Mink DeVille

Mink DeVille (1974–86) was a rock band known for itsassociation with early punk rock bands at New York’sCBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the musicof Willy DeVille. The band recorded six albums in theyears 1977 to 1985. Except for frontman Willy DeVille,the original members of the band played only on the firsttwo albums (Cabretta and Return to Magenta). For the re-maining albums and for tours, Willy DeVille assembledmusicians to play under the name Mink DeVille. After1985, when Willy DeVille began recording and touringunder his own name, his backup bands were sometimescalled “The Mink DeVille Band,” an allusion to the ear-lier Mink DeVille.Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songwriter Doc Pomus saidabout the band, “Mink DeVille knows the truth of a citystreet and the courage in a ghetto love song. And the harshreality in his voice and phrasing is yesterday, today, andtomorrow— timeless in the same way that loneliness, nomoney, and troubles find each other and never quit for aminute.”[1]

1 Early days in San Francisco

Mink DeVille was formed in 1974 when singer WillyDeVille (then called Billy Borsay) met drummer ThomasR. “Manfred” Allen, Jr. and bassist Rubén Sigüenza inSan Francisco. Said DeVille, “I met Manfred at a party;he'd been playing with John Lee Hooker and a lot of bluespeople around San Francisco…. I met Rubén at a base-ment jam in San Francisco, and he liked everything Iliked fromTheDrifters to, uh, Fritz Lang.”[2]Willy DeV-ille occasionally sat in with the band Lazy Ace, which in-cluded Allen Jr. on drums and Ritch Colbert on piano.When Lazy Ace broke up, DeVille, Allen Jr., Colbert,Rubén Sigüenza, and guitarist Robert McKenzie (a.k.a.Fast Floyd, later of Fast Floyd and the Famous Firebirds)formed a band called Billy de Sade and theMarquis. “Wewere playing the leather bars down on Folsom Street,”Willy DeVille recalled. “We were Billy de Sade and theMarquis then. We played the Barracks. After a whilethey would take their clothes off. This one guy—JesusSatin he called himself—he'd dance on the pool table. Itwas nuts! Crazy!"[3]

2 Name changes

In 1975, the band changed its name toMinkDeVille; leadsinger Billy Borsay took the name Willy DeVille. SaidDeVille, “We were sitting around talking of names, andsome of them were really rude, and I was saying, guyswe can't do that. Then one of the guys said how aboutMink DeVille? There can't be anything cooler than afur-lined Cadillac can there?"[4] DeVille also remarkedabout the name, “What could be more pimp than a minkCadillac? In an impressionistic sort of way.”[5] Anotherstory about the Mink DeVille name says that it origi-nated with Fast Floyd, who owned an old Cadillac witha cracked dashboard. To cover the cracks, Fast Floydglued an old mink coat he had purchased at a thrift storeto the dashboard.[6] According to a 1977 article in Creem,DeVille’s wife Toots Deville suggested the name: "...theband looked like it might have been going nowhere, in re-verse. So maybe another name change would help—Godknows themusic was great. Mink Pie...hmmmm. 'No, it’sgotta be something slick—something sorta French, some-thin' sorta black...poetry. Mink...MINK DE VILLE!'blurted out Toots, Willie’s omnipresent, black-bouffantedold lady, whose quiet intensity is not unlike his own.” Thisissue of Creem shows a picture of DeVille driving a carwith what looks to be mink on the dashboard.[3]

Looking at music magazines in City Lights Bookstore,DeVille noticed a small ad in The Village Voice invitingbands to audition in New York City; his hometown wasStamford CT. “I convinced the guys that I could get themwork, and we climbed in the van and drove back the otherway.”[4] Guitarist Fast Floyd and keyboard player RitchColbert arrived in NY several months later. Fast Floydwas replaced by Louis X. Erlanger, who had played withJohn Lee Hooker and brought a deeper blues sensibility tothe band; Colbert left the band and returned to Californiain 1977 and was replaced by Bobby Leonards (formerlyof Tiffany Shade).

