michael Davies at Mercersburg Academy, where he played in a band with Bon Jovi producer Luke Ebbin; his bass guitar "roadie" was Tool's producer, Vince DeFranco. He attended grade school with film producer Chris Moore.
- Carroll's song "Axe to Grind" (Lonely Stories From The One-Horse Town) was featured with a story about the Los Angeles riots of 1992 on the Voice of America Radio Network.
- Carroll was once in the contestant pool for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
- His reflections on R.E.M.'s first record, Murmur (which Carroll has claimed as a great influence) appeared in a November 1992 issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
References
- American Bandstand, April 2, 1988
- The Mecklenburgers Official Site
