Billy Livsey
Billy Livsey is an American songwriter, keyboardist, and producer originally from St. Louis, Missouri and now resides in Nashville, Tennessee. He has worked with many musicians including Tina Turner, Kevin Ayers, Phil Manzanera, 801, Gerry Rafferty, Five Star, Gallagher and Lyle, Ronnie Lane, Kenny Rogers, and Rodney Crowell.
Also recorded as William Depew Livsey
Billy Livsey
- Full name
- William Depew Livsey.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- composer · songwriter · keyboardist
- Languages
- English
In this article
Background
Livsey played the keyboard solo on Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It", and keyboards on "Breakaway" and "Heart on My Sleeve" for Gallagher and Lyle, and on "How Come" for Ronnie Lane. Livsey founded his own publishing company called Quince Music Ltd. In the 1980s, and more recently, Billy Livsey Music, both of which are still active today.
Presently, Billy has a close relationship with Nashville-based recording studio Welcome to 1979 where he often works as a session keyboardist. Livsey also houses a large portion of his collection of vintage synths, keyboards, and electric pianos at the studio. At Welcome to 1979 Billy has worked on sessions with a variety of artists like Pete Townshend, Brendan Benson, and The Outer Vibe.
Career
Billy wrote the UK number 2 hit "Rain Or Shine" and the number 3 hit "System Addict", both by Five Star, and the UK number 11 hit "Give Me Your Heart Tonight" by Shakin' Stevens. Working with Frank Musker, Livsey wrote "Listen to Your Heart" which was recorded by Diane Richards. The production and arrangements were handled by Butch Barbella and Nick Monroe. The song was a hit and peaked at no. 29 for two weeks on the Cash Box Top 100 Black Contemporary Singles chart. It also got to no. 44 on the Billboard Black Singles Chart.
Quince Music Cuts
1) "System Addict" (Five Star) 2)"You Belong To Me" (Anita Baker) 3) "Rain or Shine" (Five Star) 4) "Give Me Your Heart Tonight" (Shakin’ Stevens) 5) "Our Love" (Elkie Brooks) 6) "No One Can Love You More Than Me" (Melissa Manchester, The Weather Girls) 7) "Button Off My Shirt" (Ronnie Milsap, Paul Carrick) 8) "Are You Man Enough" (Sheena Easton) 9) "She’s Trouble" (Musical Youth) 10) "Bite the Hand That Feeds" (Paul Young)
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Billy Livsey, revision 1346915669 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 31 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
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