Billy Harvey was born in Evanston, Illinois. He has one younger sister. They were both raised by their mom (who bought him his first guitar when he was twelve). They moved around a lot when he was growing up. In fact, in one six-year span, he thinks they moved thirteen times, living in various cities like Santa Fe, Boston and Seattle. Eventually they ended up in Chicago where their mom found a job that she liked. Both his sister and he went to high school there.