Jay Jay French Biography

Jay Jay French, a high school dropout, initially disappointed his liberal Jewish mother – who was one of New York City's campaign managers for John F. Kennedy's presidential run – but went on to form one of metal's most successful bands, Twisted Sister in 1973.

When Twisted Sister released STAY HUNGRY on Atlantic Records on May 10, 1984, the metal world was never the same. Containing the iconic hits, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock," Twisted Sister turned the music world on its ears and revolutionized MTV with a pair of accompanying videos that became two of the network’s most popular to this day. Stay Hungry gained multi-Platinum status with U.S. sales of more than 6,000,000 copies worldwide. In 2007, Twisted Sister was among the first artists inducted into the Long Island Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame along with Billy Joel.

Rock and roll is only one of Jay Jay’s passions. He also created The Pinkburst Project to benefit funding and raise awareness for ongoing research for a rare disease called Uveitis, the third leading cause of blindness among American girls with some treatments costing up to $120,000 per year. Jay Jay’s daughter, Samantha, was found to have the disease at age 6, but thanks to early detection and treatment, the odds of her maintaining her sight are very high.

In a world of cookie cutter fundraisers, he wanted to do something that was unique, exciting, attract attention and had the possibility of raising a lot of money. Jay Jay’s idea was to commission the custom shops of the world's top electric guitar makers to replicate the color and style of his pink Les Paul and put the guitars up for auction. After the guitars, he turned his attention to the amplifiers. For the first and probably only time ever, Gibson, Epiphone, Marshall, Fender, Gretsch and others teamed up to create a unified collection of one-of-a-kind matched instruments. On April 24, 2011, the Skinner Auction House in Boston hosted The Pinkburst Project auction to benefit ongoing work at the Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institute on behalf of The Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation.

Jay Jay is the real deal - as a musician, producer, song writer, manager and philanthropist. From his Twisted Sister days, to battling substance abuse, to advocating for the health of his daughter and other at-risk individuals, his honest approach to life’s ups and downs makes him a genuine and dynamic speaker.

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