Jay Jay French

Jay Jay French
Jay Jay French
	;
Background information
Birth name	John French
Born	July 20, 1952 (age 56),; New York City, New York
Genre(s)	Hard rock, heavy metal
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1972 - present
Associated acts	Twisted Sister
Website	http://www.twistedsister.com/

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John French Segall (born 20 July 1952), better known by his stage name Jay Jay French or J.J. French, is a founding member and one of the two guitarists of the American heavy metal band, Twisted Sister.

Born in New York City, French is the younger of two sons born to jewelry salesman Louis Segall and Democratic party consultant and campaign manager Evaline French. Ms. French ran the political campaigns for US Congressman William Fitts Ryan and Ted Weiss, NYS Assemblyman Albert Blumenthal, NY State Senator Minority Speaker Manfred Orhenstein, the NYC campaigns of John and Robert Kennedy and was the campaign manager of the first black female NY State Senator elected in 1963, Constance Baker Motley. French joined his first group, a local band called 'The Bats', in 1966. In June 1972 he auditioned for Wicked Lester, the precursor to KISS, but he did not join the band. In December 1972 he was asked to join a New Jersey based 'glitter band' called Silverstar. Silverstar changed its name to Twisted Sister in February 1973. French briefly used the stage name Johnny Heartbreaker in the first years of his career but began using the name Jay Jay French in 1976. French managed Twisted Sister from 1975-1980 and again took over from 1988 to the present. The line up of Twisted Sister changed constantly from 1973-1982, going through 11 line up changes during that time. To this day, French remains the only original member.

Jay Jay French is the owner of French Management and Rebellion Entertainment along with his business partner, Sean Sullivan. In October 1987, Twisted Sister's lead singer, Dee Snider, resigned from the band. At that time, after nearly 15 years and close to 9,000 performances, French and the rest of the group decided to disband. French aspent the next 12 years looking after the band's business and released two albums: a "best of," half studio half live album entitled Big Hits and Nasty Cuts, and Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, a live album during the band's most popular, Stay Hungry era.

By 1996 French was managing and producing the Nu metal band Sevendust on TVT Records. French managed them until 2000.

In November 2001, at the request of heavy metal DJ Eddie trunk, Twisted Sister reformed with the line up that recorded their most successful albums, to play a benefit concert for the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center. This concert came shortly after the band's airing of a Behind the Music episode on VH1, which re-opened old wounds in the personal relations between the band members. The band was able to put aside their differences for this benefit show, and by the spring of 2003 were rehearsing under the guise of Bent Brother, a stripped-down, no costume Twisted Sister "cover band" which allowed the group to test the waters. Beginning that summer the group officially reformed as Twisted Sister, culminating in headline appearance at festival shows accross Europe.

Very few musicians, if any, have played as many shows as Jay Jay French. French has played, produced or managed artists that have sold 13 million records and has amassed 40 gold and platinum records from 8 countries as well as having performed in 23 countries. Besides Twisted Sister and Sevendust, he has managed Andrew Fortier, David Forman, Johnny Gale,and along with his partner Sean Sullivan, Tina Sugandh and Julian Velard, among others He has a signature guitar model made by Epiphone. French's extremeley versatile playing can be heard on the guitar solo on the song "The Chainsaw Buffet", by the band Lordi, on their 2006 release The Arockalypse as well as playing on the album "Always and Forever" by R & B group Whistle, Metal group Girlschool's latest release "Legacy" and on the track "The Jack-o-Lantern" from the alternative group 'The Sound of Urchin'. French has been married twice but was divorced both times. He and his second wife, Janice have one daughter, Samantha, aged 15. French continues to live and work in New York City.

[edit] Notes

As revealed during his interview with Maul Stanley, Jay Jay was in attendance for the world premiere of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1983. Though he originally had no idea that the actors and producers of the film would be in attendance, he ultimately referred to it as, "an experience I will never, ever forget."^[1]