Bill Pursell is an American composer and former session pianist. He had a brief but successful career as a pop musician before continuing on as a session player. Pursell was born in Oakland, California, USA and raised in Tulare. He studied composition in Baltimore and arranged for the U.S. Air Force Band while serving in World War II. Bill Pursell studied classical composition under Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music and earned a doctorate in composition in the mid-fifties.