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  • Top 10 Rock 'n Roll Muses

  • 10.

  • Edie Sedgwick

  • Best known for her association with Andy Warhol and his Factory, this well-heeled American

  • debutante became a symbol of Sixties style, rebellion, and freedom.

  • Edie's personal journey away from her wealthy family may have begun as a result of her "daddy

  • issues" -- her father, Francis "Fuzzy" Sedgwick, was very charismatic, but also quite selfish,

  • critical and abusive.

  • By the age of thirteen, Edie's mental health was shaky; she began to starve herself, alternating

  • bouts of anorexia with bulimic binging and purging.

  • Her siblings also exhibited signs of serious mental trauma, probably due to the rigours

  • of living with an insensitive and cruel father.

  • Edie's anorexia was very severe, and she was placed under psychiatric care for her problem.

  • After stays at several institutions, she began to show improvement.

  • By the mid-Sixties, Edie was ready to travel to the Big Apple, where she met Andy Warhol.

  • After starring in his film, Poor Little Rich Girl, Edie's fame grew, and she began to hang

  • around with Bob Dylan.

  • Her friendship with Dylan turned to romance, and Edie eventually became pregnant with his

  • child, but suffered a miscarriage shortly thereafter.

  • Sedgwick never quite got a handle on her problems with anorexia, pills, and booze; on the night

  • of November 15, 1971, Edie's frail body gave out, and she died from a toxic brew of barbiturates

  • and alcohol.

  • Songs inspired by Edie Sedgwick: many tunes from Dylan's Blonde on Blonde album were believed

  • to be written about Edie, including Leopard-skin Pill-box Hat and Just Like a Woman...

  • 9.

  • Justine Frischmann

  • Muse of Brett Anderson and Damon Albarn, sultry British songstress Justine Frischmann was

  • a founding member of Suede -- and the front woman of her own group, Elastica.

  • Best known for Elastica's tongue-in-cheek hit, Stutter, Frischmann is an unconventional

  • brunette beauty with a strong sense of self and a dramatic family background.

  • Frischmann's father is a concentration camp survivor who later became one of the most

  • prominent and respected engineers in the world.

  • Justine Frischmann was learning architecture at a London college when she met fellow student

  • Brett Anderson.

  • The couple fell in love and then formed the alternative rock band, Suede -- they continued

  • to play music together until Justine started seeing Damon Albarn in 1989.

  • Frischmann's dalliance with Damon angered Anderson, who soon booted her from the band.

  • Many fans believe that Suede became a better band once she'd left; the group certainly

  • had more success without Frischmann on board.

  • Frischmann, like so many other muses on our list, was addicted to drugs; heroin was Justine's

  • drug of choice, and, after eight years of togetherness with Albarn, her addiction contributed

  • to the demise of the relationship (as well, Albarn wanted marriage and children, but she

  • did not).

  • In time, Frischmann pulled it together, and she survived both drugs and fame -- today,

  • she lives a quiet and happy life in Notting Hill, London.

  • Songs inspired by Justine -- Tender (Blur) and No Distance Left to Run (Blur), Animal

  • Nitrate (Suede)

  • 8.

  • Nico

  • Born in Cologne, Germany in 1938, Nico rose to fame through her work with Brian Jones

  • (of the Rolling Stones); she was also a member of the Velvet Underground.

  • After working with Jones, Nico caught the eye of Andy Warhol, who was was managing Lou

  • Reed's band...Warhol, an eccentric artist and filmmaker, then pressured Reed and his

  • band-mates to take on his newest protégée as a singer.

  • At first, the group resisted, but they did eventually welcome Nico (born Christaffgen)

  • into the fold; she was featured on their album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, in 1967.

  • Before joining the band, Nico was already a successful fashion model who dabbled in

  • music -- however, her stunning good looks and confident demeanor masked a tragic family

  • history.

  • Nico's father was a German soldier in WWII -- after a serious head injury, he was "used"

  • for experiments in a Nazi concentration camp.

