Not to be confused with various jazz artists named Bill O'Connell (including a New York City pianist and the Chicago-based drummer who heads the Chicago Skyliners Big Band), the Billy O'Connell profiled in this bio is an important behind-the-scenes figure in alternative pop/rock, indie rock, and college rock. Billy O'Connell is the longtime manager and husband of singer/songwriter Kristin Hersh (who was born in Atlanta, GA, on August 6, 1966, but grew up in New England and now lives in Los Angeles). He has been working with Hersh since her days as a lead singer for the influential band Throwing Muses, which enjoyed a small but enthusiastic following in college rock circles in the '80s and '90s -- and he continued to manage Hersh after Throwing Muses broke up and she became a full-time solo artist. O'Connell didn't start out his adult life wanting to be in the music industry. As a young adult, he studied to be an actor at the Lee Strasburg Theater Institute in New York City -- and in the '80s, O'Connell moved to Los Angeles to try out for a part on a television program. But O'Connell didn't get the part and worked in various L.A. rock clubs to pay the bills; that led to a position as a label manager at Sire/Warner Bros., which is how he met Hersh. One of the recordings that crossed O'Connell's desk at Sire/Warner Bros. was an advance cassette of Throwing Muses' 1988 album, House Tornado, which was the album that really sold him on the band. O'Connell had heard and enjoyed the previous recordings of Throwing Muses -- the band was formed in 1984 -- but House Tornado was the album that made O'Connell, in his words, "an unbelievably enthusiastic advocate for the band at Warner Brothers." O'Connell and Hersh went on to enjoy both a romantic and a professional relationship; they were married in 1992 and have had three kids together. (Hersh, as of 2004, had a total of four sons; she was a single mother when she met O'Connell.) As Hersh's manager, O'Connell saw many things transpire with Throwing Muses -- he saw guitarist/singer Tanya Donelly (Hersh's half sister) leave the band in 1992 to play with the Breeders (Donelly eventually formed Belly), and he saw Throwing Muses carry on without Donelly until their breakup in 1997. Hersh and O'Connell have often been quoted as saying that Throwing Muses' breakup wasn't due to any creative differences, but was instead a financial decision. Although the Muses enjoyed a loyal cult following, they were never a huge commercial success, and Hersh and O'Connell have insisted that the group called it quits out of financial necessity. Hersh's solo career did not begin in 1997; she had been recording as a solo artist on the side since 1994, but after Throwing Muses' breakup, her solo career became a full-time pursuit. O'Connell is listed as an assistant producer on Hersh's 1998 solo project, Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight, and he has served as an advisor on all of her subsequent solo albums. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide