Legendary Rock Musician, Son of Western New York, and Virtuoso Bassist, Billy Sheehan

Hello, music lovers! Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today, we’ve got a very special guest - legendary progressive and hard rock musician, son of western New York, and virtuoso bassist Billy Sheehan. We know Billy from his groundbreaking work with Talas, David Lee Roth’s band, Niacin, Mr. Big, Sons of Apollo, and many more. Currently in the midst of a farewell tour with Mr. Big, which includes a homecoming gig at Electric City in Buffalo on June 6, Billy chatted with me from the road, where he’s been enjoying a string of sold-out dates with his bandmates. I started things off by asking Billy if he recalled that fateful night night in December of 1980, when a then-unknown band called U2 opened for Talas at Stage One in Buffalo - on what turned out to be the night that John Lennon was murdered, in New York City. Billy and his Talas bandmates reacted by performing a set of the Beatles tunes they’d grown up revering, as a tribute to Lennon…