Billy Ethridge wikipedia – Actress Kristin Chenoweth just lost her biological mother, but in this article we present all we know about her biological father.
Billy Ethridge was an American musician and political activist who was the biological father of popular actress Kristin Chenoweth.
Chenoweth has just been bereaved having announced that she’s lost her biological mother.
This has sparked interest in the Chenoweth family tree and we take a look at all that entails below.
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This article would present Billy Ethridge wikipedia, life and career, informaiton about Kristin Chenoweth biological father musician and much more.
Billy Ethridge Wikipedia
Billy Ethridge was an American musician and political activist who was the biological father of popular actress, Kristin Chenoweth.
The legendary musician was born in Drew County, Arkansas, sometime in 1930. Despite his illustrious career and paternity of a very popular actress, there is for some reason scarce information about Ethridge on the web.
Anyway, he grew up in a musical family and learned to play various instruments, including piano, guitar, and bass at a very young age.
Ethridge was heavily influenced by blues, country, and rock and roll music – all immensely popular during his childhood – leading to him developing a passion for performing and composing.
In the late 1950s, Billy Ethridge moved to Houston, Texas, where he joined the local music scene and met other aspiring musicians.
Kristin Chenoweth biological father began his foray onto the professional music scene in 1967 when he joined a band called The American Blues.
The American Blues had featured Frank Beard on drums and Lanier Greig on keyboards.
Their music infused a mix of psychedelic rock and blues.
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During Ethridge’s time with the American Blues, they would release two albums: The American Blues Is Here (1968) and Do Their Thing (1969).
However, the band did not achieve much commercial success or recognition, and soon disbanded.
Following the disbandment of the American Blues, Billy Ethridge had a chance to join ZZ Top, a move that would give him whatever limited amount of fame he enjoyed in his career.
Together with Frank Beard from the American Blues, Ethridge joined forces with Billy Gibbons, who had also just left his previous band, Moving Sidewalks.
The trio formed a new band called ZZ Top – a name they reveal was inspired by the names of musicians Z.Z. Hill and B.B. King.
ZZ Top adopted a hard rock sound with blues influences and began to perform in clubs and festivals around Texas.
They also recorded some demos for London Records, which would later become their debut album, ZZ Top’s First Album (1971).
Billy Ethridge was not destined to last in the band though.
In late 1969 he would leave ZZ Top due to creative differences with Gibbons. He was replaced by Dusty Hill – also from the American Blues! There is more to this story of Billy Ethridge and ZZ Top but that would came later in this wikipedia article.
Sometime around this time or just a bit earlier, Billy Ethridge met ‘Lynn’ and got her pregnant, leading to the birth of a baby that would eventually be known to the world as Kristin Chenoweth.
Billy Ethridge and Lynn are Chenoweth’s biological parents but she was given up and adopted at a very young age.
Anyway, back to Billy Ethridge wikipedia – after leaving ZZ Top, Ethridge continued to pursue his musical career as a solo artist. He became a fervent political activist, supporting causes such as civil rights, environmentalism, and anti-war movements.
He collaborated with various artists, such as Sam & Dave, Frank Zappa, and Willie Nelson. He also released several albums under his own name or as Billy E., such as Billy E. (1972), The World Is Yours (1974), and Peaceful Revolution (1980).
The world would lose Billy Ethridge in 19994 when he was 64 years old.
ZZ Top
Billy Ethridge wikipedia now takes a closer look at his affiliation with ZZ Top.
As we mentioned earlier, Ethridge was a part of the now-legendary band ZZ Top but quit at a point.
ZZ Top was formed in Houston, Texas in 1969 and originally consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist/organist Lanier Greig, and drummer Dan Mitchell.
The band was managed by Bill Ham, a Waxahachie, Texas, native.
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After recording their first-ever single, Salt Lick, Greig and Mitchell left the band to be replaced by the former American Blues duo of Billy Ethridge and Frank Beard.
According to reports, the band could not land a recording deal in America and thus when they received a record deal from London Records – the American affiliate of the British Decca Records label – the group gladly accepted.
However, Billy Ethridge was unwilling to sign a record deal and thus quit the group, to be replaced by Dusty Hill, forming the longtime lineup of ZZ Top that everyone became familiar with.
