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Billy Ding

Billy Ding (born William Joseph Moss on February 3, 1966) was a well-known entrepreneur and musician in New Orleans. He started and ran French Quarter Bicycles, the only bicycle shop in the French Quarter in those days. The shop was an iconic establishment in the Quarter, an area where both tourists and residents always rode bikes. He has played with a number of bands, most recently and famously with Billy Ding and the Hot Wings, which he started in 200X?.

Early Years Billy was born in Washington DC to his mother, chemist turned full-time mom Marybet Moss, and his father, an MIT-educated electrical engineer George Joseph Moss, Jr. His family resided in the Wood Acres subdivision in Bethesda, Maryland during his early childhood. During this time, he began his appreciation of music with Suzuki violin lessons at the American University Department of Music. He had two sisters, the oldest Mary Monica Moss, and the younger 9 years younger than him, Madeleine Moss.

First Taste of New Orleans Billy first moved to Lousiana at the age of 9, when his father was relocated to a naval base in Bay St. Louis Mississippi. His family settled halfway between the metropolis of New Orleans and his father's job location, in Slidell, Louisiana. Upon arrival in the public school system in Slidell, he was ahead of the rest of his class. This was figured out after spending so was soon sent to a private school in Covington, St. Paul's School where he skipped 7th grade as he was so far ahead, and started immediately in 8th grade. He was an honor student, and played trumpet in student marching bands and Mardi Gras parades. Billy's first foray into the world of bicycles was when he lost his bike in the swimming pond, and he thought someone stole it. A year later, he found it at the bottom of the pond when swimming, and took it home and reconstructed it.

Early Adulthood Billy won a full scholarship to Catholic University in Washington DC where he began his academic career in the School of Architecture. Not far into the first year, he came to the conclusion that he hated the restrictiveness of the profession, and switched his major to English. He went to school there with his older sister Mary.

After College After graduating with an English major, Bill found his way into Big Wheel Bicycles, a bicycle chain in the Washington DC area, and ended up managing the majority of the local branches. While in DC, he played with a number of groups, most notably Billy and the Crawdads, playing bass guitar during their performances around the District area. He joined Bo Diddley Jr. for several fund-raising concerts for the homeless.

The pull of the South was too much for him, however, and he returned to Lousiana in 1992 to establish his own business in New Orleans, and live in the music heartland. French Quarter Bicycles served the community there for 13 years with sales, rentals, and repairs. He was the boss, employing everyone who had another gig - artists, musicians, and the like. Again playing with a number of combinations of people, he was a well-known musical figure in the area, eventually becoming known as the Piano Man, a title he gained after learning the piano from scratch on a holiday vacation with his parents.

In 200x, he founded Billy Ding and the Hot Wings, where he was the leader, singer and pianist, and played boogie-woogie N'Awlins style blues in restaurants and clubs throughout the city, quickly gaining notoriety as a pianist to be reckoned with. He recorded 2 cds, the first with Butch Trivette, where he played piano, the second called Mud Puddle Party with Billy Ding and the Hot Wings.

He sold the bike shop shortly before Katrina as it was getting converted into condos, with the intent of focusing on his music full time. However, employment as a musician post-Katrina was quite difficult with no tourists, so he paid the bills doing reconstruction and electrical restoration of damaged buildings, while waiting for the music scene to come back.

Personal Life Although many women may justifiably claim that they dated Billy, his true love was really his music. He never married, instead choosing to remain in his New Orleans world.

His Ending Billy was killed on May 4, 2008, by an unlicensed driver of a pickup truck who lost control of the truck and drove onto the sidewalk, where Billy was chatting with friends. Billy died immediately from multiple internal injuries. He was accorded the honor of a jazz funeral following his Requiem Mass in The Cathedral of Saint Louis, King of France in New Orleans. Prominent local musicains, the Treme Brass Band, WAshboard Chaz and Kermit Ruffins led the parade tribute through the French Quarter and the Faubourg-Marigny musicians area. Mr. Moss is buried in the cemetery founded by his grandfather, Parklawn Memorial Park, in Rockville, Maryland.