Willy DeVille

The foundational strains of American music—blues, R&B, and Cajun—supplied Mink DeVille, the late-’70s punk outfit led by Willy DeVille (born William Borsey), with its singular character. Twenty-five years afterward, DeVille persisted in fusing disparate traditions with postmodern force. A guitarist who never took formal lessons, he drew his earliest cues from the blues of John Hammond Jr., Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker. Intent on a musical career, he relocated to London in 1971 in hopes of joining a British group. When that effort yielded nothing, he came back to the United States. After a brief stay in San Francisco, he devoted most of 1972 to refining his stage presence in Bay Area venues. Back in New York, he arrived at precisely the right moment. He assembled the band Dilly DeSade & the Marquis—later Mink DeVille—with bassist Ruben Siguenza and drummer T.R. “Manfred” Allen Jr., and the group’s roots-inflected rock found an immediate home in the city’s emerging punk milieu. The independent Omfug label placed three of their tracks on the multi-artist compilation Live at CBGB’s, taped at the storied New York punk venue, thereby cementing the punk association. Once Atlantic secured national distribution for the album, Mink DeVille ranked among the nation’s leading punk acts.

DeVille stayed musically engaged after Mink DeVille disbanded in the mid-’80s. His first solo record, Miracle, appeared in 1987 under the production of Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and featured guests such as guitarist Chet Atkins. One track, “Storybook Love,” incorporated into Knopfler’s score for the film The Princess Bride, earned an Academy Award nomination. After the early ’90s DeVille made New Orleans his home and enlisted the city’s premier players—Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, and Eddie Bo—for his 1990 album Victory Mixture. Rhythms drawn from New Orleans remained central to the 1996 releases Big Easy Fantasy and Loup Garou. Later projects centered on his concert performances. Live, issued in 2001, captured shows at the Bottom Line in New York and the Olympia Club in Paris. Acoustic Trio in Berlin, which followed two years later, showcased accompaniment from Seth Farber (piano, background vocals), Boris Kinberg (percussion), Freddy Koella (guitar, mandolin, vocals), David Keyes (bass, background vocals), and YaDonna Wise (background vocals). In 2003 DeVille moved back to New York; over the ensuing years he toured intermittently, chiefly in Europe, and issued the album Pistola in 2008. Willy DeVille succumbed to pancreatic cancer in New York City in August 2009 at the age of 58.