Billy Corgan Plays Solo Set With Family After Death of His Father

Smashing Pumpkins bandleader Billy Corgan last Saturday (Dec. 18) played a holiday-themed solo set alongside his family after earlier in the day revealing that his father, William Corgan Sr., had died.

Telling fans in a video that soldiering forth is what his dad would've wanted, Corgan carried on with the annual Christmas solo show that evening at the tea shop he owns near Chicago, Madame ZuZu's. His partner Chloe Mendel and their two kids were also present.

Watch the videos down toward the bottom of this post.

"The show goes on, that's what my father believed in," Corgan said early Saturday, as Consequence of Sound reported. The rock star added, "My father had his own struggles with music and had a very complicated and oftentimes bitter relationship with the music business. He assumed that I would have the same."

Still, for the Smashing Pumpkins figurehead, "It all started with him, watching him play in basements and at soundchecks and empty stinking bars."

Corgan Sr. had a history as a blues guitarist. The Pumpkins' B-side "The Last Song," from 1996's Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness single "Thirty-Three," features a guitar solo played by the elder Corgan. He also performed onstage with his son at various times.

During Saturday's Madame ZuZu show, Billy unveiled two new holiday originals — "Evergreen" and "The Magi and the Shiny Bright" — and performed the Christmas classic "Do You Hear What I Hear?" with his young daughter Philomena helping out onstage.

Earlier this month, Corgan joined Cameo to help animals. Last year, the Pumpkins released the album Cyr after 2018's Shiny and Oh So Bright and 2014's Monuments to an Elegy. The band currently contains Corgan with classic Pumpkins members Jimmy Chamberlin and Jimmy Iha, plus Jeff Schroeder.