Pamela Des Barres

Last updated
Pamela Des Barres
Pamela Des Barres, July 2007.jpg
Pamela Des Barres, July 2007
Born
Pamela Ann Miller

(1948-09-09) September 9, 1948 (age 75)
Other namesMiss Pamela
Occupation(s) Rock and roll groupie, author
Spouse Michael Des Barres (m. 1977–1991)
Children1

Pamela Des Barres (day-BAR; born Pamela Ann Miller; September 9, 1948) is an American rock and roll groupie, writer, musician, and actress. She is best known for her 1987 memoir, I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie , which details her experiences in the Los Angeles rock music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. She is also a former member of the experimental Frank Zappa-produced music group the GTOs.

Contents

Early life

Des Barres' parents were from Kentucky. Just before she was born, her father moved the family to the Los Angeles, California area, where Des Barres resides to this day. [1] Her mother was a homemaker and her father worked for Anheuser-Busch and was occasionally a gold miner. Des Barres idolized Elvis Presley as a child and the Beatles as a teenager, and she fantasized about meeting and dating her favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney. [2] Later, upon discovering the Rolling Stones, she daydreamed of Mick Jagger. [3]

Rock music groupie

A high school acquaintance, Victor Hayden, introduced Des Barres to his cousin Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, a musician and friend of Frank Zappa. Van Vliet, in turn, introduced her to Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, which drew her to the rock music scene on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. She started to spend her time with the Byrds and other bands, and when she graduated from high school in 1966, she took various jobs that would allow her to live near the Sunset Strip and take part in the rock music scene. She famously went on to form friendships with many of the great musical artists of that era, and became romantically linked with various notable artists such as Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, [3] [4] Noel Redding, Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Brandon deWilde, and Don Johnson. [2]

Music career

Des Barres was also a member of the GTOs, an all-female music and performance art group sponsored by Frank Zappa. [5] The GTOs had only one performance under that name along with the Mothers of Invention, Alice Cooper, Wild Man Fischer and Easy Chair at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, on December 6–7, 1968. The entire concert lasted for six hours. The group dissolved just a month after the release of their first and only album, Permanent Damage , due to some of its other members being arrested and detained for drug possession.

Acting career

During the 1970s, Des Barres pursued a career as an actress, appearing in movies (including Zappa's 200 Motels ), doing commercials, and playing a recurring role on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow throughout 1974. She continued to work as a nanny/babysitter for Zappa, who urged her to continue writing the diary she had begun in high school, in which she had faithfully recorded the important details of her life. When her acting career stalled, she continued to work for the Zappa family as a nanny for Zappa's children, Dweezil and Moon Unit. [4]

Family life

On October 29, 1977, she married Michael Des Barres, who had been lead singer first with Silverhead (signed in 1972 to Deep Purple's record label Purple Records) and later for Detective (signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records label), and who, in 1985, was tour vocalist for the Power Station. They have a son, Nicholas Dean Des Barres (GameFan magazine's Nick Rox). The couple divorced in the summer of 1991. [6]

Memoirs and other endeavors

Des Barres wrote two memoirs about her experience as a groupie, I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie (1987) and Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up (1993). It is widely believed that Cameron Crowe drew from these memoirs to create the groupie character Penny Lane for his film Almost Famous. [7] [8] Crowe has stated that the character was actually a composite of various women he knew during his time as a teenage rock journalist, including one named Pennie Trumbull who went by Pennie Lane. [9] [10] The memoirs by Des Barres have another connection to the film: actress Kate Hudson read them for inspiration as she portrayed Penny Lane. [11]

The March 1989 issue of Playboy magazine featured Des Barres in a nude layout, published together with an article the author herself wrote for the magazine. In the captions, she was quoted as saying, "I wanted to be in Playboy when I was younger, but my breasts did not precede me. But now I have semicelebrity tits, so they don't have to be as big." [12]

In addition to her memoirs, Des Barres has written three non-fiction books: Rock Bottom: Dark Moments in Music Babylon (1996); Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies (2007); and Let It Bleed: How to Write a Rockin' Memoir (2017). An updated edition of I'm with the Band was released in 2005.

