In this world of cookie cutter stars and here today gone tomorrow celebrities, whose success depends as much on what's fashionable as on talent, it's harder and harder to find people who endure. Pop music has always been home to the one hit wonder who climbs to the top of the charts before vanishing as quickly as they had appeared, only surviving as answers in trivia games.

There are of course exceptions to that rule, performers whose talent and skill are so overwhelming that it's impossible to ignore them. They achieve the near mythic status of superstardom, and are able to fill stadiums with over 100,000 acolytes who come so they can say "I was there". More like a revival meeting than a concert, these events are an opportunity for the faithful to have their belief affirmed and their spirit restored.

The space in between those two strata is occupied by men and women who are able to make comfortable livings playing music. Some play in anonymity working as session and studio musicians. Many performers only hire a band when they are recording an album or getting ready to tour, and it's from that pool of talented individuals they draw their musicians.

Than there are those performers who through strength of personality and distinctiveness of sound have carved out their own niche in the business. Unfortunately the very uniqueness that makes them such invaluable artists makes them a poor fit for the music industry and they end up as cult figures with small but loyal followings around the world.

One of those who is far more deserving of attention then the small amount he receives is the incomparable Willy DeVille. I first came across Willy back in the late 1970s when he was fronting Mink DeVille (what could be cooler than a Cadillac DeVille with mink fur seats) They were playing a mixture of old blues rock and Latin tinged music and were falling through the cracks in the record business even then.

Thirty years on he's still out there playing great music and in the process reminding people what passion and integrity sound like. A couple of years back he recorded a live album in Berlin with just his bass and keyboard players. The Willy DeVille Acoustic Trio In Berlin released on the Eagle-Rock label is a great example of not just Willy's talents as a songwriter, but as an interpreter of songs.

They're aren't too many people out there who are talented enough to take a song like "(There Is A Rose In) Spanish Harlem" and make it sound sincere, but Willy does.  A combination of his world-weary voice and the genuine emotion he seems to be able to invest in any song he sings are certainly a good part of why he is successful where others fail, but there's more to it than that. The intangible quality of having looked into the darker part of your soul and come out the other side with your spirit intact that can't be taught, only experienced, is always present when he performs.