William (Willie) Favero
This Bio was last updated on July 23, 2023

Willie has always loved music, even as a small child. It was easy to understand why his parents started him taking guitar lessons at a very early age. Playing an instrument came natural to him and thanks to his parents' continual support and nudging, you could easily say Willie became a successful musician because of them. Growing up in Niagara Falls, starting in his early teens, Willie had the opportunity to work with numerous bands and terrific musicians. In fact, he was always either playing in a band or putting a band together. The Apaches, London Fog, Everyday People, Penelope, All About, and Sound City Express were just a few of the more successful and influential groups he performed with in Western New York. Two of those bands are still working around Niagara Falls today, Everyday People and Penelope. Willie not only helped form these two bands, he was also one of the people responsible for the names of both bands.

Even though bass was the only instrument he played professionally, Willie did take guitar lessons for years. One of his instructors for many of those lessons was Hal Palumbo, who was posthumously inducted into the Inaugural Class of the Niagara Falls Music Hall of Fame in 2017, the same year Willie was inducted. Through those lessons, Hal gave Willie the ability to connect with guitar players with the ability to apply scales and chord structures he was taught to his bass playing. This has proved to be an invaluable skill Willie has used time and again over his years as a bassist.

Over the years, Willie has moved from Niagara Falls to St Louis, then Dallas, and finally Houston. Although for a lot of that period, his playing schedule wasn't as robust as it was while in Niagara Falls, during those years, some of his time was spent supplying bass for live theater and playing bass for a corporate sponsored classic rock/blues band for 5 years. However, it wasn't until he retired in Houston that playing bass guitar as a full-time musician became possible again. Willie is currently working with a band focused on original music, studio recording, and classic rock, with some country in the mixed for local clubs, benefits, and festivals. When not playing with a band, he's involved in numerous one-off side projects or studio work; laying down the bass tracks for anyone needing bass. With all of the great local talent in Houston, there are always opportunities to accompany numerous solo artist when they appear on stage or at open mics. Although back in Niagara Falls, he played primarily what is referred to today as "Classic Rock", "Top 40", and funk, in recent years he has had the opportunity to play Classic and Contemporary Country, Texas Outlaw Country, Bluegrass, Classic Rock, and lots of original material. He even got back to playing a little funk again while providing bass for Archie Bell.

Willie still has a reputation for his ability to lock in with drummers keeping the groove moving, a grasp of how the rhythm relates to the beat regardless of genre, and keeping the tempo steady. These invaluable skills were developed and honed back in the 1960s and 1970s while working with some exceptional Niagara Falls drummers. Willie became well known for his unique sound, funky style, and his fretless bass. There is more than one person from the era when Willie was playing bass in Niagara Falls, who is playing bass guitar today because of Willie's influence.

Willie continues to wow audiences along with his fellow musicians today with his soulful and smooth bass playing and performs regularly every week somewhere in the greater Houston area.