Billy Mure is an American guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist who recorded several albums in the 1950s and 1960s in a variety of styles, including surf

Surf music

Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...

, Hawaiian music

Music of Hawaii

The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Hawaii's musical contributions to the music of the United States are out of proportion to the state's small size. Styles like slack-key guitar are well-known...

, swing, pop, and lounge

Lounge music

Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...

.

Mure was born in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and played violin before making guitar his primary instrument. He played in bands while in the service during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and found work at radio station WNEW

WNEW

WNEW may refer to:*WNEW , a radio station licensed to Jupiter, Florida, United States*WBBR, a radio station licensed to New York, New York, United States, which used the call sign WNEW until December 1992...

 after the war until 1957. In addition to his solo recordings, he worked as a session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

, composer, and arranger. In 1959, he released the single "A String of Trumpets", credited to Billy Mure and the Trumpeteers; the song reached #64 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

. Mure has been performing for the past seven years with his band at Squid Lips in Sebastian, Florida.

Discography

• Super-Sonic Guitars in Hi-Fi (RCA Victor, 1957)
• Fireworks (RCA Victor, 1957)
• Supersonics In Flight (RCA Victor, 1959)
• Supersonic Guitars (MGM Records
  MGM Records
  MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
  
  , 1959)
• Bandstand Record Hop (United Artists Records
  United Artists Records
  United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
  
  , 1959)
• Teen Bossa Nova (MGM Records
  MGM Records
  MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
  
  , 1963)
• Hawaiian Percussion (Strand Records)

A few hits that he played on in the '50's and '60's as a studio guitar player:

• Paul Anka - Diana (reached #1)
• Frankie Lane - Rawhide (reached #6)
• Perry Como - Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes (reached #1)
• Ames Brothers - Ragg Mopp (reached #1)
• Eddie Fisher - Oh My Papa (reached #1)
• Eddie Fisher - Anytime (reached #2)
• Don Rondo - White Silver Sands (reached #7)
• Marty Robbins - White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation (reached #1)
• Bobby Darren - Splish Splash (reached #1)
• Steve and Eydie - Blame it on the Bossa Nova (reached #7)
• Rosemary Clooney - Come on-a My House (reached #1)
• Connie Frances - Among my Souvenirs (reached #7)
• Guy Mitchell - Heartaches by the Number (reached #1 on C&W listing)
• Perez Prado - Patricia (reached #1)
• Tony Bennett - Because of You (reached #1)
• Kay Starr - Wheel of Fortune (reached #1)
• Tony Bennett - Cold Cold Heart (reached #1)
• Brian Hyland - Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (reached #1)
• Billy Williams - I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter (reached #3)
• Johnny Mathis - Chances Are (reached #1)
• Patti Page - How Much is that Doggie in the Window? (reached #1)
• Marcie Blane - Bobby's Girl (reached #2) ** (Produced by Billy Mure)
• Ray Peterson - Tell Laura I Love Her (reached #7) ** (Produced by Billy Mure)
• Bobby Freeman - Do You Want to Dance (reached #7) ** (Produced by Billy Mure)
• Johnny Ray - Cry (reached #1) Played as Sebastian Mure ** (Produced by Billy Mure)
• Dela Reese - And That Reminds Me (reached #15) ** (Produced by Billy Mure)