Billy Crawford Biography
Billy Crawford, a Filipino-American former child actor turned international singer and dancer, has made a successful name in France and other parts of Continental Europe. He also made his mark in some Asian countries.
Billy Joe, as he was known in his home country, was first discovered singing at a bowling alley in the Philippines at age four. His career took off as the youngest regular performer in the defunct afternoon variety show
That’s Entertainment. When his family moved to the United States, he joined and won a Dallas talent show and from there on slowly built his music career through his self-titled debut album released in 1999.
He has been singing and touring with ‘N Sync, 98 Degrees and Monica, and co-starred alongside actor John Lithgow on the album "Ogden Nash and The Christmas That Almost Wasn't" which benefited the National Theatre of the Deaf. He also sang the remix version of the theme song to
Pokémon: The First Movie. In spite of Billboard Magazine’s statement that Billy’s debut album is "highly original" and that he was "overwhelmingly talented", he struggled and was unable to penetrate the US market in a huge way.
He penetrated the European entertainment with his album
Trackin’ which was a certified platinum and reached the top of the sales and club charts in various European countries like France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. His next album
Ride also reached platinum status in the French market and gold status in Switzerland. In 2003, he was awarded the “International Male Artist of the Year” defeating competition with the likes of Will Smith, Eminem and Robbie Williams at the NRJ music awards in Cannes, France. The award was voted for by the public in the nine European countries and Billy won by a very large margin.
Aside from being a total performer with his hiphop moves and singing voice, he also writes his own songs and has been writing and producing songs for other artists. His song entitled
Beautiful Night was recently bought by Britney Spears, which she promised to use on her next album. He is also a drummer and a percussionist and admits that he loves rhythm whether it is slow or fast.
He also appeared in a number of movies and television dramas in the Philippines before he moved to US at age 12, one of which landed him the Best Child Actor from a Philippine award-giving body equivalent to the Oscars. He even expanded his acting credits internationally with the original but not the theater-released version of the movie
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.
Recently, he came back to the Philippines for a new dance reality show
M.O.V.E, a search for Billy Crawford’s next Filipino backup dancers which recently premiered at a national television network. He will be dancing with the six winners on his first Philippine major concert, and his next album entitled
Status will be released on the latter part of 2007.
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