Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan was born William Patrick Corgan on March 17th, 1967. His father is a blues guitarist. Billy was always very tall for his age and played baseball and basketball until he recieved a guitar for his 13th birthday. His passion for music developed, and he moved to the St. Petersburg area in Florida in 1986 (when he was 19). There, he formed a rock band called The Marked. The concept was basically the same as the Pumpkins (loud/quiet music), but was unsuccessful. He moved back to his birthplace and hometown of Chicago, where he moved back in with his father. It was there that he and James Iha formed a band called Smashing Pumpkins. Billy recently got a penthouse in New York City for $1,000,000. He was once married, and now he is with photographer Yelena Yemchuk.
James Iha
James Iha was born in Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago, on March 26th, 1968. He was in two bands before Smashing Pumpkins: Astro and the Go-Go Girls and The Feds, which developed into another band called Snake Train. He met Billy through a friend of his (I think his name was Linny or something) and together they formed Smashing Pumpkins. He plays guitar and trumpet. James also dated D'arcy briefly.
D'arcy Wretzky-Brown
D'arcy Wretzky-Brown was born D'arcy Wretzky in Michigan on May 1st, 1968. D'arcy taught herself to play bass; she also plays the oboe and classical violin. D'arcy met Billy after a rock concert, in a street argument about whether the band they saw was put together by a record company. During the conversation the subject of Billy's new band came up, and he mentioned that they needed a bass player. D'arcy asked for and got an audition, but when she went she was so nervous that she messed up many times. She asked for a second audition, got it, and became the band's bass player. She is now married to drummer Kerry Brown (for the band Catherine) and they live on an apple farm in southern Michigan. And although there have been many rumors, they don't have any children yet.
The Band
According to D'arcy, the band had their name before there even was a band. Billy has said that the name actually started out as a joke and they were stuck with it; apparently none of the members liked the name. Jimmy became a member of the band when someone Billy met who knew Jimmy introduced them. He was later fired because of an ongoing battle with heroin. The Pumpkins have released 4 CDs and are due to release their 5th sometime this year, the last new release under their current contract. They have been part of such music events as Lollapalooza. The Smashing Pumpkins are currently a 3-person band, and are supposed to once again change their musical style with the new release. They have won several Grammys and MTV Video Music Awards.
