Billy Kidd is the artist name for Bill Menacher of Holland, OH. Bill is an accomplished bassist and also plays six-string, piano, harmonica and some percussion. Bill performs with the North Coast Concert Band which is a 90 piece traditional brass and woodwind concert band and with the North Coast Big Band which is a sixteen member old-time swing band playing all the old favorites by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. Bill has been performing in one band or another since 1964 including rock n roll bands, musical theater pit bands and small folk ensembles. In 2002 he started Madison Arts Studio which is a home based recording studio for bands needing quality demos. A side product of Madison Arts Studio is CD cover and art design.
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Bill's orchestral/classical pieces have been licensed to over 60 separate television programs. In addition, his compositions for concert band, "Serenity" and "Sunday Afternoon March", have been performed by the North Coast Concert Band. Bill has releases available of public-domain Christmas music, classic soft rock, and contemporary classical music. In January, 2023, his composition "Sharp Edges" was selected as #1 in Ohio, #10 in production-instrumental, #8 in production-other tempo, #2 in classical-contemporary, and #4 in classical. Also, in January, his composition "Shadowland" was selected #10 in Ohio.
Musician, Songwriter, Lawyer
A lawyer by trade, but a musician/songwriter at heart, Bill has been involved in music since age 11 when he started singing and playing bass in a local rock band.
Presently he has four songs licensed for television, including National Geographic and HBO channels. A fifth song on a Canadian fashion program played a few years ago.
In 2013 The North Coast Concert Band premiered his composition "Serenity" written for concert band, and in 2015 premiered his inaugural march for concert band "Sunday Afternoon March".
In college, he wrote the musical score for three original productions mounted at the University of Toledo.
His songwriting ranges from orchestral/symphonic music to the blues. Bill plays five instruments and is working on the violin at present.
His performing career has ranged from rock n' roll from the 1960s through the 1990s with his bands opening for likes of Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes and Stevie Wonder to Christian music to big band swing music. He continues to play with both a big band swing group and a concert band.