Biography
Emerging from New York’s early-’80s no-wave milieu on the Lower East Side, singer Judy Nylon traced a short yet compelling trajectory. Relocating to London in 1981, she partnered with vocalist Patti Palladin to form the pointedly titled duo Snatch. That artsy, inconsistent project drew the interest of Brian Eno, whose involvement failed to lift their pallid, anemic textures. Greater impact came from the inventive British producer Adrian Sherwood, whose expertise in reggae, dub, and psycho-funk shaped Nylon’s sole solo album, Pal Judy, issued in 1982. Though her Beat-inflected verses superficially echo Patti Smith, they mesh effectively with Sherwood’s layered sonic constructions, yielding an alluring set that briefly implied the start of a noteworthy solo path. In the end, Pal Judy remains the sole document of Nylon working independently. Her former partner Palladin later cut the well-regarded covers collection Copy Cats alongside Johnny Thunders, yet she too has remained absent from music since.