It's been 8 years since Billy left. What a respected drummer, even though he played backwards. Besides the R n R bands, he backed The Ink Spots, The 4 Aces & even Jimmy Soul (If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life. . .). No one was funnier. All of us wanted to be the butt of one of Billy's jokes. I was his doctor and once he showed up in my packed waiting room with no appt. My secretary, after checking our charts, said, "Mr. Hilton you haven't been here for some time. Why?" "I've been sick", he replied. The waiting room howled and insisted he be seen first.
Billy was good-looking and women chased him. I asked him what it was like with girls on the road. "It was scary. They would scream and pound and scratch at my hotel room door and at about 3 a.m. I'd let them out". That all ended when he met Stephanie. 
He faced his final diagnosis with a grin and a knowing twinkle in his eye. With tongue in cheek he sang My Way to BW. He died 2 days later. There was a bar at his funeral. A1