Jobriath: The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll

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Hi,

Way back in the mid-70s I was a Rock photographer & the first openly Gay journalist in music, based in Manhattan. I had the honor of meeting & helping to promote STEVEN GROSSMAN (the first openly Gay artist to be signed by a major label but not heavily promoted. I hope to open a tribute to Steven here soon) & open the music companies eyes to the emerging Gay press. I was also in the right place at the right time to witness a phenomenon. Electra Records signed, to the biggest recording contract in history to date, the first openly Gay Rock Star: JOBRIATH. In the sometimes still rabidly homophobic & ultra-hetero Rock world this was a historic moment. It paved the way many years later for Pansy Division & other openly Gay Rock groups as well as giving pro-Gay groups like our beloved Kurt Cobain & Nirvana and Green Day the ability to be themselves on stage and publicly. Steven & Jobriath were pioneers & they paid a price to be open in a hostile world.

Jobriath had been a member of the original Aquarius Theatre production of HAIR (playing "Woof" the only Gay character in HAIR. Oddly an openly & proudly Gay man playing a gutless closety type) & I was good friends with HAIR's creators Gerry Ragni & James Rado. I rushed out to buy his album when it first came out then sounded out his manager, Jerry Brandt, in order to meet Jobriath. Jerry welcomed me into his office & we talked. Jobriath was going to appear that weekend (1974) at a popular club in New Jersey called "The Joint in The Woods" in order to get a reaction from the crowd & to warm up for his debut at Manhattan's "Bottomline". He said he wasn't informing the press about this & didn't want me to go.

Whoops! I was the only official member of the press the club knew & I was always over there shooting. I didn't need his permission, a press pass or anything else. I of course went & had the great joy of seeing Jobriath & the Creatures' first public concert. After the show I went backstage to meet them. Jobriath, as I always found, was very quiet. The Creatures were seasoned musicians who were wonderful to me. It was a double historic meeting. Creature GREGG DIAMOND would in a few years become a major player in (gag me) disco. Backstage I took the only group shots (above) ever done, which says a great deal about both Elektra & Brandt. I also went to their debut at the "Bottomline" & brought Ragni & Rado for a reunion that moved Jobriath greatly. At neither occasion did I see press agents, record execs or Jerry Brandt. We'll pause here while you digest that.

In 1979, a few years after Jerry "what do mean I'm not the star" Brandt engineered his failure, I found Jobriath again. He was doing cabaret as COLE BERLIN. I photographed him atop the Chelsea Hotel in his pyramid home. No make-up on he looked like a young Robert Redford. Knowing that I had done nude photo sessions with actors he undressed & had me do some pix showing his cute butt, BECAUSE the butt on that damn statue used for the first lp was lousy. He wanted people to know his butt was beautiful. I engineered a great deal of press for him with layouts in Gay publications around the world. This was after his recording career was over & these respected publications treated him as a Star, which he was.

We lost track of each other during the 80s with so much going on.

Early in 1997 a fan in England contacted me through the HAIR list on the Internet looking for information on Jobriath. I sent him my memories & was very upset over his use of past tense. Rob wrote back that my friend, the first openly Gay man in Rock 'n' Roll history, had died 14 years ago alone and forgotten in his pyramid atop the Chelsea. His body in fact had laid there for a few days before it was noticed that something was wrong.

Rob & I are working now to do something to preserve his memory & get him the recognition he deserves. Rob has been in touch with Morrissey, who is a very big fan, and is trying to contact Neil Tennant of the PETSHOP BOYS who is another fan. We're hoping that someone might help us in our campaign to get his LPs released as CDs and maybe even get some write ups. I'll let Rob talk now:

I'm trying to locate friends and associates of Jobriath Salisbury aka Jobriath
Boone aka Cole Berlin, who was born Bruce Wayne Campbell in 1946. He failed
spectacularly in his attempt to become the first and indeed only openly Gay
rock performer of the Glam rock era. Signed by Elektra in 1973, and hyped to
death by his manager Jerry Brandt, he released two albums, 'Jobriath' &
'Creatures of the Street' before being unceremoniously dropped.

He retired to the Chelsea Hotel, where he died of an A.I.D.S. related illness in 1983.

