Billy Jenkins

Who is Billy Jenkins?

Billy Jenkins is an English blues guitarist, composer, and bandleader.

Initially Jenkins became famous as a member of Burlesque, then as part of Trimmer & Jenkins. A short period he followed as a member of Ginger Baker's Nutters. For several years, he ran Wood Wharf Studios. He mixed this with work on his own VOTP Records label and leading the Voice Of God Collective, a group which included Iain Ballamy, Django Bates, Steve Watts, Ashley Slater, and other members of the group Loose Tubes. The band released several gramophone records such as Sounds Like Bromley and Uncommerciality.

In the 1990s, Jenkins recorded several albums on Oliver Weindling's Babel label and led some seasons at the Vortex Jazz Club. He is now best known as a blues guitarist. Jenkins was also, until 2009, the captain of Francis Drake bowls club on Hilly Fields, Lewisham. He masterminded a successful season of live music to accompany the 2006 FIFA World Cup at the Vortex Jazz Club.

In the mid-1990s Jenkins and his band The Blues Collective took part in a spoof documentary, entitled Virus Called The Blues, produced and directed by Craig Duncan.