3 House band at CBGB

From 1975 to 1977, Mink DeVille was one of the origi-nal house bands at CBGB, the New York nightclub wherepunk rock music was born in the mid 1970s. “We audi-tioned along with hundreds of others, but they liked usand took us on. We played for three years... [D]uringthat time we didn't get paid more than fifty bucks a night”,DeVille said.[4] In 1975, CBGBwas the epicenter of punk

1

2 4 THE CAPITOL YEARS

rock and what would later be called new wave, but MinkDeVille didn’t necessarily fit in the scene. “Onstage,Willy’s band, MinkDeVille, had nothing in commonwiththe new wave CBGB bands that the press had lumpedthem with,” wrote Alex Halberstadt. “Unlike Television,The Ramones, or Blondie, at heart Mink DeVille was anR&B band, and Willy an old-fashioned soul singer…"[7]Wrote Mark Keresman, “Mink DeVille’s earthy, stream-lined sound, rejecting the mainstream high-gloss that ru-ined much of 1970s rock, was accepted by the same folkswho'd go to see Blondie, The Shirts, and Television.”[8]

CBGB, where Mink DeVille was a house band.

Wrote Daily Telegraph critic Neil McCormick:

DeVille and his band reached deep intoblues and soul, the classic romantic pop of BenE. King and The Drifters, with a side order ofSpanish spices andNewOrleans Zydeco swing.They favoured castanets over tom-toms, andaccordion over distorted guitars, and Willy de-livered his vocals with a sweet, tuneful flexi-bility that brought out the emotional resonancebeneath his nasal sneer. What the wiry, dap-per DeVille had that tied him to fellow CBGBresident bands like The Ramones, Television,Blondie and Talking Heads was an edge. Hewas drawing on some of the samemusical areasthat Bruce Springsteen’s epic rock dipped into,but Willy was an entirely different creature, amacho dandy in a pompadour and pencil mus-tache, with the dangerous air of a New Yorkgangfighter and an underbelly vulnerability thatcame out through the romanticism of his mu-sic. Springsteen sounded like he was yourfriend in desperate times. DeVille sounded likehe couldn’t quite decide whether to serenadeyou or pull a knife on you.[9]

Said DeVille, “We were doing Little Walter stuff, wewere doing Elmore James stuff. The only stuff we weredoing that people had heard was 'Please, Please, Please'by James Brown. We used to do an Apollo thing. We

played CBGBs for three years, and all of the sudden wordgot out, and then came this word Punk, which where Icome from is a bad word. A punk is somebody whopicks a fight with you and then never shows up.”[10] In2007, Willy DeVille said about the bands that playedCBGBs, “We were all labeled as part of this Americanpunk thing but I really didn't see any of us having muchin common.”[11] “Every f----n' art student that plays outof tune gets a record deal,” he said dismissively in 1981,when asked about the punk scene.[12]

However, Mink DeVille had in common with the CBGBbands an aversion to the hippy aesthetic (whatWilly DeV-ille called “electric this and strawberry that”[4][13]); more-over, the band brought an eclectic New York sensibilityto its music that the other bands didn’t have and that NewYork City rock fans recognized and appreciated. CriticRobert Palmer wrote, “Mr. DeVille is a magnetic per-former, but his macho stage presence camouflages anacute musical intelligence; his songs and arrangementsare rich in ethnic rhythms and blues echoes, the most dis-parate stylistic references, yet they flow seamlessly andhang together solidly. He embodies (New York’s) tangleof cultural contradictions while making music that’s bothidiomatic, in the broadest sense, and utterly original.”[14]

In 1976, three Mink DeVille songs appeared on Live atCBGB’s, a compilation album of bands that played CBGB(for the recording sessions, drummer Thomas R. “Man-fred” Allen, Jr. was credited as Manfred Jones).Later in life, DeVille had only sour memories of CBGB.He did not play any benefit concerts or recordings for thenightclub.[4] He told Music Street Journal: “The wholeband only got $50 dollars a night, even to the end. That’swhy I never went back there. I've never walked throughthose doors other than to have maybe a beer once. I wasdown in New Orleans and I came up here, kind of goingdown Memory Lane so to speak. I ended up on Bowerydown there and I thought, 'Let’s see what’s going on here.'I walked in (to CBGB) and I saw Hilly (Hilly Kristal)standing there. I had a big straw hat on, silk suit. Hebought me a beer and it got around to 'Would you like tocome back?' I said, 'No Hilly and you know why? Be-cause you never treated me right. You never were fair tome.'"[15]

4 The Capitol years

The exposure eventually led to a record contract. In De-cember 1976, Ben Edmonds, an A&R man for CapitolRecords, and previously an editor for Creem, signed theband after spotting them at CBGB. Wrote Edmonds:

