Willy DeVille paid his own price for the indifference and ignorance of a system that didn’t tolerate his anconformist personality. That system renounced Willy’s talent just because his bad habits created a feeling of unease among the dominant conventional morals of his time. Willy DeVille was a misfit who spanned the ages of punk and grunge. He would emerge from the dark New York night to sing about love and emotion while evoking the great soulmen of the fifties and sixties. His music and his life went against the tide, carrying him to an early end in 2009, at the age of 59. He was hard to pin down, with a sharp-edged face, the air of a gambler, a malicious, penetrating gaze and a sharp tongue. There was something in Willy DeVille that is lacking in today’s day and age, a sense of romanticism, a fondness for history and charm. With the simplest verse he knew how to capture the smile of a streetsmart Venus, the pulse of ghetto people. Love and Emotion rewrites Willy’s song with a novelists’ bent. This is the only account ever written that follows the artist on his creative musical adventure, telling his story through a collection of detailed historical and biographical insights from people who were part of his life. The introduction was written by Kenny Margolis, keyboardist and accordion player for Mink DeVille. )