What The Hell Do They Put In The New Jersey Water?

There's something strange going on in New Jersey and it's been going on for years.

Throughout history, we’ve seen clusters of expertise develop suddenly in a geographical region. We saw the industrial revolution kick off in Britain and the technological revolution on the West Coast of the USA, for example.

The same cluster phenomenon appears in western pop music. The explosion of the ‘Merseybeat’ sound in the early sixties in Liverpool, led by The Beatles with Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers etc. The wider British invasion rock/pop artists from London — The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Kinks, The Who, The Dave Clark Five, Manfred Mann and Dusty Springfield.

Or how about the cultural explosion of indie rock/dance from Manchester in the late eighties led by the Smiths, Oasis, Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses et al. Or grunge rock that came out of Seattle in the mid-eighties with Nirvana, Pearl Jam and others.

All these sounds exploded onto the scene then withered away over the years to be replaced by the next big regional sound.

New Jersey remains an anomaly. It’s the one region that has constantly produced major musical artists without a break. There is no sudden burst then a disappearance. It’s continuous. It's a permanent cluster.

Here are a few of the stars that have rolled off New Jersey’s artistic conveyor belt over the course of the past 90 years. And obviously taken the New Jersey waters.

Count Basie 1904–1988

From Red Bank, New Jersey, William ‘Count’ Basie was a highly talented jazz pianist and organist and an innovative bandleader and composer. He received nine Grammys and had a further eleven nominations. His career spanned over fifty years.

They must have been putting something in the New Jersey water supply very early on.

Frank Sinatra 1935–1998

He may have been famous for singing New York New York but Sinatra was from Hoboken NJ. Sinatra was undisputedly one of the greatest singers of the 20th century, selling 150 million records worldwide. This was despite having a damaged eardrum, an injury suffered while being delivered as a baby.

He started out singing in Hoboken clubs as a teenager and won a national singing competition before working as a singing waiter at a restaurant in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The place had a connection with a New York radio station and soon he progressed to singing on the station. From there on, it was onwards to global stardom.

What a vocal range, what a voice. You try singing My Way at Karaoke and you’ll see exactly what I mean. See, you can’t do it, can you?

Witney Houston 1963–2012

Witney Houston was from Newark, NJ. She sold over 200 million records and her single, I Will Always Love You, is the best-selling single by a female singer in music history.

She was another NJ singer with a mind-blowing vocal range. Someone really needs to do a chemical analysis of the local water supply to find the secret of its effect on the human vocal range.

Bon Jovi

From Sayreville, New Jersey, Bon Jovi aren’t everyone’s cup of tea; it’s all that blow-dried hair wafting in the wind, obvious song structures and Jon Bon Jovi’s throaty-style voice, often at an octave or two higher than is comfortable for non-canine eardrums.

I am in the minority though; Bon Jovi is one of America’s top-selling pop/rock bands, selling over 100 million records worldwide and inducted into the UK and US Music Halls of Fame.

What do I know? Now, where are those earplugs?

Debbie Harry 1945-

Although Debbie Harry was born in Miami, she was adopted at three months old by a family from Hawthorne, NJ. She was therefore young enough to get the effects of the New Jersey waters thereby ensuring musical stardom.

Her initial career as a Playboy Bunny was a false start but, with Blondie, Debbie Harry was a trailblazer in the new-wave rock genre of the 1970s. Blondie later integrated a whole range of genres into an increasingly eclectic mix of ground-breaking work.

Blondie initially broke in the UK and Australia as we know a great New Jersey sound when we hear it. The US caught up a couple of years later. Better late than never.

Dionne Warwick 1940-

Dionne Warwick comes from Orange, New Jersey. Warwick is from a musical family and studied music as a teenager at the Hartt School of Music. She was one of the biggest selling artists in the world from 1955 to 1998.

Just to prove that the New Jersey water has magical properties, Warwick’s sister, Dee Dee, was also a successful artist and her cousin was Whitney Houston.

Paul Simon 1941-

Although known for being from Queens in New York, Paul Simon was actually born in Newark, New Jersey. He’d obviously drunk enough New Jersey water before relocating to New York to make him one of the most acclaimed songwriters in pop history.

His twelve Grammy awards and worldwide sales of over 150 million records in total tell the story.

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

Francesco Stephen Castelluccio is more well-known as the falsetto-voiced lead singer of The Four Seasons, Frankie Valli. Unlike many male falsetto singers, Valli’s voice is unusually strong.

The Four Seasons are one of the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of more than 100 million records worldwide.

Valli is also from Newark which is in danger of gaining its own recognition as a musical cluster area. Maybe it’s not the water there but the aviation fumes?

The Gaslight Anthem

From New Brunswick New Jersey. Perhaps not as globally famous as the other artists on this list but they are one of my favourites and it is my list. The singer, Brian Fallon, is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen so the band’s musical style has many similarities to the main man. Springsteen sometimes joins them on stage.

Fallon also notes the Clash and Tom Petty as his influences so what’s not to love about New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem?

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Saving the biggest and best till last — the main man and his band.

Unlike many of the other artists on this list, Springsteen understands the preternatural effect of New Jersey’s water so he still lives in the garden state. Or maybe it’s the air that has the effect? (Added note. It’s probably not the air, especially around Newark airport and the I-95.)

Even after selling over 150 million records worldwide, Springsteen is turning out classic rock albums as good as anything he did 40 years ago when the year was 70-something rather than his age.

The New Jersey Waters

This list contains only the most well-known NJ artists globally. There are hundreds of others such as The Shirelles, Ricky Nelson, Kool and the Gang, Queen Latifah, Connie Francis, The Fugees, Lesley Gore, Southside Johnny, Ice T and so many more.

Most of us know very little about New Jersey, I only found out it was called the Garden State because I saw it while searching for an image for this article. I’m from a town 30 miles east of London and I’ve never set foot there or tasted the magical waters. I do know it has something unusual going on to produce so many major artists. Continuously.

(This article first appeared in Medium.com)