Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven and practices Karate and Taekwondo.[5][1][6] 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. [7]
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.[9] The name is a portmanteau of tae kwon do and boxing.[10] 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.
Blanks 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.[12]
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 is now an accomplished martial artist, is prominently featured almost all of Billy's Tae Bo videos and has recently produced her own video (Tae Bo Postnatal Power),[13] as well as hosted her father's new infomercial Tae Bo T3 (Total Transformation Training). Gayle and Billy also have a son, Billy Jr., who has acted in a touring production of Fame and, separate from his father's endeavors, has started his own fitness video line called CARDIOKE.[14]