When Mink DeVille took the stage (atCBGB) and tore into “Let Me Dream if I WantTo” followed by another scorcher called “She’sSo Tough,” they hadme. These five guys...were

4.2 Recording Le Chat Bleu in Paris 3

obviously part of the new energy, but I also feltimmediately reconnected to all the rock& roll Iloved best: the bluesy early Stones, Van Morri-son..., the subway scenarios of The Velvet Un-derground, Dylan’s folk-rock inflections, theheartbreak of Little Willie John, and a thou-sand scratchy old flea market 45s. Plus theyseemed to contain all the flavors of their NewYork neighborhood, from Spanish accents toreggae spice.[16]

Said Willy DeVille about Edmonds:

There was the Ramones, Patti Smith,Television, the Talking Heads, and us. Wewere the five big draws. And then one nightthis blond-headed guy came in to CBGB, BenEdmonds. He was the guy who was respon-sible for being the visionary who saw that wewere different than they were and that we couldprobably have a career playing music. So wewent into this cheap little studio and did foursongs, which Edmonds gave to Jack Nitzsche.I didn't even know who Nitzsche was. Nitzschedid all the Phil Spector stuff that we grew upwith and loved. We just fell in love with eachother. We were buddies to the end. He waslike my crazy uncle. I called him my mentorand my tormentor.[10]

4.1 Working with Jack Nitzsche

Mink DeVille recorded their debut album Cabretta (en-titled Mink DeVille in the U.S.), produced by JackNitzsche, in January 1977. Nitzsche would, in alternationwith Steve Douglas, produce the first four Mink DeVillealbums. Both men, members of the Rock and Roll Hallof Fame, had apprenticed under Phil Spector and helpedshape the Wall of Sound production technique. Theseproducers were a natural fit for Mink DeVille, whosemembers’ tastes ran to the Ronettes, the Crystals andother 1960s-era New York bands with their Brill Build-ing sound. Said Willy DeVille, “You listen to that musicand you hear those really high strings, and that percus-sion, and the castanets; that’s all Jack’s (Jack Nitzsche’s)work. All that really cool stuff”.[4]

Nitzsche said about DeVille, “We hit it off right away.Willy pulled out his record collection, he started play-ing things, that was it. I thought, 'Holy shit! This guy’sgot taste!'"[17] Wrote Ben Edmonds, who paired Nitzschewith Mink DeVille:

It has always been assumed that our pair-ing was based on his (Nitzsche’s) Spector ac-complishments, but to me that was secondary.In the beginning I saw Mink DeVille as ahard-edged rock and roll band, and I wanted

the Nitzsche who'd produced "Memo fromTurner" (off the Performance soundtrack) andthe great first Crazy Horse album... 'How didyou ever get Jack Nitzsche?' Elliott Murphylater asked me incredulously. 'I tried to gethim for years.' The sad truth is that it took onephone call, and even that was sheer luck—ormaybe divine providence. I mentionedmymis-sion while chatting with friend and Del Shan-non manager Dan Bourgoise, who responded'Jack? I can put you in touch with him.' Twodays later the elusive producer was sitting in myoffice. I put on a live recording and after thefirst song, the band’s version of Otis Redding's'These Arms of Mine,' Nitzsche motioned forme to stop the tape. 'When do we start?' hesaid. They had him. And that was the whole ofit, plain and simple. I didn't get Jack Nitzsche.The voice of Willy DeVille did.[16]

Cabretta, a multifaceted album of soul, R&B, rock, andblues recordings, is generally regarded as one of the bestdebut albums by a new band of the mid-1970s.[18] SteveDouglas played saxophone, and the Immortals, a cappellasingers whom Willy DeVille discovered at a reggae con-cert at Max’s Kansas City, sang background vocals.[2] Onthe catchy “Spanish Stroll”, bassist Rubén Sigüenza spokewords in Spanish during the break (“Hey Rosita! Dondevas con mi carro Rosita? Tu sabes que te quiero, pero time quitas todo”), adding a Latin flavor to the album. Thissong was chosen as the album’s lead single and reachedNo. 20 on the UK Singles Chart; it was to be DeVille’sonly record ever to chart in the UK.[19] The song went toNo. 3 in the Netherlands.[20] Cabretta was elected num-ber 57 in the Village Voice's 1977 end-of-the-year Pazz& Jop critics poll.[21]

The band’s 1978 follow-up album Return to Magenta con-tinued in the same vein as Cabretta, but with a twist.“We went against strings on the first album—decided itshould be outright, raw, and rude.”[2] On Return to Ma-genta, Willy DeVille and producers Nitzsche and SteveDouglas employed lavish string arrangements on severalsongs. Dr. John played keyboards and, once again, Dou-glas played saxophone. Mink DeVille toured the UnitedStates in 1978 with Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe.

