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Billy Mo (22 February 1923 - 16 July 2004, real name Peter Mico Joachim) was a Trinidad-born pop singer, actor, and trumpet player.

Early life
In an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel Mo claimed that his father was the illegitimate child of a German protection force officer with the first name "Peter Joachim" who was garrisoned in Cameroon, and a local woman. Both grandparents later migrated to the Carribean, according to Mo. At another occasion he claimed that his German grandfather married his African girlfriend and migrated to Trinidad together with his non-befitting wife after he finished his military service. There is no record of a protection force member with the name of "Peter Joachim" though.

According to an explanation Mo gave in 1967 his parents died when he was about five years old, leading to him and his two sisters being institutionalized in an orphanage. According to a differing portrayal his mother died while giving birth, and his father died three years later in a car accident. According to music journalist Jan Feddersen both parents died in an accident one year after Mo's birth.

In the orphanage Mo received music lessens and learned how to play the harp. According to some sources he learned to play the trumpet at age 6, according to others he learned to play the bugle. According to Feddersen he became member of an orchestra with seven years, and according to the Ebony magazine he joined a local police marching band at the age of 14.

United Kingdom
According to the Ebony article (which was based on an interview with Mo) he was hired for a black dance band in 1945 by an officer of the British merchant navy. In an interview Mo gave to Der Spiegel in 1966 he declared he lived in London from 1945 to 1956. The magazine also reports of a scholarship of the Royal Academy of Music in London that Mo was granted in 1945. According to the operators of London record store "Eldica" Mo migrated from Trinidad to London together with his wife at the time, Eldica. In November 1945 Mo played for BBC Radio as part of the "Trinidad All Stars" band. The band played for American and British soldiers and in night clubs. During a tour through France the band disbanded in November or December 1945 due to internal differences, and Mo returned to England jobless. He played in several bands after that but could not support himself that way so that he started taking jobs in restaurants. Two sources also mention a three-year job in a mental institution in Scotland, based on interviews with Mo.

WEITERMACHEN: "Ab etwa 1950"

Germany
In April 1956 the penniless Joachim moved to Hamburg, Germany. WEITERMACHEN

Discography

 * Buona Sera, Billy Mo! (EP, 1958, Decca Records)
 * Macht Jeden Froh (1962, Decca Records)
 * Die großen Erfolge (1966, Decca Records)
 * Ich kauf' mir lieber einen Tirolerhut (1969, Decca Records)
 * Stimmung Sooo - Mit Billy Mo (1969, CBS)
 * Die Große Stimmungspolonaise (1971, Juventus Music)
 * Jazzt Kommt Der Weihnachtsmann (1995, with Happy Jazz & Co, Sound Solutions)
 * Mr. Rhythm King (1996, Bear Family Records)