James Chance, key figure in New York’s no wave music scene, dies aged 71

James Chance, the singer-saxophonist whose squalling blend of funk, jazz and post-punk found a cult following in mid-1970s New York onwards, has died aged 71.

His brother David Siegfried stated that he died on Tuesday in New York. No cause of death was given, but “the musician’s health had been in decline for several years” according to Siegfried.

Born James Siegfried in 1953 and raised in Wisconsin, Chance trained at a music school and was inspired by rock’n’roll as well as jazz. He moved to New York City in 1975, intending to be a jazz musician, but “I just didn’t fit into the jazz scene at all,” he later said. “My whole attitude, my own personal style and everything was more out of rock’n roll.” He formed an instrumental quartet called Flaming Youth and – after a meeting with singer and poet Lydia Lunch at punk scene venue CBGB – the band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, whose tiny handful of songs, rarely passing the two-minute mark, had an outsized influence.

Chance became a key figure in the “no wave” movement of the late 1970s, which rejected both the gloss of new wave and what it saw as the traditionalism of punk, leaning towards minimalism and avant garde noise but often paired with decidedly danceable rhythm sections. Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and Chance’s other band Contortions made up half the acts on No New York, a compilation produced by Brian Eno that is seen as the key document of the scene.

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Contortions, who would later have a number of names including James Chance and the Contortions and James White and the Blacks, were powered by crisply uptempo drumming, funk guitar licks and basslines, and Chance’s strident saxophone and vocals. They had a dancefloor hit with Contort Yourself, as remixed by August Darnell, AKA Kid Creole.

Chance was a confrontational figure, goading audiences with violence and infamously attacking rock critic Robert Christgau during one gig. “I would do it on the beat – I would jump into the audience and slap someone on two and then I would get back on to the stage on three, and then back and forth,” he later explained. There were also intra-band frictions, with Contortions lineups frequently changing. The announcement of his death acknowledges “acrimony over issues of credit and compensation” in these years.

Releases became much more sporadic after James White’s Flaming Demonics in 1983, but Chance re-formed the original Contortions lineup for live dates in 2001 and occasionally since, and continued to tour with other backing musicians until 2019. He also played saxophone for Blondie on their 1999 album No Exit, which reached No 3 in the UK.

As well as his brother, Chance is survived by his mother Jean Siegfried and sisters Jill Siegfried and Mary (Randy) Koehler. His death notice adds: “James was preceded in death by his father and greatest supporter, Donald Siegfried, in 2019; by his romantic and artistic partner Anya Phillips in 1979 [sic: 1981], and by his longtime life partner Judy Taylor (Bozanich) in 2020.”