4.2 Recording Le Chat Bleu in Paris

In 1979, Willy DeVille’s love of art and French cultureled him to relocate to Paris for a short while.[18] Here hetook his band in a new direction and recorded an entirelyoriginal album called Le Chat Bleu. For this album, DeV-ille wrote several songs with Rock and Roll Hall of Famemember Doc Pomus. Guitarist Louis X. Erlanger hadbecome acquainted with Pomus while frequenting NewYork City’s blues clubs and had urged Pomus to checkout the group. Wrote Alex Halberstadt, Pomus’s biogra-

4 5 THE ATLANTIC YEARS

pher:

One night Doc’s pub crawl took him to TheBottom Line just a block east of WashingtonSquare Park (in New York City). He sat athis usual table and watched an empty spotlight.Cigarette smoke wafted into the shaft of lightfrom offstage while the sax player blew EarleHagen's “Harlem Nocturne”. DeVille strodeout of the wings and snatched the mike. Withhis pedantically trimmed pencil mustache helooked like a cross between a bullfighter anda Puerto Rican pimp. The tightest black suitclung to his thin frame; he wore a purpleshirt, a narrow black tie and shoes with six-inch points. A Pompadour jutted out abovehis forehead like the lacquered hull of a sub-marine. The show was the most soulful Dochad seen in ages. Onstage, Willy’s band, MinkDeVille, had nothing in common with the newwave CBGB bands that the press had lumpedthem with. Unlike Television, the Ramones, orBlondie, at heart Mink DeVille was an R&Bband, and Willy an old-fashioned soul singer.He borrowed much of his phrasing from BenE. King and couldn't believe it when some-one told him that Doc Pomus wanted to meethim after the show. “You mean the guy whowrote 'Save the Last Dance for Me'?" He waseven more amazed when Doc asked whetherhe'd write with him. “Look me up. I'm in thebook,” Doc hollered before rolling away (in hiswheelchair).[7]

DeVille said about their first meeting, “Now here I am at29, a writer, doing pretty good and I've just been askedif I want to write songs with a guy who helped lay thefoundations for the music I fell in love with sitting at mymother’s kitchen table when I was only seven years old.You've got to be kidding!"[22]

Willy DeVille hired Jean Claude Petit to supervise stringarrangements, and he dismissed the members of theband except for guitarist Louis X. Erlanger in favor ofnew musicians, including accordionist Kenny Margolis.Said DeVille: “I wanted to record the album in Paris...because I desperately wanted to use Jean-Claude Petit,whom I had contacted through Édith Piaf's songwriterCharles Dumont, for string arrangements... The bandwith me was a dream come true. I've got Phil Spector'shorn player, Steve Douglas (who also served as producer),on tenor and baritone. Elvis Presley's rhythm section,Ron Tutt and Jerry Scheff, want to play with me. Wow!That’s pretty cool! Songwriting with Doc Pomus. Notto mention Jean-Claude doing the strings. How can I gowrong?"[22]

Capitol Records released Le Chat Bleu in Europe in 1980,but believed that American audiences would not warm to

a record featuring accordions and strings. “It says some-thing about the state of the American record business—something pathetic and depressing—that Willy DeVille’sfinest album fell on deaf ears at Capitol,” wrote KurtLoder of Rolling Stone.[23] Said percussionist Boris Kin-berg, “Capitol in the U.S. didn’t know what to do withit because they perceived Willy as this punk rocker fromCBGBs and he came back from Paris with a very differ-ent kind of record. They didn’t understand the record, butthey understood it in Europe. They released it immedi-ately in Europe and everybody loved it.”[10] After Le ChatBleu sold impressively in America as an import, Capitolfinally released it in the United States. Wrote Alex Hal-berstadt:

