America’s Little Darlins Born in Toronto, Canada  Jan. 11, 1936 / died October 22, 2004.  Bill seemed to be destined to  sing.  His father Harry, sang bass in a barber shop quartet and obviously instilled the desire and  tutoring.  It would seem natural that Bill's first love of singing was for Barber Shop, but oddly a  love for the tenor part.  Ted Kowalski recalls: "He always wanted to sing my part" " We would  always tease him about this because most people who sing bass want to sing tenor."  He met  Ted when he was 17 and was studying to become a hair dresser.  Bill was  a character and an extraordinary person.  He never had a loss for words and  was amazingly fast with on-  the-spot one-liners.  He had an unbelievably good memory and almost instant recall for things such as names and  faces. He remembered all the disc jockeys he had ever met, and the call letters of most of their stations.  Occasionally when the group was out, Bill would call out to someone the other members didn’t recognize. Not only  did He call the person by name, but reminded them when and where, and in which city they had met him.  These  would be show biz people they had met or worked with, including the little-known ones. When the Diamonds went  back to a U.S. city, he would remember how to get around, including street names, where they had stayed in all the  various cities, and what had happened there.  He loved black people  and black music.  After the Diamonds early  experiences with The Revelaires, he would love to get together with any black person or group who knew spiritual  or gospel music and jam with them, as did all of the Diamonds. When they were on tour or doing single dates or  week bookings, all groups, no matter who they came in contact with, liked Bill. This was not only for his singing  ability but for his personality. During his time with the Diamonds, Bill received many accolades with regard to his  singing  and stage presence. Being an extraordinary person, Bill had an extraordinary thing happen to him.  Case in mind, the one about the bear on the Paul Winchell show.  In Bill's own words:  "Well, they had a bear act on the show. Three bears who rode  bicycles, etc. They'd just driven a long way in a trailer and I think the bears were restless. During rehearsal, one  lady was clawed by one of them. We were going to be on the second half of the show, and during the first half, I  was standing in a stairway off stage. All of a sudden, a guy came running by me yelling, "Come on! Come on !" I  looked behind him and one of the bears was coming down after us!  So we ran down the stairs and through the  cellar, over to the other side of the theater, and up another stairway. I got to the top and found a trap door . . .  locked! The bear started coming at us! I started pounding on the door. Finally, somebody helped us through and we made it. I'll never be the same, though." Bill's time with the Diamonds was from 1953 to 1958, and after leaving the group, he had many offers to sing with   other groups. The occupation of record promoter must have been more appealing than being on the road. Of  course he did make public appearances with the original Diamonds when they were call upon to perform in "oldies"  shows.   In 2004, he made his last appearance in Atlantic City in the PBS production of "Magic Moments-The Best  Of '50s Pop" as the original bass for the Diamonds. Bill passed away October 22, 2004. Be it Doo Wop, Barbershop, or Big Band, he could do it all.  He gave the Diamonds what the Crew Cuts, Four Lads, Four Aces and many other groups didn't have - "a real bass singer".  Listen to "Until The Real Thing Comes Along"  on "The Diamonds Meet Pete Rugolo" album, you'll know it was the consensus of opinion that he had one of the  best bass voices to come along.  Here's a sample.  It has been recently discovered that Bill may have been the earliest verified performer of the "air guitar". This  was in 1957 and was recorded from a live TV show and can be viewed on a YouTube video on this site.