Billy Idol

Billy Idol has never married. He was in a long-term relationship with English singer and dancer Perri Lister, with whom he has a son, Willem Wolfe Broad, born in 1988. They separated in 1989. Idol also has a daughter, Bonnie Blue Broad, born in 1989 from his relationship with Linda Mathis.

In 2023, Idol introduced Brant Broad publicly as his son after Bonnie learned of their half-brother through a 23andMe DNA test. Idol has four granddaughters.

Born William Michael Albert Broad, Idol moved with his family from England to Long Island, New York, when he was two. The family returned to England four years later and settled in Dorking, before moving to Bromley in 1971. His parents were William Broad, a salesman, and Joan Broad, a housewife, and his younger sister is Jane Broad.

Idol attended the University of Sussex to study English and philosophy but left after his first year. He became part of the Bromley Contingent, a group of Sex Pistols followers, during the emergence of punk rock. His stage name came from a teacher's description of him as "idle" in a school report.

Idol began his music career as a guitarist in Chelsea in late 1976. After leaving the band with bassist Tony James, he co-founded Generation X and became its lead singer. The group released three studio albums through Chrysalis Records, appeared on the BBC music programme Top of the Pops, and performed in the 1980 film D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage.

Generation X combined punk energy with an interest in mid-1960s British pop. The band later changed its name to Gen X and released "Dancing with Myself," a song Idol and Tony James wrote together. After the group disbanded, the song became an important link between Idol's punk career and his solo success.

Idol moved to New York City in 1981 to pursue a solo career and began working with guitarist Steve Stevens. His Don't Stop EP included "Dancing with Myself" and a cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Mony Mony." The self-titled album Billy Idol followed in 1982, with the videos for "White Wedding" and "Dancing with Myself" receiving heavy MTV exposure.

His second album, Rebel Yell, established him as a major MTV-era performer. The album produced the singles "Rebel Yell," "Eyes Without a Face" and "Flesh for Fantasy," and earned Idol a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. His subsequent albums Whiplash Smile and Charmed Life continued his commercial success, while "Cradle of Love" won the 1990 MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film.

A serious motorcycle accident in 1990 nearly cost Idol his leg and led to a steel rod being inserted into it. The injuries reduced his role as Cat in Oliver Stone's The Doors and prevented him from playing the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He later appeared in Mad Dog Time, made a cameo as himself in The Wedding Singer, and voiced Odin in Heavy Metal 2000.

Idol experimented with electronic and industrial sounds on the 1993 album Cyberpunk. After a period marked by drug addiction and a 1994 overdose, he returned with Devil's Playground in 2005, followed by Kings & Queens of the Underground in 2014. He published the memoir Dancing with Myself in 2014, released the EPs The Roadside and The Cage, and issued Dream Into It in 2025. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Steve Stevens in 2026.