(Willy DeVille) created a record thatsounded like nothing that had come before...It was clear that Willy had realized his fantasyof a new, completely contemporary Brill Build-ing record. To the symphonic sweetness of theDrifters he added his own Gallic romance and,in his vocal, a measure of punk rock's Bowerygrit. Doc (Pomus) was elated when he heardit. Thinking they'd signed a new wave band,Capitol didn't know what to do with Willy’srock and roll chanson and shelved it for a year.When it was finally released in 1980, Le ChatBleu remixed by Joel Dorn, made nearly everycritic’s list of the year’s best records.[7]

The Rolling Stone Critic’s Poll ranked Le Chat Bleu thefifth best album of 1980,[24] andmusic historian Glenn A.Baker declared it the tenth best rock album of all time.[25]

5 The Atlantic years

“Willy had found a more appreciative reception atAtlantic Records, where headman Ahmet Ertegün signedhim to a fat new recording deal and promised to per-sonally shepherd his career...”, reported Rolling Stone in1980. “According to Willy—never one to let false mod-esty intrude on a good story—the Atlantic Records chair-man said, 'You got the look, the performance, the writing,you know exactly what to do.'"[26]

By this time, no members of the original Mink DeVillesave Willy DeVille remained in the band, but DeVillecontinued recording and touring under the name MinkDeVille. “Those boys went through the wars with me,the $50 a night bars, and I had to turn on them and loptheir heads off and say, 'I love you man, but that’s the wayit’s gotta be.' I still feel guilty about it, but we were just agood bar band. That’s all we were. We weren't ready tomake great rock and roll records.”[5]

Wrote critic Robert Palmer in 1981:

Mr. DeVille’s career never quite took off,

5

despite the impressive breadth and depth of histalent. He is recording a new album for At-lantic records, having departed from his previ-ous recording commitment under less than am-icable circumstances. And on Friday night hewas at the Savoy, where he demonstrated withan almost insolent ease that he is still readyfor the recognition that should have been hisseveral years ago. He has the songs, he hasthe voice, and he has the band. And he hasexpanded the scope of his music by addingelements of French cafe songs and Louisianazydeco to the mixture of rock, blues, Latin andBrill Building soul that was already there.[27]

Said DeVille:

I had band problems, manager problems,record company problems. And yeah, I haddrug problems. Finally I got a new recordingcontract, with Atlantic, and a new manager. Icleaned up my act. I figured that since play-ing music with people I was friends with didn'tseem to work out, I would hire some merce-naries, some cats who just wanted to play andget paid. And those guys turned out to be moredevoted to the music than any band I ever had.They're professional, precise, but they're full offire, too.[28]

DeVille recorded two albums for Atlantic, 1981’s Coupde Grâce (produced by Jack Nitzsche) and 1983’sWhereAngels Fear to Tread. Both albums featured saxophon-ist Louis Cortelezzi and had a full-throated Jersey Shoresound that evoked Bruce Springsteen and SouthsideJohnny. Wrote critic Thom Jurek about these albums:

(Both) are truly solid albums—despitelukewarm reviews at the time—showcasingmuch of Willy’s theatrical personality and hisown desire to provide for the elements of fan-tasy in rock music that the early rockers anddoo-woppers did in the 1950s and 1960s (andthat Piaf and Brel did in France). Rootsy,hook-laden rock, iconic balladry, and the the-ater of aural experience were all containedin songs that offered the illusion that onecould still find acted out under a streetlamp-lit stage, in front of a trashcan bonfire, nar-rated by one costumed in the decadent attireof a Euro-trash lothario-cum-stiletto-carrying1950s gang banger... They captivate a listenerin the same way a great period film would—they tell an epic story in a fewminutes and cap-ture all of its life and death drama.[29]

The albumsMink DeVille recorded for Atlantic sold wellin Europe but not in the United States. Explained Kenny

Margolis, who played piano and accordion in DeVille’searly 1980s bands, “I don’t think the American publichad a chance to experience him because in America atthat time you had MTV telling you what to like. Europehad not had MTV at that point and they were very opento different music.”[10] DeVille said about his years withAtlantic Records, “Ahmet Ertegün and I got along, butwe never got anything done.”[10]

