Background

Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper) was born on December 1, 1959 in Chatham, Kent, United Kingdom. His father was John Hamper.

Education

Billy Childish left secondary school at 16, an undiagnosed dyslexic. Refused an interview at the local art college, he entered Chatham Dockyard, Kent, as an apprentice stonemason.

As a prospective student lacking the necessary entry qualifications, Childish was accepted into art school four times on the strength of his paintings and drawings. He did a foundation year at Medway College of Design (now the University for the Creative Arts) in 1977-1978, and was then accepted onto the painting department of Saint Martin's School of Art in 1978, before quitting a month later. He was re-accepted at St Martins in 1980, where he was friends with the artist Peter Doig. However, his acceptance was short-lived and he was expelled in 1982 before completing the course.

Career

After being expelled from the college in 1982, Billy Childish lived on the dole for 15 years.

Childish's first London show took place at the Cubit Street Gallery. He has exhibited extensively since the 1980s and was featured in the British Art Show in 2000. In 2010 a major exhibition of Childish's paintings, writing and music was held at The ICA London, with a concurrent painting show running at White Columns Gallery in New York.

In October 2012 alongside Art Below Childish presented his work at the exhibition "Art Below Regents Park" in Regent's Park Tube station to coincide with Frieze Art Fair, one of the most important international contemporary art fairs that takes place each October in London. In 2008 Childish formed the "non organisation" The British Art Resistance, and held an exhibition under the title Hero of The British Art Resistance at The Aquarium L-13 gallery in London that included a collection of paintings, books, records, pamphlets, poems, prints, letters, film, photographs made in 2008.

Moreover, as a singer, guitarist and record producer, Childish made records of punk, garage, rock and roll, blues, folk, classical/experimental, spoken word and nursery rhymes. Childish's groups include TV21, later known as the Pop Rivets (1977-1980), sometimes spelled the Pop Rivits, with Bruce Brand, Romas Foord (replaced by Russell "Big Russ" Wilkins) and Russell "Little Russ" Lax. He later formed a garage rock inspired band called Thee Milkshakes (1980-1984) with Mickey Hampshire, Thee Mighty Caesars (1985-1989), The Delmonas then Thee Headcoats (1989-1999). In 2000 he formed Wild Billy Childish & The Friends of the Buff Medways Fanciers Association (2000-2006), named after a type of poultry bred in his home town. The Buff Medways, or The Buffs, as they were sometimes affectionately known, split in 2006, and Wild Billy Childish & the Musicians of the British Empire were born, recording a song about one of Childish's heroes George Mallory titled "Bottomless Pit." In early 2007, Childish formed The Vermin Poets with former Fire Dept singer and guitarist Neil Palmer and A-Lines guitarist and singer Julie Hamper, his wife. Thee Headcoats began their monthly residency at the Wild Western Room in the St John's Tavern, north London, in the early 1990s, and continued after moving to the Dirty Water Club in 1996. The Musicians of the British Empire (MBEs) played at the venue more or less once a month until February 2011, Childish has not played live since then.

Since September 2009, Childish has been recording as bass player with The Spartan Dreggs, with Neil Palmer on vocals and guitar and Wolf Howard on drums. From 2013 the MBEs reunited under the name Wild Billy Childish, or "Chyldish", and CTMF and as of the end of 2014 have released three albums.

In 2014 Childish produced, played on and co-wrote (with Dave Tattersall) most of the songs on The Wave Pictures' album "Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon".

As a confessional poet, he has published over 40 collections of his work. In 1981-1982 Childish formed "Hangman Books", publishing poetry and some fiction.

Being also a filmmaker, in 2002, along with Wolf Howard, Simon Williams and Julie Hamper, Childish formed "The Chatham Super 8 Cinema". The group made super 8 films on a second-hand camera Wolf Howard bought at a local flea market. In 2004 Childish released a 30-minute documentary titled "Brass Monkey", about a march undertaken in Great War uniform commemorating the 90th anniversary of the British retreat from Mons in 1914.

Currently, Billy Childish lives and works in Chatham, Kent, United Kingdom. He is a visiting lecturer at Rochester Independent College.

