J.O.Y

Austrian dance-pop band Joy were formed in 1984 by three former school friends, Andy Schweitzer, Freddy Jaklitsch, and Manfred Temmel. Commercial success arrived with their second single, “Touch by Touch” (September 1985). The band’s first album, Hello (1986), also figured prominently in the European dance charts. Riding on the wave of success, Joy recorded their second album, Joy and Tears, in the summer of 1986. The song “Japanese Girls” from that album helped to boost their sales in Asia. In 1989, keyboardist Schweitzer, who authored most of Joy’s compositions, decided to pursue a solo career. In 1992 he received permission from his former colleagues to use the name Joy on his album She’s Dancing Alone, which also became known as 3rd. However, that release didn’t stand a chance during the house and techno wave of the early ’90s. In 1995, the two other members of the original Joy, Jaklitsch and Temmel, hired a new keyboardist, Johannes Groebl, to record their own new album, Full of Joy. That release faded into obscurity and shortly thereafter the members of the band went their separate ways. ~ Yuri German