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It would be hard to overestimate the impact it had on me

Scenario

The life and times of the most original American singer/songwriter of the last 50 years. I vividly remember hearing Mink Deville’s song “Mixed Up Shook Up Girl” on the radio when it came out in the late 1970s.

I had no luck finding it, or anything else by this mysterious artist

And yet, when I went looking for the record in the stores where I lived, it was like searching for the Holy Grail. Finally, many years later, I was delighted to find a compilation of his called “Savoir Faire” that included not only the song I had been obsessed with for so long, but many other incredibly great tracks as well.

He later recorded in Europe and lived for a time in New Orleans

The documentary Heaven Stood Still delves into the mystique that surrounded Mink Deville’s frontman Willy Deville all those years. His first three albums were released by Capitol, but due to disappointing sales, he was summarily dropped.

There are illuminating interviews with the likes of Ben E

I was very impressed by the archival footage of the band’s incredible early years, but found the warts and all the digging into Willy’s long, slow decline emotionally overwhelming. I suspected that drug use contributed to the deterioration he suffered in his later years, but I had no idea how pervasive it had become.

King (Stand By Me) and Peter Wolf, the singer of J

Geils Band. There’s also a live performance of “Mixed Up Shook Up Girl” that I’d never seen before and which literally gave me chills!