Bill Washer grew up in Rochester, N.Y. where he began studying guitar at the age of 13 from Donald Ames.
In High School he led several bands performing at dances and local functions. He spent the summers teaching guitar at Duke Spinner’s music store and playing in Father George Wiskerchen’s jazz big band at the Eastman School of Music, where he also studied music theory.
After graduation from High School, he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston majoring in performance and composition. He also worked in the Boston stage production of “Hair”, and on the road with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson.
In 1973 he moved to New York to play guitar with the Joffrey Ballet Company and began free-lance work recording on record albums, movies, jingles, etc. as well as live performances, both in New York and on the road.
In 1982 his first record album on which he composed and arranged all of the selections was released on the Japanese “Arista” label.
He has recorded and/or performed with: Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Ashford and Simpson, Stan Getz, Elvin Jones, Gato Barbieri, Ray Barreto, Teruo Nakamura, Barry Miles, Curtis Fuller, Manu Dubango, Bob Mintzer, Bernard Purdie, Jimmy Cliff, Richie Havens, Angie Bofil, Frank Sinatra, Michael Urbaniak, Marlena Shaw, Lenny White, Stanely Clarke, Ivan Lins, Phil Woods, Liza Minnelli and others
He has done numerous Broadway shows including West Side Story, Grease, Bring Back Birdie, Leader of the Pack, Starlight Express, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Dreamgirls, Bloodbrothers, 42nd Street, The Life, Footloose, The Lion King, Avenue Q and Hair.
