Description

Billy’s Bootcamp is an exercise program developed by Billy Blanks. It created a pop culture phenomenon in Japan in 2007, much like Tae Bo did in the U.S. earlier, selling more than 200,000 copies in May of the same year alone. Billy Blanks visited Japan on June 21, 2007 to promote Bootcamp. Upon arrival Blanks was greeted by 200 Japanese fans who affectionately call him “Taicho” (Japanese: 隊長, chief) at Narita International Airport. Blanks appeared on many Japanese TV shows during his ten-day stay in Japan such as SMAP×SMAP where Shingo Katori, a member of popular Japanese boy band SMAP, impersonated Blanks. About authorBilly Wayne Blanks (born September 1, 1955) is an American fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program.CareerBlanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven and practices Karate and Taekwondo. He was born with an anomaly in his hip joints that impaired his movement, and a clumsiness that earned him the taunts of his siblings and caused his coaches to believe he’d never accomplish much. Billy found the answer to these challenges in karate. When he saw martial arts great Bruce Lee on TV, he decided he wanted to be a world martial-arts champion. The discipline of the program began to transform his body. Blanks began his acting career in the 1980s where he starred in several unsuccessful action-adventure feature films. He was hired to act as a bodyguard for lead actress Catherine Bach during the filming of Driving Force, due to the political unrest present in Manila at the time; he impressed the producers so much, they wrote him into the script. In the late 1980s, Blanks invented the Tae Bo workout, while running a karate studio in Quincy, Massachusetts. He used components of his martial arts and boxing training. The name is a portmanteau of tae kwon do and boxing. Blanks opened a fitness center in Los Angeles to teach his new workout. He later attracted some celebrity clients such as Paula Abdul and the popularity of the workout quickly grew, becoming a pop culture phenomenon after Blanks began releasing mass-marketed videos. The popularity of the workout later waned, but Blanks still attracts many celebrity clients and Tae Bo videos and DVDs have continued to sell well.Most of Billy Blank’s products are licensed to DRTV, as can be seen by the copyright info in the footer of www.billyblanks.com. DRTV is an infomercial product company included under the umbrella of Gaiam, a lifestyle brand media company with offices in Broomfield, CO and New York, NY. Personal lifeBlanks was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, the fourth of fifteen children. As a child he suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia. Blanks is a Christian and released a special line of Tae Bo workouts called the “Believer’s” series that includes motivational prayers and other Christian components. He has appeared on Christian television network TBN. He married Gayle H. Godfrey, whom he met in karate class. Gayle’s daughter, Shellie, born on June 28, 1974, was adopted shortly after they married. Shellie Blanks Cimarosti, now an accomplished martial artist, is prominently featured in almost all of Billy’s Tae Bo videos and has recently produced her own video (Tae Bo Postnatal Power), as well as hosted her father’s new infomercial Tae Bo T3 (Total Transformation Training). Gayle and Billy also have a son, Billy Blanks Jr. who works as a dancer, singer and fitness instructor, having produced several best-selling DVDs, including “Cardioke” & “Fat Burning Hip Hop Mix”, has starred in a touring production of Fame and has worked as a dancer in music videos with Madonna, Quincy Jones and Paula Abdul. Billy and Gayle were divorced in 2008 after 33 years of marriage. According to the Petition for Legal Separation filed by his wife Gayle on April 22, 2008 in Los Angeles Superior Court, she and Billy had been separated since September 25, 2007. The reason given in the petition for the separation is “irreconcilable differences.” In November 2008, Blanks became the father of a new daughter named Angelika. The mother was his Japanese interpreter Tomoko whom he had known since 2007. Billy and Tomoko’s marriage was formally registered in January 2009 and their wedding ceremony was held on June 20, 2009. He has also adopted his new wife’s two daughters, Marriett and Erika Peterson. He is currently living with them in Osaka, Japan.Enjoy!