BILL KERN BIOGRAPHY - Page 4
Bill's interests in
collecting grew beyond records. He had begun collecting comic books in the
late 70's, and by the mid 90's his comic book collection took up an entire wall
- floor to ceiling - of his home. He also revived a childhood hobby
- Lionel Trains. His train collection was valued in the tens of thousands
of dollars. He also began collecting Department 56 ceramic
buildings. His collection of buildings grew so large, he could not display
them all in his house. What he did have displayed took up three
rooms. In the beginning of this article, it was stated that Bill Kern
could write songs about anything and everything. I should have said,
anything and everything that interested him. But Bill was interested in
everything, so there were no limits. In 1990, Bill wrote a song for
promotional contest for Valiant Comics. In the late 90's, he began writing
songs about Department 56 villages, and Lionel Trains. He completed a CD
of Toy Train songs with twenty new songs, and a CD of songs for Department 56
villages with nine songs. He was well known by people in both companies as
an avid collector who wrote cute songs about their products. Cute is
probably not the correct word to use. Many of them are great songs.
Several of his train songs appear in Toy Train videos. Bill was known
among Lionel Train collectors as Boxcar Bill. He was also know on AOL as
Beatle Bill.
Bill and Barry recorded
less frequently form 1995 to 2005. The pressures and responsibilities of
their careers made scheduling sessions difficult. Barry became a full-time
high school music and theatre teacher, and Bill owned and operated an
independent video store that survived the crush from the national video
chains. Bill played his guitar every day, and continued to write
prolifically.
In later years, Bill's eyesight had become so poor, that he
would rarely drive alone - especially at night. He would often befriend
customers in his store who would ride in his car with him so that he could go to
dinner or shopping. Around 11:30PM on December 27, 2005, Bill stopped home
for a few moments, announced that he was going to Burger King for a bite to eat,
and he would be back soon. A young Hispanic man was seen sitting in Bill's
car in the driveway. The following morning, Bill's store manager
found Bill dead in front of the open safe in the back of his store. He had
been brutally beaten to death. To date, his murder
has not been solved.
Beginning in 2018, Barry Knoedl began mixing and releasing on CD, the songs recorded by Bill Kern and Barry Knoedl under the name Bill & Barry. There are eight Bill & Barry albums, not including the Christmas album, which was released in 1994, plus a Christmas single, SNOWY VILLAGE. All of these albums are available on CD and on all digital platforms, including iTunes, Amazon Music, and Spotify.
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