When you have a guitar named after you, one that a famous rock star plays on, you have to be a celebrity, right? Well, meet Billie Paulette Montgomery, the wife of American musician and founding member of Aerosmith, Joe Perry.
The celebrity spouse has been part of Joe’s life for many years now. He is the lead guitarist and sometimes lead vocalist of Aerosmith.
How did they meet? How long have they been together? What do we know of her? Read on to find out more.
Contents
Who Is Her Husband?
Born Joseph Anthony Pereira in September 1950, Joe Perry is an American musician. He is best known as the founding member and lead guitarist of the rock bandAerosmith. He also has his solo band called The Joe Perry Project. Perry is also a member of the all-star bandHollywood Vampires alongside Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp.
He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and grew up in Hopedale. His father of Portuguese descent worked as an accountant, while his mother was a high school gym teacher. She is of Italian descent. As you can see, nothing suggested he would become the famous musician he is today.
At a young age, he was drawn to the ocean and dreamed of becoming a marine biologist. But his grades at high school were not good, and his chances of going to college were quickly fading.
His parents tried to entice him by promising him an intern role at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution if he improved his grades. But his struggles continued.
Eventually, his parents withdraw him from Hopedale and enrolled him at the all-boys preparatory school, Vermont Academy. They hoped he could focus more on learning and improve his grades.
But the time he spent there was vastly different than what they hoped. Students there were from all over the world and lived in cities like Los Angeles and New York. They lived in the middle of the sex, drugs, and rock and roll culture of the 1960s.
The exposure to new music had a huge influence on him. It was different than anything he had ever heard before. At Vermont, he heard Jimi Hendrix for the first time. He also heard bands like The Yardbirds, The Who, The Kinks, and others. All of these bands were responsible for the first and most iconic covers of Aerosmith, Train Kept a Rollin.
In the 1960s, Perry alongside Tom Hamilton, Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford, and Joey Kramer formed the band known as Aerosmith. They were initially dismissed as Rolling Stones knock-offs, but Aerosmith came into its own during the mid-1970s.
Perry and Tyler became known as the Toxic Twins because of their hard partying and drug use. The band earned the nickname The Blue Army because teenagers in the audience were wearing blue denim jackets and blue jeans.
In the late 1970s, the band started to fall off the charts, and their new material was not as successful. During their concerts in 1977 and 1978, there was increased violence at the shows. The band’s heavy drug use also signaled an end.
It wasn’t until 1984 that Perry and Whitford met up with some old bandmates and rejoined the band two months later. They went on a successful comeback tour, titled Back in the Saddle Tour, and then released their first album since reuniting, Done with Mirrors.
In the 1990s, the band went through one of the most successful periods, with hit singles like Angel, Rag Doll, I don’t want to miss a thing, Crazy, Amazing, What it Takes, Janie’s Got a Gun, and more.
Rolling Stone has ranked Joe Perry as the 84th best guitarist of all time. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Aerosmith.
Quick Bio of Billie
Now let’s talk a bit about the woman who has stood beside Joe for most of his life. It is not easy supporting a rock star, especially not one that is known for drug use and abuse.
Billie holds an American nationality and is of white ethnic background. She is known as the celebrity spouse of American musician Joe Perry.
What do we know about her early life, educational background, professional career, or anything else?
We know that Billie Paulette Montgomery was born in February 1955 in Columbus, Indiana. That means she is five years younger than Joe.
She follows the Christianity religion and is Aquarius in the Zodiac. Fun fact: Billie is a former model. She began her professional career as a model, but we do not know how successful she was.
After her marriage to famous musician Joe Perry, she has lived beside him, supporting and inspiring him. Her husband Joe has had a successful career as the lead guitarist and founding member of the rock band Aerosmith.
How She Met Her Husband?
Billie Montgomery has been alongside Joe for the second half of his career. He was married before, from 1975 to 1982 to Elyssa Jerret. The two have a son together, Adrian.
Billie and Joe met in 1983 while he was making his Black Velvet Pantsvideo. They instantly started dating and got married in 1985.
Billie and Joe have two sons together, Adrian Perry and Tony Perry. The family has several homes in the United States, including one in Vermont, Massachusetts, and others in Florida and Los Angeles.
In his memoir, released in 2014 and titled Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith, Joe revealed he has a guitar with his wife’s picture on it.
He said, “I was always kind of a one-girl guy, and I was always looking for the right girl. I finally found her. We have a 30-year marriage, and we are still going strong. I have a guitar with my wife’s picture on it, most people do not know who it is. A lot of times I’d be standing on stage and a group of girls would point to the guitar. I’d point to my wedding ring and then they would all scream”.
He then revealed, “There were a few years before I met Billie where I went home with a waitress or two but it was not one of my favorite things to do. IT wasn’t what drove me to do that. There are guys out there that claim they slept with this many fans but that’s the extreme. I think in any kind of high-profile profession, where there’s a lot of money and a lot of glamour, that part of it comes with it”.
Here is another fun fact, their son co-founded the rock band, Dead Boots. Adrian Perry and Tony Perry co-founded Dead Boots and recorded two songs for the Zac Efron comedyDirty Grandpa. Joe performed with them in 2008 when they played Foxwoods.
But the most amazing fact of all is that Billie Paulette Montgomery Perry didn’t even know Aerosmith before she got married to Joe. The band was quite successful in the 1970s, but Billie didn’t know about them.
They met while he was making his Black Velvet Pants video, but didn’t know much about the Rock music world. Instead, she was more interested in the underground and punk scene.
Is She On Social Media?
Billie is not active on any social media platform. She doesn’t have an account on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Her husband is active on Instagram and has more than 470k followers. Sometimes, he posts a picture of himself with his wife and sons.
But while she doesn’t have a social media account, she now works as a photographer and keeps Joe’s account updated on Instagram.
Net Worth
Billie is not the one who earns money in this household. That would be Joe, who has a net worth of more than $140 million.
American guitarist Joe Perry earned most of his money through his professional career, and then some from business investments and sponsorship deals.
The family lives in Massachusetts, but they also have a home in Florida. Joe once revealed, “My wife and I spend a lot of time in Florida, and every year the local divers get together, and they spend the day cleaning the reefs from all the trash that gets thrown overboard. We do things like that. I still get a taste of it and have never lost my fascination with the ocean”.
But they spend most of their days in Vermont, where they have more peace of mind.
37-year-old who enjoys ferret racing, binge-watching boxed sets and praying. He is exciting and entertaining, but can also be very boring and a bit grumpy.