Today, Pamela Des Barres continues to author books, contribute to others' works as an editor and consultant, and pen articles for online and print publications. She writes a regular column for Please Kill Me, [13] in which she confessed that she once kissed murderer and former Manson Family member Bobby Beausoleil in Golden Gate Park during his pre-Manson days. [14] In addition to her work as a writer, Des Barres also teaches creative writing classes in Los Angeles, as well as in several other cities throughout the U.S. and internationally. She affectionately refers to her writing class members as her "dolls". [15]

Discography

Bibliography

Filmography

Television

Related Research Articles

A groupie is a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is used mostly describing young women, and sometimes men, who follow these individuals aiming to gain fame of their own, or help with behind-the-scenes work, or to initiate a relationship of some kind, intimate or otherwise. The term is also used to describe similarly enthusiastic fans of athletes, writers, and other public figures.

<i>Almost Famous</i> 2000 film by Cameron Crowe

Almost Famous is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It tells the story of a teenage journalist, played by Fugit, writing for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 1970s, touring with the fictitious rock band Stillwater, and writing his first cover story on the band. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowell George</span> American singer-songwriter and founder of Little Feat (1945–1979)

Lowell Thomas George was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who was the primary guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and founder/leader for the rock band Little Feat. Before forming Little Feat, he was a member of the original line-up of Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bebe Buell</span> American model and singer

Beverle Lorence "Bebe" Buell is an American singer and former model. She was Playboy magazine's November 1974 Playmate of the Month. Buell moved to New York in 1972 after signing a modeling contract with Eileen Ford, and garnered notoriety after her publicized relationship with musician Todd Rundgren from 1972 until 1978, as well as her liaisons with several rock musicians during that time and over the following four decades. She is the mother of actress Liv Tyler, whose biological father is Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Todd Rundgren is Liv's legally adoptive father.

<i>200 Motels</i> 1971 American-British musical surrealist film

200 Motels is a 1971 surrealist musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa. An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film stars the Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr.

Cynthia Plaster Caster was an American visual artist and self-described "recovering groupie" who gained fame for creating plaster casts of celebrities' erect penises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Des Barres</span> British actor and singer

Michael Philip Des Barres, 26th Marquis Des Barres, is an English actor and pop singer. He appeared as Murdoc in the original MacGyver, Lenny Stokes in Lois & Clark, and Murdoc's mentor Nicholas Helman in MacGyver (2016). He replaced Robert Palmer in the band the Power Station, fronting the band at the 1985 Live Aid concert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainbow Bar and Grill</span> Bar and restaurant/grocery store in California, United States

The Rainbow Bar and Grill is a bar, restaurant and grocery store on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States, adjacent to the border of Beverly Hills, California. Its address is 9015 Sunset Boulevard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The GTOs</span> Girl band from LA (1968–1970)

The GTOs were an all-girl group from the Los Angeles area, specifically the Sunset Strip scene. The group was active for two and a half years (1968–1970), followed by one reunion performance in 1974. Their only album, Permanent Damage, was produced by Frank Zappa and released in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connie Hamzy</span> American groupie (1955–2021)

"Sweet" Connie Hamzy Parente, also called "Sweet Sweet" Connie or Connie Flowers, was an American woman who was known as a groupie who claimed to have had sex with numerous rock musicians. Hamzy also received attention for her claim that she was propositioned by Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mascara Snake</span> American painter and musician

Victor Hayden, also known by his stage name the Mascara Snake, was an American painter and musician.

I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie is a 1987 memoir by former groupie Pamela Des Barres. It was a New York Times best seller.

Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up is a non-fiction 1993 work by former groupie Pamela Des Barres. Continuing where I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie left off, this book chronicles her life after being a groupie including the ups and downs of her turbulent marriage to actor/singer Michael Des Barres. Much of the book is about the couple's divorce in 1991 and the effects of the family dysfunction on their son, Nicholas Dean Des Barres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gail Zappa</span> Trustee of the Zappa Family Trust (1945–2015)

Adelaide Gail Zappa was the wife of musician and composer Frank Zappa and the trustee of the Zappa Family Trust. They met in Los Angeles in 1966 and married while she was pregnant with their first child, Moon, followed by Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. Gail was also the aunt of model and actress Lala Sloatman.

Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco was a Los Angeles nightclub located at 7561 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip from late 1972 until early 1975. It catered to the glam rock movement. The club was infamous for widespread drug use and hosting underage girls at parties, but it was also a popular spot among rockstars, including Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, and Iggy Pop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Bingenheimer</span> American radio disc jockey

Rodney Bingenheimer is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of Rodney on the ROQ, a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ-FM from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also managed a Los Angeles nightclub called Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco.

<i>Super Duper Alice Cooper</i> 2014 Canadian film

Super Duper Alice Cooper is a 2014 Canadian biographical documentary film about shock rock musician Alice Cooper, written and directed by Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen and Reginald Harkema.

Pennie Ann Trumbull, also known as Pennie Lane, is an American socialite, philanthropist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur. During the 1970s, she formed The Flying Garter Girls, a group that traveled around the country as groupies for famous rock bands. Her time as a groupie was chronicled in the 2000 film Almost Famous and its 2019 stage musical adaptation. She was portrayed by actress Kate Hudson in the film and Solea Pfeiffer in the musical.

Lane Caudell is an American actor and singer-songwriter who appeared in the films Goodbye, Franklin High, and Hanging on a Star and played Woody King on the NBC daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives (1982–1983).

Lori Mattix, sometimes known as Lori Maddox or Lori Lightning, is an American former child model and "baby" groupie of the 1970s. As of November 2015, she is a partner and buyer for the Glam Boutique in West Hollywood. She is perhaps best known for an interview with Thrillist in 2015 in which she made allegations of being involved in sexual relationships with David Bowie, Jimmy Page, and Mick Jagger; these are relationships which would have occurred while she was underage and while the musicians were in their twenties, although her connections to Bowie and Jagger are disputed.

References

  1. "I'm With the Band", Pamela DesBarres
  2. 1 2 Nobody did it better...", BBC
  3. 1 2 Des Barres, Pamela (1987). Chicago Review Press (ed.). I'm With the Band. Vol. 1 (5th ed.). Chicago Review Press. p. 320. ISBN   1556525893.
  4. 1 2 Harris, Sarah (2007) "Pamela Des Barres: Her latest book celebrates the outrageous, unsung exploits of her fellow 'band-aids' Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine ", The Independent, 23 September 2007
  5. Templeton, David (2002) "Groupie Hug: The World's Most Famous Rock 'n' Roll Muse Sizes Up 'The Banger Sisters'", Oakland's Urbanview
  6. Michael Des Barres: Who Do You Want Me to Be? (Documentary film.) J. Elvis Weinstein, 2015.
  7. "Rock, groupies, golden gods and that Quaalude kiss: Almost Famous at 20 by the stars and director who made it" . The Independent. 2020-07-06. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  8. Sharf, Zack (2020-09-14). "The Groupie Who Inspired Penny Lane Gets Angry Over 'Almost Famous': 'This Character Is Pathetic'". IndieWire. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  9. Ammann, Ana (September 7, 2012). "Will the real Penny Lane please stand up?". Oregon Music News. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015.
  10. Crowe, Cameron (September 26, 2012). "Almost Famous Block Party – San Diego Film Festival". The Uncool. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  11. Lecaro, Lina (December 15, 2010). "Zooey Deschanel to Play Original '60s Groupie Pamela "I'm With the Band" Des Barres in HBO Series (NSFW)". LA Weekly.
  12. Des Barres, P. (1989, March). She's With the Band. Playboy, 36(3), 74–80.
  13. "Please Kill Me Online - the Uncensored Oral History of Punk".
  14. "Pamela des Barres: Coming of Age at Altamont". 27 March 2018.
  15. "Pamela Des Barres' Pajama Party!: Pamela Des Barres' Pajama Party with Her Dolls on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2021-03-02.