Moved to Manhattan, NY in 1960 to do lighting design for the New York
Poets Theater, the Living Theater, and the Judson Memorial Church. He
met Andy Warhol in 1963, and served as Warhol's in-house photographer,
lighting & set designer, and book designer & editor from 1964 to 1970.
Billy Name covered Andy Warhol's Factory interior with aluminum foil
and silver paint. In 1970, he moved to San Francisco to work on poetry
and sculpture. He returned to New York in 1977, where he continues to
work with photography, poetry, and sculpture.
Typically only responded with "Name" when asked for his name; a few
members of the Warhol circle knew him as Billy. Hence the sobriquet
"Billy Name".
Referenced in the The Velvet Underground song "That's The Story Of My Life"; "But
Billy said/That both those words (wrong and right) are dead... That's
the story of my life."
He returned to his hometown, Poughkeepsie, New York, after hitchhiking
around the U.S. After returning to Poughkeepsie, he went back to
college and got a graduate degree in business administration.
In August 2002, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp
featuring a photograph by him of Andy Warhol.
He met Andy Warhol while working as a waiter at Serendipity 3 at their
original location at 234 East 58th Street.