Joy Ryder embodied the best of all possible styles ... Although Ryder has been called a blues singer, she was a jack of all trades: jazz stylist, punk diva and rock 'n' roll rabble rouse. Brooklyn-born Ryder (nee Denise Whelan) was the daughter of jazz singer and bassist Phil Whelan, who had a hit with the song "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" with his band The Five Encores. Her childhood was filled with her father's rehearsals and her own piano lessons from the age of four.
In 1967, aged 16, she worked with Wavy Gravy and The Hog Farm performing at the Electric Circus, attended peace demonstrations, volunteered with The Yippies, UATWMF, and The Diggers. Joy also worked with Kusama, the famed avant-garde painter in her large-scale happenings. In 1968 she went to study at the University of Hawaii.
She started singing in bands that played local Army bases and then changed her name to Joy Ryder. She dropped out of the University of Hawaii, returning to NY and looked for singing work. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute, then at an audition, she met guitar player, Avis Davis and they started a band, The Davis/Ryder Band, and toured the underground rock circuit, opening for acts like the Ramones, John Cale and Iggy Pop. After recording their rock anthem "No More Nukes," they performed for a quarter of a million people at Battery Park City in 1979 with Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and others.
In 1980, Joy moved to Berlin to work with underground theatre director Tony Ingrassia, where she appeared in films, plays and had several mainstream recording contracts with RCA, Polydor, CBS and Mercury Records. Since the late 1980s Joy made her home on Staten Island and was a much beloved figure in the NY music scene. She died from liver cancer caused by Hepatitis C on the 14th of February 2015.
