There has been a lot of fuss over the outrageous antics of Lady Gaga with all of the crazy costumes and her image but long before her was Miss Grace Jones.
Outlandish, fearless and definitely dancing to the beat of her own drum, Grace Jones cleverly used her androgynous looks to provoke people's narrow ideas of beauty, gender and sexuality. I saw her at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009 while she was promoting her latest album, "Hurricane
" and at the age of sixty, she was still rocking it and knows how to put on a stage show.The music of Grace Jones is not as easily digestible as Gaga and is certainly more of an acquired taste but I love her unusual, slightly masculine sound. She successfully remade some great rock songs such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers', "Breakdown", Roxy Music's,
"Love Is The Drug", The Pretenders' "
Private Life" and The Police's "
Demolition Man" and made them all sound fresh, original and distinctly Grace Jones.
"My Jamaican Guy
", a song that she wrote, is one of my favorites songs:"My Jamaican Guy" - Grace Jones (1983)
And as a bonus, here is Miss Jones in action, from her 1982 music documentary, "One Man Show" that is part concert and part music video which was directed by her one time lover, artist Jean-Paul Goude:
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