Music
28 Jan 14

Former Member of The Radiators, Billy Morley, Dies

Guitarist who shared the stage variously with Horslips, Steve Averill and Dublin new wave outfit Revolver will be hugely missed.

Hot Press is very sad to hear of the death of our old design colleague, Billy Morley.

A musician who came to prominence in the 1970s, Billy first featured as guitarist in New York Dolls style glam-punk outfits Bent Fairy and The Punks and Greta Garbage and the Trash Cans. The latter band also featured both Steve Averill and Pete Holidai, later of The Radiators From Space.

With the emergence of punk, Billy changed his name to Billy Luger, playing guitar with the highly rated Revolver, who were among the most promising bands on the local punk and new wave scene through 1977 and ‘78. The band released two singles on the Rockborough label, ’Silently Screaming’ and ‘You Won’t Know What Hit You’.

Later on, following the departure of original lead singer Steve Averill, Billy joined The Radiators From Space, at the moment when they decided to shorten their name to The Radiators. He never featured on any of the band’s records, however, and left after six months. He was also a member of The Defenders – a short-lived band formed by Eamon Carr and Johnny Fean of Horslips, along with Steve Averill and Mark Megaray of The Radiators, to release a single in support of Heat fanzine, following a legal difference of opinion with Paul McGuinness, manager of U2.

As a designer, Billy worked with a number of advertising agencies in Dublin. He also worked for a short period on the layout of Hot Press magazine.

“Billy was a really talented man,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “He was a lovely guy to work with, as well as a fine designer. But you always felt that music was his real passion and that in a different world – or maybe even a different country – he would have made it in a big way as a guitarist. Billy also had an impressive sense of style, which was unusual among Irish musicians at the time. Our warmest condolences to all of those who knew and loved him."

Morley is the second member of The Radiators to pass away in recent times, following the death of the legendary Philip Chevron late last year.