Jay Jay French is the founding member and one of the guitarists of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister.
Jay Jay French
By Jay Jay French
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Community When I Was Ten Years Old, I Saved A Rabbi’s Life
The day began as so many days in early December do, pretending to still be fall in the bright light of morning but descending into the grey and cold that only the earliest days of winter feel like by afternoon. I was 10 years old, in the 5th grade and hated going to school. My…
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Community My Band Twisted Sister’s Near Collision With The Son Of Sam
August 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the murder of Stacy Moskowitz — the final victim of David Berkowitz, also known as The Son Of Sam, who held all of NYC in the grips of fear. Over the period of 12 months July 1976 to July 1977, the city and it’s tabloid newspapers speculated almost…
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Community Third Time’s The Charm: A Jewish Rock Star Shares His Las Vegas Wedding Tale
I proposed marriage to my girlfriend of 13 years, Sharon Gitelle, The Forward’s Director of Community and Audience Development, this past August in the midst of my band Twisted Sister’s final farewell tour. Having been together for 13 years, the decision to ask her wasn’t one that I dwelled on too much. In fact, I…
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Community Playing In The Shadow Of Hitler
As an original member of the band Twisted Sister, I have performed in almost 9,000 shows around the world. But the story of the craziest, historic and most emotionally affecting show I’ve ever played happened on September 30th, 1983 in Nuremberg, Germany — in Zeppelin field, the site of Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies. We were a…
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Community My Twisted Trump-Era Travel Tale
As a member of the band Twisted Sister, I have traveled to over 30 countries in the last 15 years. I’m no stranger to rigorous post 9/11 airport security. Recently, however, I had one of the most absurd domestic travel experiences of my life. I am a member of several programs designed to aid the…
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Opinion Why We Wouldn’t Let ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ Be Trump’s Anthem
Media controversy makes for big headlines. The follow-up — not so much. In the build-up to the inauguration with the difficulties of booking acts to play for Donald Trump, NPR host Kurt Andersen was discussing the president-elect’s musical taste. On the show, political analyst John Heilemann sang the chorus of “We’re Not Gonna Take It”…
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