Bill Beach dead: Rockabilly musician known for hits like Peg Pants dies at 92

Rockabilly musician Bill Beach, known for his 75-year career in music and longtime performances in Southwest Florida, has died at age 92. Beach passed away late last month in Ohio, where he had lived near his family.

Beach grew up on a tobacco farm in Kentucky and began performing music at 16. Early in his career, he was part of a travelling group that opened for country legends such as Hank Williams Sr., Minnie Pearl, and Grandpa Jones.

His daughter Bonnie McDaniel said: "Always the consummate entertainer and great storyteller, he could light up a room with laughter and telling jokes and tales.”

After high school, Beach served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, achieving the rank of sergeant and earning commendations for his rifle expertise. He remained, according to his daughter, "a patriot and fiercely devoted to his country."

Beach’s music career took off with the release of rockabilly hits Peg Pants and You’re Gonna Like Me Baby, recorded in 1956 at King Records in Cincinnati. These songs were later featured on rockabilly compilation albums alongside icons like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, eventually earning Beach a place in The Rockabilly Hall of Fame. “He was known for writing songs that were reflective of the times,” McDaniel said.

Despite his success, Beach stepped away from music in 1963 to care for his wife, Barbara, after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He returned to music decades later, performing regularly from 1995 to 2013 at Stan’s Idle Hour Restaurant in Goodland, Florida, alongside bar owner Stan Gober.

Together, they travelled the US, bringing Beach’s distinctive style to fans across the country. Following Gober’s death in 2012, the bar held a unique open-casket memorial for its beloved owner.

In his later years, Beach’s musical legacy was revived with the resurgence of rockabilly in Europe, where Peg Pants once again found radio success. In 2009, he was commissioned by Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research to write a song commemorating the discovery of a new fish species, the Batfish, off Florida's coast.

Beach continued to write and perform well into his late 80s, spending his final years in Hamilton, Ohio, near family.