From the days when fellow student Paul Muggleton, later of The Savages, surreptitiously passed him guitar chords in class, professional entertainer and singer Billy Byron has come a long way. Today, he not only writes his own chords, but composes and records award-winning songs.

The road to the top still stretches before him, and financially he cannot yet rely on music as his sole source of income, but some day he hopes to make it big. With that in mind, he leaves no stone unturned either creatively or professionally.

"I am aggressively pursuing a musical songwriting career, and I write everything - children's music, folk, rock...," he says.

Meanwhile, Mr. Byron also works two jobs in Massachusetts, where he makes his home. One is in Somerville Hospital, where he is an activity coordinator in the medical-psychiatric unit, and the other is running his own health service business, `People Love Music Company', which he founded a decade ago.

"At the hospital I am a motivational therapist trained in psychology and occupational therapy, with a little music therapy thrown in," he says. "I write my own songs, and the patients sing along to them, which helps them to do movement participation. When people move, it changes them metabolically and then mentally. The job is very intense and I work a 40-hour week."

He describes his company as one which is "basically in the field of therapeutic music groups for nursing facilities, whose patients include people with Alzheimer's and dementia, as well as the elderly and seniors' assisted living".

"The groups combine music and occupational therapy, and I am also developing successful motivational music tapes for the specialised areas of Alzheimer's and dementia. This brings me enough income to record."

Certainly, recording has been an important component in Mr. Byron's artistic life, and he now has several albums to his credit. The first, an island tourist/environmental recorded in Bermuda, is entitled `Bermuda Island Spirit'. The second, `Yellow Bicycle Band', is a collection of original children's songs, recorded live with a Berklee School of Music band and 300 singing children, and his latest album, `American Campfires', also recorded live, has a song on it that is currently getting a lot of attention.

"The song is called the `Texas Campfire Song', and was co-written by myself with Sammy Lee Smith, a gospel songwriter and bandsman from Jacksonville, Texas," Mr. Byron says.

The two met by chance at a camper's festival for amateur and professional songwriters, and were paired up by chance to write a song together. Both men had already written a song each, so they combined the two, and the final version is the synthesis of subsequent reworking and fine-tuning.

"It took three years to complete, I've submitted it to some 30 competitions, and so far I have won 15 prizes," the singer says proudly. "In November I was one of 33,000 entrants in 15 categories in the USA Songwriting Competition held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I won a big monetary prize - my first - in the children's category, of all things, even though I wrote the song for adults. It went right to the top because it is family oriented and jubilant. It has also won prizes in folk and novelty categories."

In one of many coincidences in his life, one contest was held at the famous Club Passim in Harvard Square, Boston, which happens to be just three blocks from Mr. Byron's home, and where he occasionally performs.

"I deliberately positioned myself near this great place so I could could go in and out hearing great performers, and attending lectures at the Passim School of Music," he says. "Passim is the most famous caf? for singer-songwriters on the East Coast, and a grooming area for them. The likes of Stevie Goodman, Dylan, Rambling Jack Elliott, and Grammy winner Sean Colvin have all played there."

Another of Mr. Byron's songs, `Invisible Helper', was a pop hit, and `On Christmas Eve' was performed at evangelist Robert Schuller's Crystal Catheral in California. What makes the successes of `Yellow Bicycle Band' and `Texas Campfire Song' so significant, the composer says, is that they were not recorded in a high-tech studio but before live audiences.

"That is very unusual, and as a result I have travelled across the US fulfilling my goal of self-promotion. I am also on the internet (www.mp3.com/billybyron) and some of the friends I have made in my travels have visited my website and are now playing my songs," he says. "In addition, I have a mailing list to which I send my newsletter."

In fact, through his career as a singer/songwriter Mr. Byron has performed at major venues across the US, and beyond its shores. He has also given free concerts to benefit Save the Whales and similar causes, as well as fund-raisers for the homeless, disabled and support groups. In addition, he is an active volunteer and member/participant of the Boston Songwriters' Workshop, the St. James Greenleaf Choir, and Club Passim.

Born and raised in Bermuda, Mr. Byron received his early education at Saltus Grammar School, and subsequently in Canada, and West Virginia. He holds degrees in psychology and occupational therapy

The son of inventor, the late Frank Watlington, and violinist, violin teacher and Menuhin Foundation founder-member Rosalind Watlington, young Billy began his musical training studying piano at the age of seven with Miss Winifred Savill, and then went on to learn drumming with Dennis Stuart as a member of the Scottish Boys Pipe and Drum Band. But it was when he borrowed his sister's folk guitar that he really became hooked on the instrument which he plays today.

"I just persisted and practised every day, and I learned all the top songs. My first guitar teacher was Paul Muggleton, who wrote out the chords and passed them to me in class at Saltus. Then the Beatles and the Rolling Stones exploded, so I learned all their songs too. From age 14 I also wrote my own songs."

Later, at Wesleyan College in West Virginia, Mr. Byron joined the glee club, took more piano lessons, and was "discovered" by the Student Council, who asked him to stage a performance, and it just went on from there.

Back in Bermuda, the talented young man became an established performer on the entertainment scene. He had his own band, `Bermuda Island Spirit,' which performed at the Belmont, Castle Harbour and Hamiltonian hotels, playing all the standards. In fact, he credits the late Hubert Smith, through the Musicians' Union, with getting him his first gig at the Elbow Beach Hotel Seahorse pub. Apparently, the hotel wanted to employ a foreign musician, but Mr. Smith insisted that the position be filled by a Bermudian.

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