PrideFest Kissimmee performer takes advantage of 2nd chances

ORLANDO, Fla. — When you meet someone who really shines, you may find it hard to believe that there were struggles.

However, it was precisely those moments of adversity that shaped Billy Mick's outlook on life.

"It's never too late, never too late," he said.

This weekend, Mick will headline PrideFest Kissimmee, showcasing his cache of colorful, bedazzled blazers as he works the stage in his usual energetic performance style.

But, in the 1990s, the height of boy band fervor, Mick wrote songs and pounded the pavement. His efforts were, he explained, in vain.

"I had my Casio keyboard and approached different companies and managers and they told me flat out, 'You will not make it in this industry as an out gay male.' I thought, 'Well, maybe I’m not meant to do my music right now'," he remembered.

After 30 years of performing at theme parks and in theater productions, Mick said that he decided to let it flow, spurred by a chance visit to Manchester Pride in the U.K. in 2018. He draws musical inspiration from artists like Cher and Tina Turner and makes his own music using a computer program called Logic.

In 2020, Mick released his first album, "Just B," and now has a resolute goal: to perform at as many PrideFests as possible, sharing his message of positivity and acceptance.

"It's about empowering yourself, feeling a part of a community, feeling pride in yourself," he said. "If people walk away feeling a little better about themselves, I’ve done my job!"

PrideFest Kissimmee will be held at the Civic Center from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The event features 60-plus vendors, sharing resources or selling swag, as well as food trucks and entertainment, including Mick and the Orlando Gay Chorus.

Elsewhere, participants — of which the city expects upward of 2,000 — can scribble messages of hope and healing on colorful pendants to be strung up on a pergola.

"Every year it gets bigger and better," said Benjamin Burnett, the city of Kissimmee's events and venues assistant manager. "I think it's important for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to see this, see their neighbors out here celebrating with them."

In the ballroom, the Kissimmee Queens will host drag bingo, though Burnett and others with the city emphasized the event is for patrons at least 18 years old, the result of careful research by its legal team to ensure it would be in compliance with new stipulations and laws.

The notion of celebrating, despite life's challenges, rings true for Mick.

He and his husband, Brian, adopt senior dogs, giving them second chances at life. They've already adopted five over the course of many years, with the newest to the pack being Capone and Bucky.

"There are so many senior dogs that are unwanted. That's absolutely heartbreaking," Mick said.

Then in 2011, Mick, too, got a second shot at life, after a four-month hospitalization following HIV complications. First diagnosed in 1996, Mick explained that he went the holistic route for many years — until he grew sicker and sicker. The notion of making it out of the hospital and living a normal life seemed incomprehensible.

"No one thought I was going to, the doctors, everybody," he said.

But, when he survived, eventually finding the right course of treatment and medications, he began painting. There was little else he could do because he couldn't walk or sing.

The colorful piece of artwork he produced, which depicted two birds side by side, now hangs in the foyer of his Minneola home, a lasting reminder as to the adversity he overcame to make it back to the stage.

"Anything can be seen as tragic or a setback. It's really not, it's what's propelling you forward," he said.