Joyce "Fenderella" Irby

Joyce "Fenderella" Irby

Recently I got a chance to chat with one of my high school idols Joyce Irby, the bass player for Klymaxx. You millennials probably have no clue who she is but her band put out hit after hit in the '80s. Songs like Meeting in the Ladies Room, I Miss You, The men all pause and more. To say she was my idol is being modest, I flat out had a serious crush. Every time one of their songs came on MTV, yes back when they played music videos, I dropped everything to watch. I had all their cassettes and memorized the bass licks to every song and played along. I think you get the gist of my infatuation haha. To be honest I've always had an admiration for female musicians especially bass players. But alas when the 90's came around I was travelling with my own group performing 6 nights a week. My attraction for the all girl band went dormant. Fast forward some 20 years later while on Facebook I came across her name. The nostalgia came rushing back and I took a chance by sending Joyce a PM message. You can only imagine my excitement when she responded back. It was nothing fancy, more of an acknowledgement and thank you for being a fan. Welp that was enough for me, the flame has been rekindled. I hope to catch their show next time they're on the east coast and possibly an interview. Here's to long shots and reliving fond memories... cheers!

​-James Hollins

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