Jay Jay French (born John French Segall, July 20, 1952) is an American guitarist, manager, record producer and the only continuous founding member of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. He is a columnist, author and motivational speaker who oversees licensing and intellectual property rights for the Twisted Sister brand.
French was born in New York City as the younger of two sons to father Lou Segall, a jewelry salesman, and mother Evaline French Segall, a political consultant for the Democratic Party in New York who worked for the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign. His mother also ran the successful election campaign of Constance Baker Motley, the first African American woman elected to the New York State Senate. He and his brother Jeff Segall grew up in Manhattan.
The seeds for French's musical life were planted in 1963 when he attended his first concert, the folk group The Weavers at Carnegie Hall.
He was an anti-Vietnam war and civil rights activist. In the summer of 1967, he attended the Shaker Village summer program, and was a bunkmate of Ben Chaney, brother of James Chaney, one of the three murdered civil rights workers who died on a voting registration drive in Mississippi in 1964. The events were portrayed in Alan Parker's 1988 film Mississippi Burning.
Two months before graduation, French dropped out of George Washington High School, as a protest to the student murders at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.
French auditioned in 1972 for an early version of Wicked Lester, featuring Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.
In December of that year, he joined the New Jersey–based glitter band Silverstar, which changed its name in 1973 to Twisted Sister. The band also included Michael Valentine (vocals), Billy Diamond (guitar), Kenneth Harrison Neill (bass) and Mell Star (drums).
In 1975, French hired Rick Prince on vocals and Keith Angel on guitars. Soon after, French took over the vocals.
In late 1975, Eddie Ojeda replaced Keith Angel on guitars, and Daniel Dee Snider joined the band in February 1976, to relieve French from his vocalist duties. Other significant member changes in the history of Twisted Sister include the addition of Tony Petri (drums, April 1976), Mark Mendoza (bass, December 1978), Richie Teeter (drums, December 1980), Joey Brighton (drums, April 1981), Anthony AJ Pero (drums, April 1982) and Joey “Seven” Franco (drums, 1987).
Early editions of Twisted Sister performed six nights a week, with five 40-minute sets each night, including costume changes. Gradually, the band's glam image and music changed into a heavier direction, with influences by artists such as Led Zeppelin, Slade and Alice Cooper.
French, in addition to being one of the band's guitar players, took over as manager from 1975 to 1979, and from 1988 to today.
Twisted Sister's first album release was the EP Ruff Cutts in 1982 by Secret Records.
Twisted Sister released five studio albums between 1982 and 1987, including Under The Blade (1982), You Can't Stop Rock’n’Roll (1983), Stay Hungry (1984), Come Out And Play (1985) and Love Is For Suckers (1987).
Fashion critic Richard Blackwell named Twisted Sister to Mr. Blackwell's Worst-dressed List of 1984, ranking them No. 11 and calling them "a car crash in a whorehouse."
Following the departure of singer Dee Snider and guitarist Eddie Ojeda, French along with bass player Mark Mendoza made a move in 1987 to cease performing live.
French French Management Enterprises and the production company Rebellion Music Inc.
From 1988, he took over the management of Twisted Sister again, dealing with the music catalog. He also signed R&B singer George Taylor, blues legend Johnny Gale, David Forman, Thom Jack, Ean Evans' Cupid's Arrow and Tina Sugandh for her debut record.
In 1988, French became a Grammy voting member.