Willie was born in the small town of Whitesville in North Carolina. He lived with his grandparents. Raised by his grandmother, he was groomed to become a minister like his uncle, aunt and cousins before him, but music was in his future. His grandfather played the slide guitar and the neighborhood was filled with sounds of Bobby Bland, B.B.King, Little Johnny Taylor and Bo Diddley.

Willie's first guitar was a Sears Silvertone which he received at the age of 12. It had an image of Elvis Presley but it wasn't music by the King that he played. Rather it was gospel music with the Singing Angels, a group of Holiness Church believers who toured the coast with their record "Wonderful Jesus".

In his teen years, Willie found he had a gift for playing guitar music. His uncle, a minister, started a gospel group in which Willie played. They played through the Tarheel State and up and down the East coast. He was in groups opening shows for the Staple Singers and other gospel acts in Poughkeepsie.

Traveling opened Willie's eyes and ears to new sounds and sights in the music world. This developed into playing a variety of styles, from gospel to soul, R & B to classic blues, rock to cutting-edge new blues.

At age 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served in Vietnam as a combat medic. In 1969 he returned home after serving two years. He reenlisted in 1970, but this time he was sent to Hawaii. While there, he and a few buddies, formed a band, Tony & the Counts, Hawaii's number one soul band, a group that drew more people at this particular time than the Jackson Five. The Counts obliterated the competition at an Army sponsored Battle of the Bands in 1972. Upon leaving the Army in 1972, Willie's life hit some detours and rough spots like many Vietnam veterans. When music got pushed off his life's center stage, he had several tough years.

In 1986 he moved to Albany where he started to rebuild his life. In 1988, Willie was the founding lead guitarist of Albany's El Extreme, a band that won the New Music Expo on the strength of their first public performance. He quit the band the next day. He was enrolled in Hudson Valley Community College and this was his priority at the time. From 1994 through 2005 when he retired, his job as an alcohol and substance abuse counselor at the Greene Correction Facility was very important to him.

A conversation with Ernie Williams in a Troy bar in 1993 gave Willie the inspiration to put music back on the front burner. After a stint in a short-lived blues band called White Hot & Blue, he decided to become the leader of his own blues band. During these years, Willie began playing seriously once again. On December 3l, 1999. The Willie Pierce Blues Band played the First Night Bennington Millennium 2000. During this year, Willie and his band recorded their first CD entitled "Direct Access to the Blues". This band has competed in Memphis and Buddy Guys Club in Chicago and won the Northeast Blues Society Blues Band of the Year competition. The band toured backing up blues legend Big Bill Morganfield, legendary Muddy Waters son. Willie has shared the stage with Otis Clay and Little Milton to name a few other legends.

For several years Willie played with the Ernie Williams Band. During that time they had the privilage of being the opening act for such great artists as B.B.King, Patty Labelle and Aretha Franklin.

The Willie Pierce Blues Band is reorganizing and ready to play.