Achievements

• Billy Childish is known for his explicit and prolific work as a painter, writer, poet and singer. He was especially noted for his early poetry and the novels "My Fault" (1996), "Notebooks of a Naked Youth" (1997), "Sex Crimes of the Futcher" (2004), "The Idiocy of Idears" (2007), and several of his songs, the instrumental "Paedophile" (1992) and "Every Bit of Me" (1993). Since 1977 he has released over 150 independent LP’s, published 5 novels and over 45 collections of poetry, but his main job is painting.
  
  In July 2014, Childish was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts Degree from the University of Kent.
  
  He has also twice won commendations in the National Poetry Prize.

Works

More photos

• book

  • My Fault
  • Notebooks of a Naked Youth
  • Gun In My Father's Hand: Selected Lyrics, 1977-2006
  • The Man With The Gallows Eyes: Selected Poetry 1980-2005
  • Sex Crimes Of The Futcher
  • Stonemason, The (Failure Books 4)
  • I'd Rather You Lied: Selected Poems, 1980-98

• painting

  • Reunion Owl

  • Lt. Sydney A. Cloman, First Infantry, on His Horse on the Wounded Knee Battleground

  • Reating Soldier

  • Drunk

  • Sibelius (Man with Stick)

  • Russian Venus

  • Erupting Volcano (Sea View)

  • Lt. Sydney A. Cloman, First Infantry, on His Horse on the Wounded Knee Battleground

  • Tea Drinker, High Atlas

  • Thumbprint

  • The Drinker

  • Billy and Traci

  • John H Amos 1

  • Smoking Soldier

  • In 5 Minits You'll Know Me (sic)

  • Billy and Dolli

  • Chinese Lanterns

  • Hand on Face

  • North Beach, San Francisco

  • John H Amos 3

  • Self Portrait in Hat

  • St John's Church, Chatham

  • Erupting volcano

  • Man Walking in Snow

  • Untitled

  • Man Sat on Chairs

  • Sibelius Amongst Saplings

  • Scull

  • Robert Walser Lying Dead in the Snow

  • John H Amos 2

Views

Quotations: "Me and Charles Thomson were at war from 1979 until 1999. He even threatened having bouncers on the doors of Medway Poets' readings to keep me out."

"The Stuckist art group was formed in 1999 at the instigation of Charles Thomson, the title of the group being taken from a poem of mine written and published in 1994. I disagreed with the way Charles presented the group, particularly in the media. For these reasons, I left the Stuckists in 2001. I never attended any Stuckist demonstrations and my work was not shown in the large Stuckist exhibition held in the Walker Art Gallery in 2004."

"Artists who don't paint aren't artists."

Membership

In 1979, Childish was a founding member of The Medway Poets, a poetry performance group, who read at the Kent Literature Festival and the 1981 international Cambridge Poetry Festival. Besides, in 1999, Childish co-founded the Stuckist art movement, which he left in 2001. The group was strongly pro-figurative painting and anti-conceptual art.

• The Medway Poets

  1979

Personality

Childish was sexually abused when he was aged nine by a male family friend. He has detailed it in his early poetry and the novels.

Besides, Childish has practised yoga and meditation since the early 1990s.

Quotes from others about the person

• Peter Doig: "Childish is one of the most outstanding, and often misunderstood, figures on the British art scene."
  
  Ivor Cutler: "You are perhaps too subtle and sophisticated for the mass market."

Interests

• yoga, meditation

Connections

Childish met the artist Tracey Emin in 1982. They were a couple until 1987.

Childish's wife is Julie Hamper, a guitarist and singer.

Father:

John Hamper

Billy Childish described his father as a "complex, sociopathic narcissist".

Spouse:

Julie Hamper

Friend:

Peter Doig

colleague:

Charles Thomson

colleague:

Bruce Brand

colleague:

Russell Wilkins

colleague:

Russell Lax

colleague:

Mickey Hampshire

colleague:

Neil Palmer

colleague:

Wolf Howard

colleague:

Dave Tattersall

colleague:

Simon Williams