Billy Simpson (singer)

Billy Simpson (born 1987) is an Indonesian singer-songwriter, musician, producer and multi-instrumentalist.^[1] He is the winner of the first season of The Voice Indonesia.

Early life

Simpson was born in Jakarta to parents who have neither the interest nor background in music that throughout his childhood years, his exposure to music was thus relatively limited. In fact, the closest exposure to music that he had as a child was obtained from watching Disney movies.

Being encouraged by his sister, Simpson's first ‘official’ encounter with music occurred as he began playing bass at a church at the age of 13. A few years later, he moved to Melbourne, Australia to pursue his collegiate studies. There he started to discover his love of singing through his involvement in various musical events organized by Indonesian students. Apart from his participation in musicals, Simpson also acted in Kado Kendo, a student-initiated movie filmed in Melbourne, Australia in 2007.

Career

Early years

After completing his studies in Business and Economics in Melbourne, Simpson returned to Indonesia. He was then asked to join and become one of the lead-vocalists of a band called VoZ for an album called Putus Cinta before the members dispersed and went on their separate ways. He then carried on with his own music career, performing at weddings and a variety of events. Aside from those, Simpson wrote his own music, produce them in his own home-based music studio and create videos based on them. He also ran his home studio as a production house, regularly creating music for other singers, bands and corporations.

The Voice Indonesia

In February 2013, Simpson passed the Blind-Audition of The Voice Indonesia which is aired in Indosiar TV. Singing the song One by U2 gave him a 4-chair-turn and he picked Giring Ganesha from the band Nidji as his coach.^[2]

In the Battle Rounds, Simpson performed "I Won’t Give Up" by Jason Mraz, competing against Andreas Galih.^[3] After seeing the duet performance of both singers onstage, coach Giring finally chose Billy to carry on to the next round of the competition: the Top 24 LIVE show.

At the TOP 24, Simpson presented his own ‘twist’ of "Beautiful", a song originally performed by Cherrybelle, and managed to get to the next stage of the competition.^[4][5]

Fans from all over Indonesia started to follow Simpson and call themselves "Billyvers"^[6]

Today, Billy Simpson is the first winner of the show.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Discography

Album

• 2013: "Lukisanku"^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]} now available on iTunes.^[25][26]

Lukisanku: Track listing

All songs written and composed by Billy Simpson, with lyrics by Billy Simpson except where noted. 

"Lukisanku" is the winning album from the winning of The Voice Indonesia (season 1) produced by Universal Music Group.

Single

• 2010: "The Best Is What I Will Get"^[27]
• 2013: "Jembatan Pengharapan"^[28] "Sabarlah"^[29]
• 2014: "Janjimu Itu"^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]}

Filmography

• 2007: Kado Kendo - (Melbourne, Australia)

Advertisements & Endorsements

• Bose Line-Array Product Launch and Press Conference at Harris Hotel, Jakarta on 26 February 2014
• HTC One

Billboard at ITC Roxy Mas, Soekarno Hatta Billboard and Wall Panels (May 2013 - April 2014)

• Chevrolet Spin^[36][37]

Other Media Appearances

• LIVE Recording Concert Jakarta Tabernacle Choir feat. Billy Simpson 25 September 2014 - Grace
• Music Run Press Conference 4 September 2014 by Billy Simpson
• Liputan6 - Simulasi PNS 19 August 2014 opening by Billy Simpson
• Kuala Lumpur Lake Garden Festival 17 August 2014 - Tribute to victims of MH 17^[38]
• TOP 50 CLEO Indonesia Bachelor 2014^[39]
• Up Close and Personal with Billy Simpson at @America Pacific Place 11 July 2014^{[40][41][42][43][44]}
• Liputan 6 LIVE EVENT QUICK COUNT PEMILU PILPRES 9 Juli 2014
• Exclusive LIVE interview with Merry Mariana on Sonora FM 20 June 2014
• Indonesia Morning Show on NET TV 12 June 2014^[45][46]
• MostFM Interview Medan 30 May 2014^[47][48][49]
• Press Conference launching of Janjimu Itu Video Clip at Grand Indonesia 8 May 2014^[50][51]
• HardRock FM Bandung Anniversary Celebration with Billy Simpson 26 April 2014
• NEW Famili 100 with Tukul ep 154 on Indosiar 22 April 2014^[52]
• Paskah LIVE from Fatican on Indosiar with Billy Simpson 20 April 2014^[53]
• MediaCorp Interview with Manja Magazine and Ria FM Singapore 31 March 2014
• Sarah Sechan Show on NET TV 28 March 2014^[54]
• Meet and Greet with Billyvers sponsored by Bakmi GM 4 March 2014
• Opening Act for Michael Learns to Rock concert in Jakarta, Skeeno Hall Gandaria City 19 February 2014^{[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]}
• LOVE CINTA with Radio OZ Bandung^[65] 31 January 2014
• Putri Indonesia off-air Indosiar 29 January 2014
• Chevrolet Spin 9-showroom Tour 25–26 January 2014
• Star Radio Padang Press Conference at G Sports Center Padang^[66][67] 27 January 2014
• HUT 19 Indosiar Aksi Gemilang 11 January 2014^[68]
• Harmoni 13 December 2013 at SCTV (Indonesia)^[69][70][71]
• Festival Film Indonesia 7 December 2013 at SCTV (Indonesia)^[72]
• Presenter of Yahoo! OMG Awards 2013 at Indosiar for^[73] 2 categories:

1. Favorite New Comedian won by Raditya Dika
2. Sexiest Dad won by Mike Lewis

• Billy Simpson performing at Java Soulnation 6 October 2013^[74] with Shane Filan a former lead singer of Westlife^[75][76][77]
• Special Performance at Take Me Out Indonesia Season 4 Episode 73 aired 10 September 2013 at Indosiar^[78][79]
• Featured artist of OMG Yahoo! Flickr Seleb^{[80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89]}
• Gebyar BCA 29 June 2013 at Indosiar^[90]
• SOS 21 June 2013 at ANTV^[91]
• HTC One Product Launch^[92]
• The Grand Opening of The Disco by Edward Suhadi^[93]
• IPH School, Surabaya graduation^[94]

Awards and Honors

• Winner of Season One The Voice Indonesia aired on Indosiar TV.
• Artist of the Month by CDBS 94.5FM Radio Bali^[95][96]
• Featured Artist by Radio Nusantara Universitas^[97]
• World Wide Trending Topic in Twitter during the finals of The Voice Indonesia^[98][99]

Personal life

After returning from Australia,^[100] Simpson joined Jakarta Praise Community Church (JPCC).^[101] A few years later, he started recording LIVE with JPCC Worship - True Worshippers as a singer and songwriter. Also, he became the frontman of True Worshipper Youth.

Simpson is active on Social Media and could be found on Flickr, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. for updates. Simpson's website is: www.billysimpsonmusic.com On 3 October this year, Billy Simpson is the worship leader on a Live JPCC Concert at the KDCA Kota Kinabalu.

References