Billy Cotton

Who was Billy Cotton?

William Edward Cotton, better known as Billy Cotton, was an English band leader and entertainer, one of the few whose orchestras survived the British dance band era. Cotton is now mainly remembered as a 1950s and 1960s radio and television personality, but his musical career had begun in the 1920s. In his younger years Billy Cotton was also an amateur footballer for Brentford F.C., an accomplished racing driver and the owner of a Gipsy Moth, which he piloted himself. His autobiography entitled, I Did It My Way, was published in 1970, a year after his death.