  • Her father passed away at the camp, and Nico and her mother struggled to make ends meet

  • in Berlin; the young girl left school at the tender age of 13 and then began to model professionally.

  • Before joining with Jones (and Reed) to make music, Nico's unique beauty was a calling

  • card that gave her access to the world's most glamorous circles; while posing for Vogue

  • and Elle, she developed fluency in several different languages and met a range of glittering

  • celebs.

  • During the early Sixties, Nico had a child (reportedly fathered by French heartthrob

  • Alain Delon)...

  • Nico struggled with deafness in one ear while pursuing a career as a recording artist -- she

  • was also addicted to heroin for over a decade.

  • However, despite these formidable challenges, she continued to record solo albums and to

  • appear in films.

  • This self-proclaimed "nihilist" attempted to clean up shortly before her death by eschewing

  • drugs and turning to nutrition and exercise... she did valiantly try to improve her health,

  • but she was fated to die from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a fall from a bicycle.

  • Songs inspired by Nico -- I'll Be Your Mirror (Velvet Underground), The Birds of St. Marks

  • (Jackson Browne)

  • 7.

  • Anita Pallenberg

  • Blond model Anita Pallenberg used her sexy, almond-shaped eyes to seduce and captivate

  • Keith Richards (of the Rolling Stones); this classic European beauty was charming, confident,

  • and very worldly.

  • Pallenberg always had a dark edge to her personality, despite her sunny good looks; she was an adventurous,

  • risk-taking, woman who was obsessed with the occult... she was also a hard-core drug addict

  • whose addiction was quite out of control.

  • In fact, Keith Richards once remarked that Anita "almost killed me"- it is entirely possible

  • that she was the wilder member of that pairing.

  • However, both she and her Rolling Stones paramour were heavily into hard drugs.

  • Anita caused many a rift between the members of the Rolling Stones...Brian Jones was her

  • partner until she chose to leave him for Keith Richards; later, she was rumoured to bed Mick

  • Jagger while still in a relationship with Richards.

  • However, Pallenberg assisted the band in other ways... the willowy, Italian-born fashion

  • plate used her sophisticated knowledge of culture, clothing and music to become an important

  • advisor to one of the most popular rock groups in the world.

  • According to inside sources, Pallenberg may also have used witchcraft to hold her position;

  • she was known to do complex spells, and to cart around an assortment of macabre supplies

  • for her rituals.

  • The Rolling Stones were, for a time, strongly influenced by the personality, ideas and style

  • of Anita Pallenberg.

  • Richards and Pallenberg had three children together -- Marlon, Angela (Dandelion), and

  • Tara (deceased).Today, Pallenberg lives in England, where she is an avid gardener; she

  • and Keith are still good friends.

  • Songs inspired by Anita Pallenberg -- possibly Angie (Rolling Stones)

  • 6.

  • Francoise Hardy

  • This French chanteuse undoubtedly won the genetic lottery; today, in her 70th decade,

  • she remains an unusually striking and elegant woman.

  • Hardy wasn't just a pretty face -- during her heyday in the Swinging Sixties, her beautiful

  • bone structure, lean body and long, glossy brown hair helped to draw attention to her

  • lovely singing voice and her quirky, endearing French pop songs.

  • Cerebral and genuinely talented, Sorbonne-educated singer Francoise Hardy was once described

  • by Mick Jagger as "his ideal woman".

  • She and Mick shared a brief flirtation that went nowhere -- Hardy was fascinated by Jagger,

  • whom she perceived as a "dark angel" -- however, the French songstress felt that she was "too

  • clean" for the debauchery that defined Mick's lifestyle at that time.

  • Eventually, Francoise found true love with one of Europe's most popular male singer/songwriters,

  • Jacques Dutronc (whom she later married).

  • During the Sixties, she was considered one of the world's great beauties, and she was

  • known to inspire fashion designers, artists, and other rock luminaries (such as Bob Dylan

  • and David Bowie).

  • Today, Francoise works as a musician and as an astrologer...

  • Francoise Hardy rated a mention in one of Bob Dylan's poems, "Some Other Kinds of Songs"...