6 A final album for Polydor

Mink DeVille’s last album, Sportin' Life, was recordedfor Polydor in 1985. For this album, DeVille pennedtwo more songs with Doc Pomus (“Something Beauti-ful Dying” and “When You Walk My Way”). The al-bum was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studioin Alabama with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section,and DeVille and Duncan Cameron producing. The song“Italian Shoes” was a hit in some European countries,[30]but some critics thought the album was overproduced.Wrote Allmusic: “Its sound is steeped in mid-'80s stu-dio gloss and compression that often overwhelms qual-ity material.”[31] However, David Wild of Rolling Stonepraised Sportin' Life, calling it "[t]he most modern, pol-ished sound of (Willy DeVille’s) career.” He added,“Pushed to center stage, DeVille delivers, singing withmore passion and more personality than ever before.”[32]

After Sportin' Life, DeVille dropped the “Mink” monikerand began recording under his own name. Mink DeVilleplayed its last concert on February 20, 1986 in New YorkCity.[33]

7 The Mink DeVille Band

On playbills and on live albums such as Willy DeVilleLive (1993) andAcoustic Trio Live in Berlin (2003), WillyDeVille’s backup band was sometimes called The MinkDeVille Band, an allusion to the earlier Mink DeV-ille. Some musicians who backed up Willy DeVille inThe Mink DeVille Band played and toured with him fordecades. Bass player Bob Curiano, for example, backedup Willy DeVille in his 1981 and 2007 European tours.As well, musicians who played in TheMinkDeVille Bandsometimes played onMink DeVille andWilly DeVille al-bums. These members of different Mink DeVille Bandsplayed with Willy DeVille for ten years or more:

• Guitar: Ricky Borgia, Freddy Koëlla (also playsviolin and mandolin), Paul James (Canadian musi-cian)

• Bass: Bob Curiano, David J. Keyes, Joey Vasta

• Percussion: Boris Kinberg

• Drums: Shawn Murray, Tommy Price

6 9 REFERENCES

• Piano, Accordion: Seth Farber, Kenny Margolis

• Saxophone: Louis Cortelezzi, Mario Cruz

• Background vocals: Billy Valentine, John Valentine,Dorene Wise, Yadonna Wise

8 Discography

For a complete discography of Mink DeV-ille/Willy DeVille recordings, see Willy DeVillediscography.

• 1977: Cabretta (in Europe); Mink Deville (in theU.S.) (Capitol)

• 1978: Return to Magenta (Capitol)

• 1980: Le Chat Bleu (Capitol)

• 1981: Coup de Grâce (Atlantic)

• 1983: Where Angels Fear to Tread (Atlantic)

• 1985: Sportin' Life (Polydor)

9 References[1] This quote comes from the back cover of Mink DeVille’s

1978 album Return to Magenta.

[2] Rhodes, Dusti (1978). “Mink DeVille: Smooth Run-ning Caddy – The Tale of The Mink”. Rock Around TheWorld. Retrieved December 18, 2010.

[3] Klein, Howard (October 1977). “Mink De Ville: SlickFur Fury”. Creem 9 (5): p. 28.

[4] Marcus, Richard (May 14, 2006). “Interview: WillyDeVille”. Leap in the Dark. Retrieved December 18,2010.

[5] Cohen, Elliot Stephen (August–September 2006). “WillyDeVille”. Dirty Linen (125): p. 37.

[6] “Re: Boogie By The Bay”. Best 5 Bands. Yahoo! Mes-sage Boards. Retrieved January 27, 2011.

[7] Halberstadt, Alex (2007). Lonely Avenue: The UnlikelyLife and Times of Doc Pomus. New York: De Capo Press.pp. 213–15. ISBN 978-0-306-81564-5.

[8] Keresman, Mark (2005). Coup de Grâce (CD insert).Mink DeVille.

[9] McCormick, Neil (September 11, 2009). “Willy DeV-ille: death of an icon”. The Daily Telegraph. RetrievedDecember 21, 2010.

[10] Interviews onWilly DeVille: Live in the Lowlands (DVD).Eagle Rock Entertainment. March 20, 2006. RetrievedDecember 19, 2010.

[11] Cartwright, Garth (September 1, 2007). “The birthplaceof punk”. The Guardian. Retrieved December 22, 2010.

[12] Editors (September 8, 2009). “Music Obituaries: WillyDeVille”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved December 21,2010.

[13] DeVille may have been referring to these psychedlicbands: The Electric Prunes and Strawberry Alarm Clock.