Despite his short-lived time in the group, Billy Ethridge was an important part of the band’s early history and development. He contributed to the band’s original sound and style, which would later evolve into their signature blend of blues rock and boogie rock.
Billy Gibbons himself has praised Ethridge as “a great musician” who “brought a lot to the table.
For 51 years after Billy Ethridge left, ZZ Top was composed of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill, until Hill’s death in 2021 and would go on to become a legendary band.
ZZ Top would develop a signature sound based on Gibbons’ blues guitar playing style and Hill and Beard’s rhythm section.
They are popular for their live performances, sly and humorous lyrics, and the matching appearances of Gibbons and Hill, who wore sunglasses, hats and long beards.
Billy Ethridge wikipedia – Kristin Chenoweth biological father and mom
Billy Ethridge and Lynn are Kristin Chenoweth biological mom and father.
In August 2023, Chenoweth announce the sad passing of her biological mother.
On Saturday, August 19th 2023, the actress announced on Instagram that her birth mom, Lynn, had passed away.
“The angel that brought me into this world has passed. Her name is Lynn. Aka Mamalynn,” she began in the post’s caption, which featured a series of photos of herself and Lynn from over the years.
“The ten plus years I knew her were magic. So many things became clear to me about myself when I met her and came to really know her. Those of us who knew her loved her light. Her love of music and all things artistic. An artist herself!
“The mother of beautiful Jennifer and darling Chris,” she added. “Man she loved her kids!”
Kristin Chenoweth would address her biological father and subject of this wikipedia article Billy Ethridge in her post, revealing she got her ‘artistic’ side from both parents.
“The two of them gave me the innate artistic ability I have today,” she wrote.
Continuing her post, Chenoweth recalled the first time she met Lynn, sometime in 2012.
“Mamalynn prayed for me every year on my birthday, hoping I was having the most perfect life, which of course, I was,’ she said. “I snuck away and prayed for her too, wishing that someday I would be allowed tell her ‘thank you.’ Which I did on 12/12/12. A beautiful day!”
“We didn’t leave anything unsaid in the end,” she added, concluding her post, “I will miss her till the end of my days. But then, I will fly into the sky, where she will be waiting to greet me, and she will say, start ‘singing Babygirl!’ And I will. RIP Mamalynn ❤️.”
Kristin Chenoweth
The below is culled from the wikipedia article of Billy Ethridge biological daughter, Kristin Chenoweth.
Kristin Dawn Chenoweth is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film, and television.
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In 1999, she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway.
In 2003, Chenoweth received a second Tony Award nomination for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked.
Her television roles include Annabeth Schott in NBC’s The West Wing and Olive Snook on the ABC comedy drama Pushing Daisies, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009.
She also starred in the ABC TV series GCB in 2012, played Lavinia in Trial & Error in 2018, and played the characters Mildred Layton and Miss Codwell in the Apple TV+ musical comedy Schmigadoon! in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Chenoweth was adopted when she was five days old by Junie Smith Chenoweth and Jerry Morris Chenoweth, both chemical engineers from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, and named Kristi Dawn Chenoweth.
She has stated that she is of one quarter Cherokee descent and that she eventually met her biological mother, Lynn. Kristin Chenoweth biological father is the musician and former ZZ Top band member Billy Ethridge.
At an early age, she performed gospel songs for local churches. A performing highlight of her childhood was a solo appearance at the Southern Baptist Convention national conference at the age of 12, where she performed the Evie song “Four Feet Eleven”.
After graduating from Broken Arrow Senior High School, where she participated in school plays, Chenoweth attended Oklahoma City University, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta (Beta Omicron) sorority.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in musical theatre in 1990 and a master’s degree in opera performance in 1992, studying under voice instructor and mentor, Florence Birdwell.
While at OCU, Chenoweth competed in beauty pageants, winning the title of Miss OCU and was the second runner-up in the Miss Oklahoma pageant in 1991.
In 1997, she made her Broadway debut in Steel Pier, winning a Theatre World Award, before appearing in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked.
Chenoweth had her own sitcom, Kristin, in 2001, and has guest-starred on many shows, including Sesame Street and Glee.
In films, she has played mostly character roles, such as in Bewitched (2005), The Pink Panther (2006) and RV (2006).
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