William Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is the front man and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan started playing shows around Chicago (Chicago, Illinois), Illinois with guitarist James Iha, and a drum machine. The project quickly gained steam with the recruiting of Jimmy Chamberlin, a successful local jazz / polka drummer. In 3 years, The Smashing Pumpkins had completely transformed themselves into a major label success. Strong album sales and arena rock tours pushed the band to a point, where, in 1996 Jimmy Chamberlin was fired for his involvement in touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoins fatal drug overdose. Along with keeping The Smashing Pumpkins alive, Corgan has released a solo album (The Future Embrace), a collection of poetry (Blinking with Fists), written and produced for bands such as Hole (Hole (band)), and also been credited for his work on several movie soundtracks. After touring with several replacement drummers and recording an album with electronic drums and guest drummers, Corgan reformed The Smashing Pumpkins with Chamberlin in 2006. They released an album followed by a mostly sold-out tour and DVD (If All Goes Wrong), but Chamberlin departed the band in March 2009, leaving Corgan as the only original member. The Smashing Pumpkins held open auditions for a new drummer in 2009 and after over 1,000 applicants, Mike Byrne (Mike Byrne (musician)) was chosen to work on the next installment of Smashing Pumpkins songs, which have already begun being released on the bands official website free of charge. He maintains a strong grass-roots following and is known to have direct communication with his fans.