[14] Palmer, Robert (September 18, 1981). “Pop: Willy DeV-ille Band”. The New York Times: p. C32.

[15] Olma, Greg (2006). “Interview with Willy Deville from2006”. Music Street Journal. Retrieved December 18,2010.

[16] Edmonds, Ben (2001). Cadillac Walk: The Mink DeVilleCollection (CD insert). Mink DeVille. Capitol Records.

[17] McDonough, Jimmy (2005). “Jack Nitzsche 1937–2000”. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Jack Nitzsche’s MagicalMusical Word. spectropop.com. Retrieved January 23,2011.

[18] Stambler, Irwin (1989) [1974]. “DeVille, Willy”. TheEncyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul (3rd ed.). New York:St. Martin’s Press. pp. 173–75. ISBN 0-312-02573-4.

[19] Roach, Martin, ed. (2008). The Virgin Book of British HitSingles (1st ed.). London: Virgin Books. p. 281. ISBN978-0-7535-1537-2.

[20] “Mink Deville: Spanish stroll - Positieverloop in de Ned-erlandse Top 40”. Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. 1977.Retrieved September 12, 2012.

[21] Christgau, Robert (1977). “The 1977 Pazz & Jop Crit-ics Poll”. RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved December 19,2010.

[22] Albus, Lawrence (2003). Le Chat Bleu (CD insert). MinkDeVille. Raven Records.

[23] Loder, Kurt (December 11, 1980). “Review: Willy DeV-ille’s best – Le Chat bleu". Rolling Stone (332): pp. 55–56.

[24] “Rolling Stone’s 1980 Rock & Roll Awards – Critic’sPoll”. Rolling Stone (338): p. 31. March 5, 1981. Re-trieved December 22, 2010.

[25] Baker, Glenn A. (1987) “Individual Critics Top 10s.” TheWorld Critics Lists ~ 1987. (Retrieved 2-1-08.)

[26] Sears, Rufus (October 30, 1980). “Willy’s back—andknocking 'em dead”. Rolling Stone (329): pp. 20–23.

[27] Palmer, Robert (April 20, 1981). “Willie DeVille andband”. The New York Times. Retrieved January 3, 2011.

[28] Palmer, Robert (September 25, 1981). “Pop Jazz; WillyDeVille and theMink inWeekend at the Savoy”. The NewYork Times. Retrieved January 3, 2011.

[29] Jurek, Thom (August 10, 2009). “Willy DeVille, RIP:Remembering an American Original”. The Allmusicblog. Retrieved January 3, 2011.

7

[30] Eagle Rock Entertainment (2007) “DeVille, Willy”, Website of Eagle Rock Entertainment. (Retrieved 03-08-2008.)

[31] Jurek, Thom. Sportin' Life review at AllMusic. RetrievedDecember 19, 2010.

[32] Wild, David (March 27, 1986). “Review: Sportin' Life –Mink DeVille”. Rolling Stone (470): pp. 114–15.

[33] Wilner, Rich (March 1, 1986). “DeVille Files forBankruptcy”. Billboard. 9 98: p. 77. Retrieved Decem-ber 22, 2010.

10 External links• The official Willy DeVille website

• Trouser Press: Willy DeVille

8 11 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

11.1 Text• Mink DeVille Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink_DeVille?oldid=682011355 Contributors: Bearcat, Eeksypeeksy, Fastifex, Es-radekan, Griot~enwiki, FairuseBot, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Nick Number, Geniac, JohnnyChicago, Zouavman Le Zouave, CommonsDelinker,Jevansen, ACSE, Slysplace, Nouse4aname, Auntof6, XLinkBot, Good Olfactory, SlubGlub, Addbot, SpanishStroll, IbLeo, Yobot, J Mil-burn Bot, AnomieBOT, Marauder09, LilHelpa, FrescoBot, DrilBot, RedBot, Senorita x, MrX, Robertwhyteus, RjwilmsiBot, Shadow-softhepast, GoingBatty, ZéroBot, CactusBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, HesioneHushabye, Pauljamessusan, Cara Leaf, Twistedtree, Vycl1994,Synthwave.94, Paul Cirincione, Monkbot and Anonymous: 15

11.2 Images• File:CBGB_club_facade.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/CBGB_club_facade.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: Adicarlo at English Wikipedia

• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

11.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0