He began his singing career at the age of 11, appearing on local radio station WPEN, then owned by the local "Philadelphia Bulletin" newspaper. He attended the West Philadelphia Music School and the Granoff School of Music for formal vocal training. He recalled: "Well you know, it was something that my mum would say I needed, holding my notes you know, and delivering my notes. It gave me assurity, cos my mother was 100% behind me and it created the style and uniqueness of Billy Paul. All my life I wanted to sound like myself, I never wanted to sound like anybody else. How that occurred was cause I always wanted to be a saxophone player...I took my uniqueness and treated it like a horn, which created a good style for me."