  • she also appeared on Blur's single, To the End (La Comedie).

  • 5.

  • Courtney Love

  • Whether you adore or loathe Courtney Love, it's impossible to deny the sheer force of

  • the woman, or the importance of her role as a Grunge-era rock-n-roll muse; by her own

  • admission, this talented singer and lyricist has made a point of getting together with

  • rock stars that could help her to move into the upper echelons of show business.

  • Despite her calculated hookups, Courtney had plenty of talent all on her own (at least,

  • until her drug abuse spiralled out of control), though she may well have needed the song writing

  • finesse of her famous (and profoundly gifted) boyfriends in order to reach her lofty career

  • goals.

  • One of her first celebrity rock'n'roll romances was with Julian Cope (the lead singer of The

  • Teardrop Explodes); in time, her British lover turned against her, going so far as to take

  • out a full-page ad in the NME (New Musical Express) which decried her groupie, druggie

  • ways ..." Free us from Nancy Spungen-fixated, heroin assholes who cling to our greatest

  • rock bands and suck out their brains", he wrote...

  • When Courtney met Kurt Cobain, she was already dating another up-and-coming musician -- Billy

  • Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.

  • Courtney soon chose Kurt and, months later, she became pregnant with their daughter, Frances

  • Bean -- Kurt and Courtney married while she was expecting her first child.

  • Today, Frances Bean is estranged (and legally emancipated) from her mother...

  • A controversial (and best-selling) book, Love and Death, explores the idea that Courtney

  • played a role in her husband's demise.

  • Throughout her tumultuous love life, Courtney has also allegedly enjoyed liaisons with Evan

  • Dando, Trent Reznor and Ryan Adams.

  • Songs rumored to be inspired by this rock'n'roll muse -- Heart-Shaped Box (Nirvana), I'll Stick

  • Around (Foo Fighters), Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins), You Know You're Right (Nirvana)

  • 4.

  • Linda Eastman

  • Born Linda Louise Eastman in 1941, this American photographer and entrepreneur was best known

  • for her marriage to Beatle Paul McCartney.

  • Linda grew up in affluent Scarsdale, New York -- by 1962, a terrible tragedy changed Linda's

  • life forever... her beloved mother was killed in a plane crash.

  • After studying art at college, Eastman married her first husband and later gave birth to

  • a child they named Heather.

  • Eastman divorced Joseph Melvin See Jr. in 1965.

  • Linda then became a professional photographer -- one who caught rock stars in their element

  • at the famed Filmore East concert venue.

  • According to many sources, Eastman was a bona fide groupie before meeting McCartney; she

  • allegedly hooked up with many of the rock stars she photographed.

  • In late spring of 1967, Linda Eastman met Paul in London.

  • In 1969, while pregnant with their daughter Mary, Eastman married Paul McCartney in the

  • Marylebone Registry Office.

  • Linda had three more children in quick succession, and then took up keyboards to become a member

  • of Paul's new band, Wings.

  • Linda, always a passionate advocate for vegetarianism and animal rights, was doomed to suffer from

  • breast cancer with liver metastasis.

  • Sadly, she passed away at age 56.

  • Song inspired by Linda Eastman/Linda McCartney -- No More Lonely Nights (Paul McCartney)

  • and Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney)

  • 3.

  • Yoko Ono

  • Much maligned, Yoko Ono is generally perceived as the woman who "broke up the Beatles" -- however,

  • despite bearing the very heavy cross of public disapproval for decades, John Lennon's widow

  • has carried herself with dignity, and she has remained steadfastly loyal to the most

  • positive elements of her late husband's musical and cultural legacies.

  • Beginning her career as an eccentric artist, Yoko's sense of self was always strong and

  • distinct -- it is likely that John Lennon found her free-spirited ways refreshing and

  • inspiring.

  • Young Yoko Ono, while fitting the "groupie" stereotype in certain respects, was ultimately

  • miles away from the British "dolly birds" that tended to orbit the Fab Four during that

  • pivotal time period -- in contrast to the usual parade of fresh-faced (interchangeable?)

