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This is the extraordinary tale of singer/songwriter/actor/music historian Billy Vera, suburban child of an showbiz family who fell in love with black music at an early age. We follow his voyage as he plays the changing times Square mafia-owned clubs by night and works as a staff songwriter by day, penning tunes for famous brands Ricky Nelson, Fatty acids Domino, and the Shirelles, before finally writing one for himself and gospel singer Judy Clay. His fantasy comes true as the duo plays to ranking ovations at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. Along with the murder of Martin Luther Ruler Jr. and the entrance of the Woodstock generation, the change in the culture makes blue-eyed soul singers like Vera unimportant and a decade of '70s survival gigs ensues, until Dolly Parton's version of 1 of his sounds hits number one. Relocating to Los Angeles, our hero forms a band, Billy Vera and the Beaters, and detects career renewal in the form of a hit record and a side career as an acting professional. On the ripe old age of 42, he detects himself with a number-one record, followed by a superstar on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and finally a Grammy award, all without ever before falling in to the musician's capture of drugs or liquor (we informed you this is not your typical musician's tale.) This is the story of a true musician who held to his fine art through highs and lows. Along the way, we see a record of the music business of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s as informed by one who lived it and sustained his sort out all of it.
