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William “Billy” Usselton was born on July 2, 1926 in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He began playing professionally in high school with Bubbles Becker. Although his parents wanted him to attend college in Pennsylvania, he wanted to play for a living.

Usselton went on to play with Sonny Dunham in the 1940s before joining Ray Anthony in 1948–1949 and again in 1951–1952. Between those two gigs he joined Tommy Dorsey’s band and recommended Mel Lewis after Buddy Rich was fired. After his second stint with Anthony, he played with Bill Harris in Florida.

1954 saw Usselton joining Les Brown’s band, and played with him for decades. He played on nearly all of Brown’s records released on Coral Records and Capitol Records, and toured with him worldwide as part of Bob Hope’s United Service Organizations Tours.

His only album as a leader was the 1957 release His First Album, issued on Kapp Records. He married, moved to Chicago, Illinois where he was a jazz clinician for the Conn Corporation.

Reedist Billy Usselton, who played saxophone, clarinet and oboe, moved to Phoenix, Arizona and died on September 5, 1994 in Phoenix.

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