Not a handy thing to dislike when first coming out, safe places, LGBT clubs, TO’s gay village have basically one kind of music…let’s just say that you better know Madonna’s discography pretty well.
Any reader of this blog will realize that rockabilly is a passion and with it all related genres (psychobilly, surf, sixties punk, garage, early country, fifties gospel, seventies punk etc). I mean I can appreciate seventies kitsch (look what I drive) and Boney M’s Rasputin and Abba are guilty pleasures.
But today I will make an exception, Miss Amanda Lear. A purposefully mysterious career that begins in late fifties Paris along with April Ashley, Bambi and Coccinelle…the goddesses of transsexuality. With a little help from Salvador Dali and what I would guess is her own ferocious ambition she became the queen of disco in the seventies and continued a vibrant career in television and the arts to this day.
I have tried to like her earlier music but it never really moved me despite recording a version of Elvis’ Trouble as her first 45. Her new album I Don’t Like Disco has at least three great tracks, La Bete et La Belle, Chinese Walk and the euphonious I Don’t Like Disco. Whomever produced the tracts knew best how to use her unique voice, quite hypnotic, can’t help but want to dance. Even a hint of the Ravonettes in the opening guitar work. Now there is a collaboration I would love to see.
Here is my favourite, oh to be so elegant, aloof and blond:
It wasn't clear to me whether or not you were implying that Amanda Lear is a transsexual, or not.
ReplyDelete"Mysterious" is the word for her. And there isn't the shred of evidence to back-up that she used to be a man - except some unsubstantiated claims, and a lot to argue against it, not least of all her legal marriage to Alain-Philippe Malagnac d'Argens de Villèle in Las Vegas, in 1979.
She may indeed be a case of a real-life Victor/Victoria. Or not. The world may never know.
Dear Jamie,
ReplyDeleteOh she started out like most of us, there are a number of reliable memoirs, photos that prove it. E-mail me and I can share the links.
Amanda's marriage is not an issue, Coccinelle married in the Catholic church in France in 1960, surgery was in Casablanca in 1958. She was also recognized by the French Sate as female.
However, it is her life story and she has the right to tell it how she wishes. Having transitioned fully in the early sixties she is now a woman.
Hugs,
April
Hey April, I stumbled upon your blog while googling about CAMH. I'm a trans guy (ftm) in Toronto, doing some homework before my appointment in a few months. I was compelled to leave this comment to say that you seem like an exceedingly awesome person. I love the music, all of it. Your blog is so honest and charming, and I believe that honesty is all it takes for a story to be inspirational. That's what blogs should be about, not stupid galleries of bad tattoos and whatever else one sees these days. Anyway, my best to you.
ReplyDelete