She was born on 27 December 1765 in Litchfield Street, Soho, London,[1] the daughter of Carl Weichsel, a native of Freiberg, in Saxony, who was principal oboist at the King's Theatre.

[4] Elizabeth Weichsel received her earliest musical instruction, in company with her brother Charles (who afterwards was known as a violinist) from her father, under whom she studied the pianoforte with such assiduity that on 10 March 1774 she played at a concert at the Haymarket for her mother's benefit.

[4] On 13 October 1783 she was married under her mother's maiden name, Wierman, at Lambeth Church to James Billington, a double-bass player in the Drury Lane orchestra, from whom she had had lessons in singing.

At the end of her first season she went to Paris, and had lessons from the Antonio Sacchini, whose last pupil she was, and at different periods of her career she also studied with Morelli, Ferdinando Paer, and Friedrich Heinrich Himmel.

She returned to London for the season of 1786–7, and continued to sing there, at Covent Garden, the Concerts of Ancient Music, the so-called Oratorios, and the Handel Commemorations, until the end of 1793.

Her singing created an extraordinary impression, but her triumph was cut short by the sudden death of her husband, which took place the day after her first appearance, as he was preparing to accompany his wife to the theatre, after dining with the Bishop of Winchester.

After her second marriage she went to live at St. Artien, an estate she had bought between Venice and Treviso; but her life was rendered so insupportable by the ill-treatment she received from her husband that in 1801 she left him and returned to England.

[4] Mrs. Billington's return to London caused a great stir in the musical world, and the managers both of Covent Garden (Harris) and Drury Lane (Richard Brinsley Sheridan) were eager to secure her services.

In 1802 Mrs. Billington appeared in Italian opera at the King's Theatre, on the occasion of the farewell of Banti, when both these great artists sang in Sebastiano Nasolini's 'Merope.'

Winter wrote his 'Calypso' (1803) expressly for her, and in 1806 she distinguished herself by producing, for her benefit, La Clemenza di Tito, the first opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed in this country.

The Earl of Mount Edgcombe says that her voice was sweet and flexible, her execution neat and precise, her embellishments in good taste and judicious, but that she lacked feeling, and was no actress.

Two miniatures of her were painted, one by Daniel, and there are engravings of her by T. Burke after De Koster, as Mandane by Heath after Stothard, by Bartolozzi after Cosway, by Dunkarton after Downman, and by Assen.