Billy Corgan was born on March 17th 1967 in Elk Grove - a suburb to Chicago. He was christened William Patrick Corgan after his father, a professional blues rock guitarist (Corgan sr. is in fact playing on The Last Song - a track on Smashing Pumpkins' single Thirty-Three). When Billy was 3 years old, his father divorced his mother, and Billy Corgan was shuffled around from one family member to another. At age 9 his father had remarried and Billy had gotten a step-brother - Jesse - who had mild cerebral palsy, Tourette's syndrome, heart problems and a chromosomal disorder. Billy was left to take care of Jesse, and because of this responsibility he grew up quickly. Lots of his musical inspiration is said to steam from his teen-age sufferings (for instance: the song Spaceboy (on Smashing Pumpkins 2nd album; Siamese Dream) was dedicated to Jesse). At age 11 his father divorced again, and Billy shared home with his former stepmother as neither his biological mother or father wanted to take the responsibility of looking after him (although they lived separately and only an hour from him). Billy took on responsibility for his brother Jesse and became a father figure for him. Billy often took Jesse along to his baseball team practices and games, where the other kids made fun of Jesse - the "retarded kid". Things didn't get easier for Billy. At Glenbard North High School he felt very much like a loner.

Around 1985 he formed his first band, The Marked ('The Marked' after a birth mark on one of Billy's and the drummer's hands). The Marked moved from Chicago to St. Petersburg, Florida. They played for about 9 months, but got nowhere, so Billy finally picked up his things and moved back to Chicago. Back in Chicago he was broke, and stayed with his dad. In Chicago he met James Iha, D'arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin and formed The Smashing Pumpkins (in 1988). Billy's first performance with James Iha was in a polish bar named 'Track'. The Smashing Pumpkins' first real gig was as an opening for Jane's Addiction (at the Metro 10-05-1988).

Billy Corgan and Courtney Love (Hole) had a romantic relationship. In 1992 he married Chris Fabian, a museum artist. He later dedicated the songs Soma (on Siamese Dream) and Muzzle (on Mellon Collie...) to her. He described her as "The best friend you could have for the last ten years.", but after she filed for divorce in 1996, he came to speak of her in other terms (like: "She didn't even like my first album, the bitch"). After an interview with the magazine Playboy in 1997, he met the photographer Yelena Yemchuck (she did the photographs for Adore and the Adore singles), who he's still dating (she's said not to believe in marriage).

On May 25th 2000 Billy Corgan announced (on KROQ) that the Smashing Pumpkins would break up at the end of the year. Later that same year, the album MACHINA II / the friends and enemies of modern music was released as the first ever internet-only album (because Virgin Records didn't want to release the album - not as a MACHINA / the machines of God bonus disc, nor as a "follow-up" album) - except from 25 LP sets (more info). The Smashing Pumpkins played their last ever gig at the Metro in Chicago on the 2nd of December 2000. In 2001 Billy Corgan formed a new band, Zwan.

Source:www.billy-corgan.net