  • models, she offered an exotic mixture of assertiveness, ideas, and imagination.

  • Before long, John Lennon moved away from his life with the Beatles and began to embrace

  • a more offbeat musical reality.

  • While many question Ono's talent, few question the strong bond that existed between John

  • and Yoko.

  • Yoko and John were both skewered in Albert Goldman's brutal and controversial "tell-all"

  • unauthorized biography, The Lives of John Lennon.

  • Songs rumoured to be inspired by Yoko Ono -- Woman (John Lennon), Get Back (the Beatles)

  • 2.

  • Marianne Faithfull

  • A four-year relationship with Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger, cemented Marianne Faithfull's

  • status as a true rock-n-roll muse.

  • Born in 1949, Faithfull was a descendant of the noble Austrian Hapsburg dynasty (her mother

  • was a Baroness); Marianne's father worked as an English university professor.

  • Blessed with a delicate and unique ice-blond beauty, Faithfull began a career as a folk

  • singer during the early to mid-Sixties.

  • Soon, Marianne became a fixture in the wild social scene that was dubbed, "Swinging London".

  • Despite the hoopla that surrounded her, Faithful initially was quite calculating; she later

  • admitted to planning a romance with a member of the Stones, presumably to further her own

  • career ambitions...in fact, she was rumored to have "auditioned" three members of the

  • band before settling on Mick.

  • At this point, she began to record with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and she enjoyed

  • success with the single, As Tears Go By, which Keith and Mick had written especially for

  • her.

  • A failed marriage to artist John Dunbar left her with a son; at this point, Faithfull's

  • drug problem was getting out of hand and threatening her newfound love affair with Jagger -- as

  • well as her ability to care for her child.

  • Though Faithfull managed to hold it together for a while, drugs ruled her life, and they

  • took a terrible toll on the singer/songwriter.

  • By 1970, her relationship with Mick had dissolved, and she soon lost custody of her child.

  • Faithfull ended up strung out and homeless on the London streets, until friends came

  • to her rescue.

  • Today, Marianne Faithfull is a respected recording artist -- her most notable album is Broken

  • English.

  • Songs inspired by Marianne Faithfull -- Carrie Ann (the Hollies), Sister Morphine (co-written

  • by the Stones and Faithfull), Wild Horses (the Rolling Stones), You Can't Always Get

  • What You Want (the Rolling Stones)

  • 1.

  • Pattie Boyd

  • In the Sixties, Pattie Boyd was a young model with a soft, girlish face, full, pouty lips,

  • and wide, innocent eyes -- this tall, stunning British beauty met George Harrison when she

  • was chosen to appear as an actress in the Beatles' film, A Hard Day's Night.

  • While she turned down Harrison's advances during filming, she quickly eased out of an

  • existing relationship and then began a torrid romance with the brooding, dark-haired guitarist.

  • Pattie married George and then retired from her successful modelling career; her new husband

  • was quite old-fashioned, and he wanted a wife who puttered around at home and cooked his

  • meals (rather than going out to work).

  • Harrison penned the lovely Beatles song, "Something", in Pattie's honor.

  • As George became more spiritual and eccentric, the marriage began to suffer -- his rumoured

  • infidelities with many women (including Ringo Starr's then-wife, Maureen Starkey), did not

  • help at all.

  • Soon, beautiful Pattie began to be comforted by Harrison's close pal, Eric Clapton, who

  • begged her to leave her husband and start over with him.

  • During this time period, Clapton wrote Layla ("Layla, you've got me on my knees...") about

  • Pattie.

  • Pattie did leave Harrison for Clapton, but Clapton did not make her happy for long -- his

  • drinking problem led to infidelities, rages, and, according to Pattie, physical abuse.

  • Her marriage to Eric Clapton ended in 1989.

  • Songs written about Pattie Boyd: Something (the Beatles), Layla (Eric Clapton), Wonderful

  • Tonight (Eric Clapton)

Top 10 Rock 'n Roll Muses

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