1- Singer Billy Idol was born on November 30, 1955, in England
2-His real name is William Michael Albert Broad.
3- Idol is the voice of Odin in the animated movie Heavy Metal 2000.
4- Before going solo in 1981, he was leader of the Punk band Generation X.
5- He changed his name to Idol after a schoolteacher returned a paper proclaiming him “idle” in class.
6- He played himself in the 1998 Adam Sandler movie The Wedding Singer. He nearly landed a much bigger role when he was considered for the part of the T-1000 in Terminator 2.
7- Billy is a vegetarian. He doesn’t eat meat, but does wear leather.
8- Part of the MTV-driven “Second British Invasion” of the United States, in 1982 Idol became an MTV staple with “White Wedding” and “Dancing with Myself”.
9- When Billy was 3, his father moved the family to Long Island, NY, to “find the American dream,” as Billy puts it. When the family moved back to the UK in 1962, they lived above a pub called The Running Horses in Dorking, Surrey.
10- He first achieved fame in the 1970s as a member of the punk rock band Generation X. Subsequently, he embarked on a solo career which led to international recognition and made Idol one of the lead artists during the MTV-driven “Second British Invasion” in the United States.
11- Billy Idol first joined Chelsea in 1976 as a guitarist. However, he and Chelsea bandmate Tony James soon left that group and co-founded Generation X, with Idol switching from guitarist to lead singer. Generation X was one of the first punk bands to appear on the BBC Television music programme Top of the Pops.
12- After 3 albums with Generation X and with management problems, band discord and the decline of the punk movement, Billy decided it was time to go solo.
13- In another interview for BBC Breakfast in October 2014, he said that he wanted to be “Billy Idle” but thought he could not because of Monty Python star Eric Idle, and so chose Idol instead
14- February 1990: Survived a serious motorcycle accident. A steel rod was surgically inserted into his right leg.
15- The video for Idol’s hit song “Dancing with Myself” was directed by Tobe Hopper, the director of the original 1974 version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
16- Despite his legendary excessive lifestyle, Idol participated in several charity shows. He took part in Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit concert in 1988, and appeared in a charity performance of the Who’s Tommy in London the following year
17- In 2012, Idol appeared on the third episode of the BBC Four series, How the Brits Rocked America.
18- Idol was ever so briefly a member of Siouxsie and the Banshees back in 1976 before leaving to join the band Chelsea, before leaving that band to co-found Generation X with Tony James.
19- Nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the albums “Whiplash Smile” and “Rebel Yell.”
20- Idol had a cameo role in Adam Sandler’s 1998 film The Wedding Singer.
21- He focuses a lot on his health now
Following a wild youth filled with drugs, in his middle-aged years, Idol has taken a turn for the health conscious. He is a pescatarian (a vegetarian who also eats fish), though not for animal rights reasons – after all, he loves leather – as much as the health benefits. Idol also avidly practices Pilates, a fact he frequently shares on his Twitter account. Though he has the occasional relapse, Idol claims to be “soberish” now, taking it easy compared to his youth.
22- His role in The Doors (1991) was originally much larger. It was reduced after his motorcycle accident in 1990.
23- Idol was the first musician to include an email address in the liner notes for an album.
24- He lived with Perri Lister and had a relationship with her in the 1980s. They had a son, Willem Wolf Broad, on June 15, 1988. He also had a daughter named Bonnie with Linda Mathis in 1989.
35- During the making of the “Eyes Without A Face” video, he was temporarily blinded when the heat from studio lights fused his contact lenses.
26- He made a musical comeback with the release of Devil’s Playground (2005) and again with Kings & Queens of the Underground (2014)
Devil’s Playground, which came out in March 2005, was Idol’s first new studio album in nearly 12 years
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sources
http://www.songfacts.com/facts-billy_idol.php
https://www.uselessdaily.com/world/billy-idol-trivia-38-interesting-facts-about-the-famous-
https://www.biography.com/people/billy-idol-9542533
“http://sheamagazine.com/billy-idol-who-knew-8-fun-facts/”
“http://www.famousfix.com/topic/billy-idol/trivia?pageno=2”