Billy has been a judge since 2020
Billy Corgan
Bitter Jester Music Festival Judge
Billy Corgan is a multi-talented musician, singer, songwriter, and music producer. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, and guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins. He is also the owner and promoter of the National Wrestling Alliance and the proprietor of Madame Zuzu’s, a unique Tea Shop and Art Studio nestled in Highland Park, IL, where the majority of the Bitter Jester Music Festival takes place.
Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins made one of the most influential (and longest) alt-rock albums of all time, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Time Magazine selected Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as the best album of the year in its year-end "Best of 1995" list.
It was released on October 24, 1995. The following week, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
The album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago in 1988, the Smashing Pumpkins quickly gained momentum and a huge following throughout the 1990s.
The current iteration of the band has released and toured new albums extensively since 2007.
In October 2017, Corgan released Ogilala, a solo album. His latest album, Cotillions, was released in November of 2019 and he called it "a labor of love,” adding "this is absolutely an album from my heart” in an interview with Spin.
In 2001, Corgan entered the world of professional wrestling when he went to ECW and hit Lou E. Dangerously in the head with a guitar after being insulted. In 2011, he founded Resistance Pro Wrestling. He later joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2015, becoming its president. After leaving TNA in November, 2016, he purchased the National Wrestling Alliance the following year.
Billy is generous with his time mentoring young musicians and has conducted workshops and provided insight to aspiring musicians for years. This is his first time judging the Bitter Jester music festival and is looking forward to hearing all the emerging talent that is participating!
