Billy Talent is a Canadian rock band from Mississauga, Ontario They formed in 1993 with lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D'Sa, bassist Jonathan Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk There have been no lineup changes, although Solowoniuk is currently taking a hiatus from the band due to a relapse of multiple sclerosis, In the 28 years since their inception, Billy Talent has sold well over a million physical albums in Canada alone and nearly 3 million albums internationally Between 1995 and 2016, Billy Talent were the 27th-best-selling Canadian artist in Canada and among the top 10 best-selling Canadian bands in CanadaThe band existed for almost a decade before mainstream success The members met and played in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Secondary School under the name Pezz and remained underground in Toronto's indie music scene until 2001 The band renamed itself Billy Talent after running into legal trouble with the old name It was then that Kowalewicz's connection with an employee of Warner Music Canada's A&R department landed the band a record deal and launched them into mainstream success Since then, Billy Talent has made three multi-platinum records in Canada and continues to expand their success overseas; this included touring for 20 months supporting their second album They released their third album, Billy Talent III, in 2009, and their fourth album, Dead Silence, in 2012
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