Recording Career
After recovering from illness, Chinnock left the Jersey Shore and briefly moved to New York before settling in Maine. He was eventually signed to Paramount Records on the recommendation of John H. Hammond. Hammond had earlier signed Bruce Springsteen to Columbia Records. He released his debut album Bill Chinnock Blues in 1975. He also recorded a second album with Paramount which was produced by Tom Dowd. However to date this album, Road Master, remains unreleased. In 1976 he released an EP, Alive At The Loft, on the North Country label. His 1978 album Badlands was released by Atlantic Records and featured performances from Vini Lopez, Randy Brecker and Michael Brecker. A young Irene Cara also provided some backing vocals. Unfortunately for Chinnock its release coincided with Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town which also featured a song called "Badlands" and he subsequently faced accusations of jumping on the Springsteen bandwagon. His 1980 album Dime Store Heroes was released on the Atlantic, North Country and Rounder Records labels and saw him work with, among others, David Sanborn, Howie Wyeth, Will Lee, Tony Levin and Andy Newmark.
During the early 1980s Chinnock moved to Nashville, Tennessee to work with producer Harold Bradley who subsequently produced his next two albums. Originally released by a Nashville-based label, Alliance Records, his 1985 Rock & Roll Cowboys was subsequently re-mixed and re-released by Epic Records. Among the guest musicians was Max Weinberg. The 1987 Epic release Learning To Survive In The Modern Age produced a minor hit single with "Somewhere In The Night". The song was also used as the theme song for the soap Search for Tomorrow, resulting in Chinnock winning an Emmy Award in 1987. Despite this Chinnock subsequently found himself dropped by Epic and his next album, Thunder In The Valley saw him return to Atlantic. The 1990 album was credited to Billy & The American Suns, a group that included Craig Krampf (drums), Steve Hill (bass), Rex Stemn (guitar) and Clayton Ivy (piano). Like his two previous albums, it was recorded in Nashville. The song "Just Another Falling Star" was originally performed by Chinnock with the Downtown Tangiers Band.
In 1991 Chinnock returned to Maine and the following year released Out On The Borderline on his own label, East Coast Records. Among the guest musicians was Michael Hossack of The Doobie Brothers who also co-wrote the song "Take This Heart of Mine". In 1988 Backstreets, a Springsteen fanzine, reported that Chinnock had actually joined the Doobie Brothers as a replacement for Michael McDonald ! In 1992 Chinnock, Danny Federici and Garry Tallent also attempted to revive the Downtown Tangiers Band and recorded some sessions but nothing has been released to date. Chinnock’s final album Livin’ In The Promised Land was released in 2003 again on East Coast Records. One of Chinnock last recording’s was "No Christmas in New Orleans", a re-working of Phil Ochs’ "No Christmas in Kentucky", recorded in 2005 in aid of Hurricane Katrina victims.
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