Joy

The band JOY was formed in Bad Aussee, an Austrian town by Andy Schweitzer (26.02.60), Freddy Jaklitsch (22.01.60) and Manfred Temmel (25.02.59), who were school friends but parted ways after graduation Three musicians met again in 1984, and decided to focus their joint efforts on a professional musical career. Quickly enough three young talents got a record deal – with an Austrian label OK Musica. The record company owners appointed Michael Scheickl to guide three young talents through all the curves and dangers of show-business. Joy’s first single, “Lost In Hong Kong”, was released in February 1985. It didn’t become a big hit, but the new band was mentioned in press. The next single “Touch By Touch”, released in September 1985 and composed by Schweitzer and Jaklitsch, immediately reached European Top 20 Dance Charts and topped Austrian national chart.

In Austria, Portugal and Spain more than 50.000 copies of “Touch by touch” have been sold. Third single, “Hello”, also composed by Michael Scheickl, became a hit as well. It reached 26th position in Austrian national chart. The first album - also entitled Hello - immediately entered Austrian national chart, and charted in many European countries as well. That brought worldwide popularity to the band with their albums sold in more than 30 countries. Even a track that has not been released as a single, “Valerie” became a hit it Eastern Europe. Due to their positive melodies and non-political lyrics JOY became one of the few bands which played behind the iron curtain – in 1986 and 1987 they’ve performed in DDR, at the TV-show Ein Kessel buntes.

In the summer 1986, JOY returned to their studio to record a second album, which has been entitled Joy And Tears. The album release was anticipated by a single release – “Japanese Girls”. In Austrian charts that single came in 14th . It also made JOY extremely popular in Asia. In 1986 JOY have been voted the most popular international act in South Korea - even more popular than Madonna and Michael Jackson. The band embarked on a tour of Asia. Tickets to their concerts were selling out quickly. At that time, many fans wanted to book Joy for private events. Immediately upon the end of their Asian tour JOY played a few concerts in USA, in California.

In summer 1987, JOY has played many gigs in different European countries, including Portugal (twice), Spain and Italy. In between the shows, JOY have recorded a track called “Destination Heartbeat”. It became a sound-track for "Flucht in der Tod" film. The same year, OK-Musica released a compilation album, Best of JOY. In 1988 keyboarder and co-writer, Andy Schweitzer, has parted ways with Fred Jaklitsch and Manfred Temmel. After obtaining a permission to use the original band name, he invited a vocalist Anzo (Hans Morawitz) – and recorded an album entitled Joy, which has been released by Polydor. Unfortunately neither the album itself, nor the singles have made it to the charts. In 1994 two members of the original line-up, Freddy Jaklitsch and Manfred Temmel, signed a record deal with BMG and released a new single, “Hello, Mrs. Johnson”. Shortly after, they’ve invited a new keyboarder, Johannes Groebl (30.01.60), and released one more single – “Felicidad” – in 1995. In 1996, the album Full of Joy was recorded and ready for release at BMG. However, the label never released it, and the band went on a long hiatus.

In 2010, all the three members of original line-up decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first success by a reunion. The musicians started working on a new album. On July 1, 2011, JOY have released a new LP entitled Enjoy. It contained 10 brand new tracks, as well as the new versions of such hits as “Touch by touch” and “Valerie”. The album reached 21st position in Austrian national chart. On 15 July 2011, JOY performed in Estonia, at Viljandi Retro Fest for more than seven thousands viewers from Estonia and Latvia. In 2012, Jaklitsch decided to devote all of his time to Steer and left Joy for good. Michael Scheickl replaced him on temporary basis. By 2014, Scheickl became a permanent member of the group. The current lineup includes, Andy Schweitzer, Manfred Temmel, and Michael Scheickl. In 2016, the band recorded a new single “Lunapark” with the assistance of Major Babies. In 2017, the label released a digital version of the song. The artists haven’t announced a new album yet. They are actively touring Europe and Asia.