Billie Paulette Montgomery and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry in Rio de Janeiro in September 2015. (Getty)
Joe Perry, 65, collapsed while on stage in New York on July 10. The Aerosmith guitarist was performing with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp as a member of their ’70s tribute band The Hollywood Vampires. Perry’s family, including his wife, Billie Paulette Montgomery Perry, confirmed on Twitter that Perry is now in stable condition. Members in the audience told NBC News and posted on social media that Perry collapsed during the group’s second song.
Here’s a look at Perry’s wife, Billie Paulette Montgomery Perry.
1. Perry Has a Guitar With His Wife’s Picture on it
Billie Perry. (Instagram)
Perry and Billie have been married since 1985. He was previously married to Elyssa Jerret from 1975 to 1982. In his 2014 memoir Rocks: My Life In And Out of Aerosmith, Perry reveals that he has a guitar with his wife’s picture on it.
“I was always kind of a one-girl guy, and I was always looking for the right girl. I finally found her [wife Billie Perry]. We have a 30-year marriage, and we’re still going strong,” Perry wrote. “I have a guitar with my wife’s picture on it — most people don’t know who it is. A lot of times I’d be standing onstage and a group of girls [would] point to the guitar. I’d point to my wedding ring and then they would all scream, because I think most people want a relationship that lasts.”
“There were a few years before I met Billie where I went home with a waitress or two but it was not one of my favorite things to do. It wasn’t what drove me to do what I do,” Perry told Fox News. “There are guys out there that claim they slept with this many fans but that’s the extreme. I think in any kind of high-profile profession, where there’s a lot of money and a lot of perceived glamour, that part of it comes with it.”
Perry and Billie have two sons, Adrien and Tony Perry. Montgomery has a son from a previous relationship, and Perry also has a son from his first marriage.
2. She Didn’t Even Know who Aerosmith was When They Married
Joe Perry and Billie Perry in 2012. (Getty)
Although Billie and Perry met while he was making his “Black Velvet Pants” video in 1983, she didn’t know much about the Rock music world when they got married. Perry told Radio.com in October 2014 that Montgomery didn’t know who Aerosmith was because she was more interested in the underground and punk scene.
“She’d heard a couple of songs on the radio, and that was really about it,” Perry said. “And it wasn’t until a few years later when we were living together that she was going through some old boxes of stuff, she saw some magazines from the ’70s, some gold records here and there.”
Perry said he really doesn’t like to display his awards, telling Radio.com, “My feeling is, you’re only as good as your next record. You get a gold record for your last one? You gotta do better on your next one.”
3. The Perrys Live in Massachusetts & Spend Time in Florida
Joe Perry’s Gibson guitar with Billie’s picture. (Getty)
Aerosmith is the most famous rock band to come out of Boston and Perry hasn’t rejected his roots. The Lawrence, Massachusetts native and his family still live in the Bay State, with a home in Duxbury. They also spend time in Florida, as Perry is fascinated by the ocean. Perry once wanted to be a marine biologist.
“My wife and I spend a lot of time in Florida, and every year the local divers get together, and they spend the day cleaning the reefs from all the trash that gets thrown overboard,” Perry told Smashing Interviews Magazine. “We do things like that. I still get a taste of it and have never lost my fascination with the ocean.”
In 2005, Perry told the Boston Globe that he and Montgomery were moving to the Sleepy Hollow Farm near White River Junction, Vermont.
“I can’t do the suburbs anymore,” Billie, an Indiana native and Davy Crockett descendant, told the Globe at the time. “You get to a point in your life when you need a change.”
4. She Is a Photographer & Keeps Fans up to Date on Instagram
Joe Perry and Billie Perry in 2009. (Getty)
Perry’s fans have to follow Billie on Twitter and Instagram if they want to keep tabs on the guitarist. Billie lists herself as a photographer and is constantly keeping fans up to date with photos when they travel together.
On July 1, she posted the following photo of their old tour bus before the first Hollywood Vampires show in the U.S.
Fun to be back on our old bus with Mark Langley while touring with the @hollywoodvamps. 1st US show is tonight.
Here’s a photo of Perry in June.
Joe out for a walk with Johnny B and I
5. Their Son Co-Founded The Rock Band Dead Boots
The children of rock stars often follow their parents into the business and that’s the case with Perry’s sons, Adrian and Tony. They co-founded the group Dead Boots, which recorded two songs for the Zac Efron comedy Dirty Grandpa. The group was founded as TAB The Band and was founded in Duxbury. Adrian, Perry’s son from his first marriage, plays bass and Tony is on guitar. Ben Tileston is the drummer and Lou Jannertty is on rhythm guitar. Perry and Billie are also parents to Roman Perry.
Perry performed with the group in 2008, when they played Foxwoods and were still called TAB The Band. They changed the name after Jannertty joined.
“They saw it all for themselves. They witnessed the good side and the bad side of rock, including people so overcome by drugs and booze they ended up getting sick backstage,” Perry told the New York Daily News. “I didn’t hide anything from them.”