Chattanoogan: Joy Devlin – A Song For The Soul

In 2008, jazz vocalist Joy Devlin came to Chattanooga with a song in her heart. She started singing before she could even walk and has had a love affair with music all of her life.

“When I was little, people just thought it was cute that I liked to sing and didn’t take me seriously – that made me want to do it even more,” Joy vows.

Her parents, Arthur and Judy Devlin, were both teachers. Joy was born in Wildwood, Ga., but when she was just four years old the family moved to Cumberland Heights, where she lived for most of her childhood.

Joy had an active imagination as any child, but it rested on a career-type vision. “I never thought about being anything in particular. I just knew I wanted to be something. I wanted to find a way to touch the world and to bring smiles to people making their life better,” she says.

Joy found that ‘something’ through song. She knew very early that she wanted to sing, but it would take her years to develop her adult singing voice. 

“I fell in love with jazz a while back. I would say Ella Fitzgerald is, was and always will be one of my biggest influences. I admire and appreciate her art,” Joy confirms.

Education and art was greatly appreciated throughout Joy’s upbringing. Her mother’s love for art encompassed Joy and her siblings as a part of their curriculum, while her father would take them on field trips to combine a rich educational experience.

“We were fortunate to have the education they provided at home and through school. Then I went to boarding school at Georgia Cumberland Academy. It gave me a good education and a lot more opportunities that are not typically available in a public school,” Joy avers.

“I grew up in the woods; we had 10 state parks within a 20-mile radius of our house on the Cumberland Plateau. I learned how to swim in a waterfall. I love nature. We hiked every single weekend – endless exercise just out in nature,” she remembers.

Joy’s positive outlook and appetite for life stem from the love and support of her family. Where one sister inspired her to move to Minneapolis to explore a life there, her other sister also encouraged her to believe in herself and become a jazz vocalist.

Joy began a career in Minneapolis and fell in love with the culture. When her mother passed away in 1999, it would be four years later that she would grieve another loss in the family when her oldest brother was killed in a mid-air collision. This prompted Joy to move closer to family and she has been living in Chattanooga for the last five years.

Jazz is a manifestation that springs from the deep wells of the soul. To find that connection, Joy was never afraid to taste life. Enjoying nature, hiking with her family or climbing a glacier was just something they did for fun.

No matter what happened or where she went, Joy’s passion for life bubbles over into song. “I love to sing. The power of music is my inspiration. I am an advocate of keeping music alive in your life,” she says.

Surrounded by music and a variety of instruments, classical music was the foundation of Joy’s childhood which cultivated her natural ear.

After studying piano and violin she tried the flute and trumpet but found that wind instruments ‘were not her thing’. Joy performed in many vocal ensembles and played hand bells and the violin in a variety of instrumental groups.

Singer, songwriter, composer and instrumentalist, Ms. Devlin is more than just a music lover; music is a part of her soul and jazz helps her express that.

“When I fell in love with jazz, it was because of the story, the romanticism and the pain that you could sing in such a beautiful way. It is a universal language and everybody loves jazz, even if they don’t think so. When you sing something that tells a story, invariably they will remember some wonderful moment of their own or they will fall in love again, they will think of their grandmother or they will start dancing… and it lights me up,” Joy explains.

Performing all over Chattanooga and the surrounding region, a highlight for joy was to play at the Tivoli Theater at the Cancer Society’s fundraiser “Summer in the City” in 2011.

“I have wanted to play there since I was a little girl. I wasn’t on stage but just to be in that marble entry way would make anybody sound like an angel,” Joy admits.

She is eager to start a new career this January as a freelance commercial administrative assistant. “It is what I have always done and now I get to do it from home or remotely,” she says.

When thinking of a song that describes her, Joy says she is torn between two songs – “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World”.

“I tend to be a dreamer and, although I can be as human as the day is long and get just as down as anybody else… that is what I come back to - that there is something to believe in, something beautiful and worthwhile and there is beauty in everyone. I am a Pollyanna, a dreamer, I like to see the good in everything,” Joy upholds.

One of her dreams is to start a jazz club. “Before I do that, I may re-awaken the showcase and open-mike specifically for jazz, so that may create a destination for people who have it in their soul and don’t know where to go to express it,” she says.

Joy believes that any talent or skill she has acquired comes from both of her parents equally.

“I am ‘all of’ both of them - which is a blessing and a curse. I have really relied on their strength and support. The wonderful people that my siblings are – they have always believed in me and supported me no matter what. I didn’t get here alone,” Joy says. “I have had so many good days and moments in my life that I just can’t wait until the next one.”

jen@jenjeffrey.com

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jen@jenjeffrey.com