Willy DeVille worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary music, including Jack Nitzsche, Doc Pomus, Dr John, Mark Knopfler, Allen Toussaint, and Eddie Bo.
39 Facts About Willy DeVille
2.
Mink Willy DeVille was a house band at CBGB, the historic New York City nightclub where punk rock was born in the mid-1970s.
3.
Willy DeVille died of pancreatic cancer on August 6,2009, at the age of 58.
4.
Willy DeVille was born in Stamford, Connecticut to William Paul Borsey, a carpenter, and Marion Elizabeth Meritt.
5.
Willy DeVille grew up in the working-class Belltown district of Stamford.
6.
Willy DeVille's maternal grandmother was a Pequot, and he was of Spanish and Irish descent.
7.
Willy DeVille quit high school and began frequenting New York City's Lower East Side and West Village.
8.
Willy DeVille struck out in 1971 for London in search of like-minded musicians, but was unsuccessful finding them; he returned to New York City after a two-year absence.
9.
Return to Magenta reached number 126 on the Billboard 200, making it Willy DeVille's highest charting album ever in his home country.
10.
In 1979, Willy DeVille took his band in a new direction and recorded an album in Paris called Le Chat Bleu.
11.
In 1986, Willy DeVille filed for bankruptcy as part of what Billboard called "a major restructuring of his career".
12.
Willy DeVille fired his personal manager, Michael Barnett, and announced that he would "put Mink DeVille to bed" and start a solo career.
13.
Consequently, Mink Willy DeVille played its last concert on February 20,1986 in New York City.
14.
Willy DeVille recorded Miracle in London with Mark Knopfler serving as his sideman and producer.
15.
In 1988, Willy DeVille relocated from New York City to New Orleans, where he found a spiritual home.
16.
In 1992, Willy DeVille recorded Backstreets of Desire, the first of four albums he would record in Los Angeles with producer John Philip Shenale.
17.
Willy DeVille sounds like a man resurrected, digging as deep as the cavernous recesses of the human heart.
18.
In 1984, Willy DeVille married his second wife, Lisa Leggett, who proved to be an astute business manager.
19.
Willy DeVille did not have a recording contract with an American label in the mid-1990s.
20.
Willy DeVille Live was a number one record in Spain.
21.
Big Easy Fantasy presents live recordings of the Mink Willy DeVille Band playing with New Orleans legends Eddie Bo and The Wild Magnolias and remixes from the Victory Mixture sessions.
22.
Willy DeVille had her business people check me out, and they reported that I was big in Europe and had been recording for twenty years.
23.
The cover of Loup Garou showed Willy DeVille in turn of the 20th century New Orleans garb posing on a street corner in New Orleans' French Quarter.
24.
Willy DeVille's stay in the Southwest awakened his interest in his Native American heritage.
25.
Willy DeVille began wearing Native American clothing and jewelry on stage.
26.
In 2004, Willy DeVille returned to Los Angeles to record Crow Jane Alley, his third album with producer John Philip Shenale.
27.
Willy DeVille continued touring Europe, usually playing music festivals in the summer.
28.
Willy DeVille was married in 1971 to Susan Berle, who was known as Toots Deville.
29.
Toots and Willy DeVille had known each other while growing up in Stamford, Connecticut.
30.
In 1984, Willy DeVille married his second wife, Lisa Leggett, whom he met in California.
31.
In February 2009, Willy DeVille was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, and in May of that year doctors discovered pancreatic cancer in the course of his Hepatitis C treatment.
32.
Willy DeVille died in New York City in the late hours of August 6,2009, three weeks shy of his 59th birthday.
33.
Jack Nitzsche said that Willy DeVille was the best singer he had ever worked with.
34.
Willy DeVille was the embodiment of rock and roll's romance, its theater, its style, its drama, camp, and danger.
35.
Willy DeVille lived and died with the audience in his shows, and he gave them something to remember when they left the theater, because he meant every single word of every song as he performed it.
36.
Willy DeVille was just a tremendous talent; a true artist in the sense that he never compromised.
37.
Willy DeVille had a special vision and remained true to it.
38.
Willy DeVille was a punk eclectic with a heart of golden oldies and Joe Cocker's pipes.
39.
In 2022 the documentary Heaven Stood Still: The Incarnations of Willy DeVille was released portraying his life and music directed by Larry Locke and featuring Willy DeVille, Chris Frantz, Ben E King, Jack Nitzsche, Hal Wilnder, John Philip Shenale and Peter Wolf.