Wendy Wild
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Wendy Wild, born Wendy Andreiev in 1956, was an American singer, musician, and artist who in the 1980's was a well known presence in New York's downtown music and performance scenes.
Growing up in Northport, New York, Wild moved to Manhattan in the late 1970's, accompanied by John McLoughlin, who would later become known as the performer John Sex. Throughout the eighties she performed regularly in Lower Manhattan night clubs and art spaces, including the Lucky Strike, Club 57, and the legendary Pyramid Club, where she could often be seen go-go dancing on the bar.
Along with her work as a nightclub performer, Wild performed in several well-known New York-based bands, including Pulsallama, the Wild Hyaenas, polka-rockers Das Furlines, and most famously, the neo-psychedelic Mad Violets. In addition to playing locally in many of Manhattan's celebrated rock venues (The Dive, Irving Plaza, CBGB, Danceteria, Andy Warhol's Underground, and others), she and her bands toured extensively, including performance dates in London (The Venue), Leeds and Manchester (The Hacienda Club), England with Pulsallama 1982, and Tokyo 1988 with John Sex.
During her career, Wild appeared on several recordings. Along with releases for Mad Violets (World of LSD... and the posthumously-released Season of the Mad Violets), she sang on records for Bronski Beat, The Fleshtones, Peter Zaremba's Love Delegation, Hoodoo Gurus, and John Sex. She also appeared in two music videos with Mr. Sex, Hustle with My Muscle and Rock Your Body, as well as the 1988 documentary Mondo New York.
Wild staged one-woman shows for her booze-addled sex kitten character "Joey Heatherock," and was one of the group of East Village performers who created the first annual Wigstock festival. She performed at Wigstock many times, and appeared in Wigstock, The Movie, released in 1994.
Wendy Wild died in 1996, after a long battle with breast cancer.
Selected Recordings
- Pulsallama - Ungawa Part II/The Devil Lives In My Husband’s Body (1981)
- Pulsallama - Oui Oui (A Canadian in Paris) (1983)
- Various Artists - Train To Disaster (1983)
- Bronski Beat - Hundred And Thousands (1985)
- Mad Violets - World Of ... (1986)
- Peter Zaremba's Love Delegation - Spread The Word (1986)
- The Fleshtones - Fleshtones Vs. Reality (1987)
- Frieda - Disco Lover / Plastic Rap (1987)
- Various Artists - Time Bomb: Fleshtones Present The Big Bang Theory (1988)
- John Sex - Rock Your Body (1988)
- Peter Zaremba's Love Delegation - Delegation Time (1989)
- Various Artists - Polka Comes to Your Haus! (1990)
- Various Artists - Battle of the Garages, Vol. 1 (1994)
- Hoodoo Gurus - The Mountain (1994)
- Mad Violets - Season Of The Mad Violets (2004)
(Wild also sang the title theme to the 1989 film, No Such Thing as Gravity)
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