A bona fide talent whose abilities were over shadowed by hype and his blatant
attitude concerning his sexuality, he is totally forgotten and much in need
of reassessment. Prior to his sojourn in the rock business, he appeared in
the LA production of 'Hair' playing Woof, and was the frontman for a band
called Pidgeon, who were signed to Decca, making at least one album in the
late '60s. A fitting tribute would be the release on CD of both the albums
plus the unreleased material recorded for his unfinished third. Any
suggestions to realize this venture would be much appreciated.

Given that 'Velvet Goldmine' the Todd Haines film starring Ewen McGregor
based on the premise that the Glam era was much gayer than the general
public actually perceived it to be, will be released next year, it would be
timely that the only 'out' artist of the period and the most forgotten,
should merit some reappraisal.

Photographs, clippings, and recollections would be most appreciated,
plus any information from those who knew him at any point in his life.
Footage exists of his appearance on the 'Midnight Special'
and a twenty minute promotional film of the making of the
first album, plus his contribution to the BBC Arena programme about the
Chelsea Hotel. These could form the basis for a documentary, which could
include talking head contributions from characters diverse as David Geffen,
Tom O'Horgan, Morrissey, Neil Tennant and various luminaries of the Chelsea
and the early days of 'Hair'. If anyone knows what became of the contents of
his Chelsea apartment, this would also be useful, as he recorded a musical
called 'Pop Star' whilst living there, but no copy has yet surfaced, and he
was recording on his home studio pretty much up until his death.

- Rob Cochrane (London 1997)

If any of you reading this can help us in any way we would greatly appreciate it. We need to locate any members of Jobriath's family, friends or anyone who knew him. Please e-mail us at either of the e-mail addresses below.

Endless thanks to everyone who has been in touch!
We've now heard from Creature - Hayden Wayne who has gone on to great fame, Creature- Steven Knee, members of The Tribe & friends of Jobriath.

Endless thanks, love & hugs to his fans
who have kept his memory alive in their hearts these many years.

Very special thanks to Jobriath's brother Bill for his time, friendship & help.
We know the emotional toll this has been reliving the loss of your beloved brother. Joy will come!
Bill has been deeply moved by this out pouring of love & appreciation for his brother.

Writers, Editors, etc. reading this, if you are doing articles or books
related to Jobriath & need pictures you can contact me for the exclusive images I took graphics@bellatlantic.net .
Dagmar's images are available & you can write her directly at akstudio@flash.net .

FANS:
"Computer Prints" of John Michael Cox's original photographs
of Jobriath may be purchased HERE.

Creature HAYDEN WAYNE has his own website
& will knock you over with his incredible music!
Click here to go there!!

You can join the JOBRIATH mailing list at:
http://groups.yahoo.com

NEWS

9/4/98: Rob's first article has been published on Jobriath. I am being hit left & right for info from others with articles in the works needing info (I love you all for for what you're doing!) I have scanned both Rob's piece plus the extremely rare copy of Omega One which contains Jobriath's only interview and he did it for me. It was conducted by my writer Charles Herschberg (Rob got it wrong in his article calling him David) in his pyramid atop the Chelsea Hotel & published in 1979.

9/15/98: Totally impossible to upload large files to this site soooo. I've been able to upload them to another site & am setting up this link. These are Zip files. To un-Zip you'll need a program. You can go to: http://www.pkware.com - or - http://www.winzip.com and download for free the program needed to un-Zip the files.
***NOTE: Right click on these next links & tell your browser to download/save/whatever to your hard drive.
The Attitude file is large. Attitude Magazine Omega One Magazine
When un-Zipped you'll find each page is a high res .jpg file. You can print these out to read.

Spring 1999: Todd "I Never Heard of Jobriath" Haynes' whacked out fantasy VELVET GOLDMINE is released on video. From the blatant rip off of Jobriath's first lp on you can "see" Jobriath everywhere as well as Miss Haynes agony that the British Glam idols he worshiped in his youth were all fakes & the only real Gay man was Jobriath - an American. See if you agree that "the only true fairy" = "Jack Fairy" who floats around the edges of film.

- John Michael Cox, Jr.

jobriath@geocities.com

jobriath_2000@yahoo.com