Joy Askew

When writing about myself I would always start by saying that I was 'originally from the North of England'… in fact that's not true but I grew up there from age 5 in Newcastle, famous for its coals and shipbuilding. The place was grimy, cold and hard but full of character and culture, with many theaters and concert venues and legendary clubs. Newcastle was frequented by the likes of Bob Dylan (Don't Look Back) and Jimi Hendrix (his manager Chas Chandler, bassist for the famed Newcastle Band The Animals was a true Geordie and my father was his headmaster!) I love the English movie Get Carter set in Newcastle and starring a young Michael Caine, it really reflects well a lot of what this once Roman Northern garrison town was about.

There was so much legendary live music when I was a teenager and by the time I was 14 years old I was playing and singing around town in a blues band with my brother Roger.

So I went to jazz college and took up the tenor saxophone along with playing the piano and singing. After a few years playing in London and listening to Sly Stone, Parliament Funkadelic and Quincy Jones, I knew I just wanted to be in America….so I came – because I got the chance! My chance was to tour the East Coast with Warner Bros. band Eye to Eye as their keyboard player/backing vocalist and after that tour fell apart I joined fellow Brit. Joe Jackson on a world tour for his Night and Day Record. That tour lasted a year and was a real high. We got to play with the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Grateful Dead and visit Australia and Japan. I was truly devoted to being in New York after that experience!

In 1984 I met and toured with performance artist Laurie Anderson playing keyboards and singing. She later went on to make a film and record of that tour called "Home of The Brave" You can find that film on DVD and it is beautifully put together with gorgeous color and innovative techniques for its time. Working with Laurie was an incredibly unique experience. She is an inspired artist, constantly changing and thinking. I played mini-moog bass with my left hand as well as prophet 5 and DX7 synthesizers and dressed up as a ballerina with a concertina. It was a lot of fun and her monologues were very inspirational! Also in the film are legendary guitarist Adrien Belew , drummer David Van Teigham and the Five Blind Boys From Alabama.

In the following years I appeared on some Joe Jackson records (Big World, Blaze of Glory, Laughter & Lust, Live) and started writing my own songs. A highlight during this time was playing with Jack Bruce from the legendary band Cream at Madison Square Garden. I didn't dare tell him that I'd actually been a member of his fan club at age 14!

In 1991 while playing on a Jules Shear record I met Nashville guitar player Steuart Smith who introduced me to singer songwriter Rodney Crowell. I toured with Rodney for 6 months playing keyboards and loving it and learned a lot about songwriting from the experience. On that tour I remember we seemed to keep crossing the Rocky Mountains… every night! Who did the routing? We did some great hikes. Also on the Jules Shear session was bassist Tony Levin who recommended me to Peter Gabriel for his tour of the record US. I was a huge fan of Peter's at this point so it was a great honor to play and sing with him. During the "Secret World" tour we played "Saturday Night Live" here in NYC and you can still catch reruns of that on cable TV from time to time.

Returning to New York after that tour, I settled into my own career as an artist and even though I had written songs for many years previously, this is where I feel I really began to find myself and explore my own expression. Tender City was released on BMG in 1996. This record has performances by Peter Gabriel, Larry Klein, Jerry Marrotta and Shane Fontayne, among others.

Three more self released solo albums followed, then I formed a duo with electronic jazz musician Takuya Nakamura named ECHO and our CD of the same name was released on the New Line Records label in 2002. This was a total departure from my other records as it is an electronic jazz downtempo record with a mixture of jazz standards and originals. The remixes by Rae & Christian and Jay-J played a lot on West Coast radio. Also during this time I was lucky enough to get a publishing deal with one of my former heroes in music Quincy Jones, who had the graciousness to come to New York's very own Arlene Grocery and hear me play live with my band. This may have been a common sight in LA but quite unusual for NY's Lower East Side!

In 2008 I released "The Pirate Of Eel Pie". This is an album of songs and was recorded and co-produced with legendary drummer Ricky Fataar in San Francisco. We've been friends since the late 80's when we both played on Pheobe Snow's album "Something Real".

I started writing songs for "Drunk On You" the following year. I was staying in a house with a wonderful sounding Steinway. The house was close to Hampstead Heath, my former stomping ground after college and the ideas kept coming! "Drunk On You" was recorded with my band in NYC and was mixed in Fishtown, Philadelphia by Brian McTear. A couple of tracks were also mixed by old friend Leanne Ungar, from Laurie Anderson days.

I have been an activist on behalf of farm animals since 2004. I volunteer to help bring awareness of farm animals in dire factory farms across America and to promote Veganism for ourselves, the animals and the planet. My song Poor Man's greed appears in the film "Peaceable Kingdom – The Journey Home" and several songs on "Drunk On You" reflect this volunteer work.