Billy Bissett

US-Canadian vocalist, pianist, composer and bandleader who was born of Canadian parents in the United States and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Husband and musical partner of vocalist Alice Mann. From 1926 to 1930 was co-leader of the Bissett-McLean Orchestra in Toronto. From 1931 to 1936 his band played at hotels in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto. In 1936 Jule Styne saw his band play at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto and booked the band to play at the International Sporting Club resort casino in Monte Carlo, which led his outfit to extended engagements throughout England (most notably at Savoy Hotel, London, Mayfair Hotel, London and Café de Paris) until World War II broke out. Billy and Alice were set to return to North America after completing their engagement at Café de Paris in August 1939 but two days before their ship sailed from London, World War II broke out and they were unable to leave. Billy and Alice returned to North America in 1940 and after a short stint with a new band in California, moved to Chicago and played extensively at the Aragon, Chicago, Illinois and Trianon Ballroom, Chicago and throughout the mid-west during the 40s and 50s with a reformed orchestra, Billy Bishop And His Music From Mayfair (after returning to the US, he used the alias Billy Bishop at the behest of his management, Frederick Brothers Agency, Inc.). In 1953 he left the music business to become a stockbroker. Billy and Alice retired to the San Diego suburb of Poway in 1969, where he was a church organist. b. August 1906 d. July 1995, Poway, California