[22:38] Cam Scorfield nods passively at Laurick, his attention drawn towards the smaller hybrid he had just left in the cell. "Hard at work, yeah?", he queries in an unemotional tone.

 

[22:39] Laurick Scarbridge's hands were wrapped behind his back as he watched the monitors of the cells. He turned his head to regard Cam, and with a grin on his full lips replied, "Science is never work," then he turned his head to look back at the cells.

 

[22:41] Cam Scorfield draws a deep breath and swallows, "What'd you do....to the young 'brid if ya don't mind my query..."

 

[22:42] Laurick Scarbridge turned his head, as his eyes seemed to brighten up when he looked at Cam. He'd hit the right spot. Laurick reached up and tapped at the tip of his nose as he spoke, "I cut his head open. Then using the technology of the base of the excruciator I've been working on, which is magnificent in itself, I rewired him. I think I might have worked a little too hard, well, no, I don't. But! Kwa hoo hoo hoo! Either way. I rewired him. I removed his aggressive circuitry. Little things were wired to fight, that they were!"

 

[22:44] Cam Scorfield clenches his jaw, grinding his teeth as he speaks, "Yeah...I know alot about that. First hand knowledge, if you get my drift. Knew a guy once, had his head all screwed up...rewired so to speak. People who did it thought they were doing it for the better, you know?", he stops a moment to suppress a cough, "But they were just doing it to control him. That what this is?"

 

[22:45] Laurick Scarbridge just tapped at the tip of his nose as he leans in, "I'm not doing it for the betterment of anything. There's no point to lie. I hate life. I hate /all/ life. I want it dead. I want it gone. I want it buried. This is just one step to cowtailing creatures like this," he said, tilting his head from side to side. He turned his gaze back to the prison cells, "It's a measure to another measure. That is all. "

 

[22:47] Cam Scorfield purses his lips, "Kind of a fucked view if you ask me, saying ya hate life. Yer alive, so technically you'd hate yourself...", he squints his good eye, the cybernetic one staring at him intently, "...self destructive."

 

[22:48] Laurick Scarbridge didn't even look at Cam when he said that, and just laughed, "Kwa hoo hoo hoo!" His point was likely made by that reaction.

 

[22:51] Cam Scorfield curls his lip, "Know your type well....", he takes a step towards Laurick, tilting his head to the side. "You started with the little one, didn't you?"

 

[22:52] Laurick Scarbridge turned his head toward Cam with that same grin that was always on his lips. His heterochromic gaze locked onto the cybernetic implant of the crusted soldier, "I started with the most aggressive. There was no particular order. Only as I felt like it."

 

[22:55] Cam Scorfield 's jaw clenches , "I don't like the way you think, Clyde.", he takes another step forward, "Acting all billy on ruggers, it ain't term in my book. People like you...way you think...make me sick."

 

[22:57] Laurick Scarbridge just grins all the same as he turned to face Cam, "Oh? Is that so? What makes you think I care what makes you sick and what doesn't? Do you think that will make me sleep less soundly at night? Do you think I am bothered by it? If I cared what you thought, or what they thought, or what anyone would think, do you think that I would do such things? Kwa hoo hoo hoo!" He laughed and shook his head as he tapped at the tip of his nose, still grinning, "Science is the name of the game. Deaths are acceptable. Failures are not. If they die even in success? I still don't care. Either way, I don't care. That I don't."

 

[23:01] Cam Scorfield 's nostrils flare, "Let me tell you something about science...", he flexes his fingers into fists and back out, showing Laurick his hands, displaying the scarring of his skin, "I know it well. I know death well. Twenty four hours a day for a year I experienced death. I never slept, couldn't. You know what you learn from that? Death isn't special, it's ordinary. Life isn't special. I am incapable of caring one way or another what you think, what you say. I'm not trying to be the big man here, I'm not trying to scare you. But say that shit again, and problem, shiv?", he spits to the side, "I fucking hate scienpricks."

 

[23:07] Laurick Scarbridge glanced down at the scarring on his hand curiously for a few moments. The red headed Corporal tilted his head from side to side and then looked up when Cam finished speaking. He looked up with that same full lipped grin, "I don't care what you're trying to do. I will continue to do what I do, and you will continue to do what you do." He shook his head, then turned his gaze back toward the cells, "Death isn't special at all. Life isn't special. I agree with you, that I do. It is all the same thing. We're all already dead anyway, so why bother struggling with it? I hate it. I'll make it stop," he said, then looked back to Cam, and tilted his head from side to side once more, "If I can make more realize that this existence isn't worth living, and have them off themselves before I have to, then I've done my job. It's that simple, that it is." He closed his eyes, and then opened them again slowly while he looked at Cam. He never stopped grinning widely. "And all the same, if you'd like to, I'd be more than happy to fix that little problem you have with your hand. I could fix that glitch with your eye. I could fix your skin. I could stop that pain that you feel if you wanted. But, I think you like it. In a way, I think you love it. You know, the way that a warrior would wear his scars? I wear mine as well. I wear my pleasure. This is my pleasure. But, all the same, I could take that away from you. But even then, I could just take your life from you as well. Hm. I don't know," he practically coo'd the last words and tilted his head from side to side. His gaze moved back to the cells. "For now, they still have their's."

 

[23:11] Cam Scorfield hisses through clenched teeth, "For guy who talks alot you don't listen for shit, Clyde. Kinda bullshit Doc Loire used to tell me....don't talk to me about pain, you don't know about pain.", a high pitched metallic whine shrieks from his mouth as he bites down in anger, grinding his teeth, "Keep it up, bleeder. One thing I know for certain, what goes around comes around, shiv?" He takes a step back, turning towards the door.

 

[23:14] Laurick Scarbridge just laughed all the same, "Kwa hoo hoo hoo! I wonder, you're right, I don't know pain. But, I wonder, what do you know about the Northern Virginia area in the shattered union of the United States of America, blue eye?"

 

[23:17] Cam Scorfield stops midstep, "I give about a fuck all, Clyde." He pulls his berret off and rubs the back of his head, "All talk, no trousers. Fucking typical."

 

[23:20] Laurick Scarbridge laughs once more, then turned his gaze toward Cam, "There's a reason that I am here, blue eye, as I'm sure there's a reason that you're here too. The people in the city are there because they're afraid of dying. The Black Star legion is there because they're pushing against the World Union. The Legion that stays in this city, stays here because they're afraid of dying. Do you ever wonder why the soldiers in Midian are in Midian? I don't. We are there because we aren't afraid to die; we know we're already dead. Look up a small town on the Northern Virginian area, Retz. Look up the 'Massacre of Retz' in the UAC database. You'll see why I'm here, Blue Eye. That you will. Kwa hoo hoo hoo!" He laughed and turned to look back at Fluffy coddling Haku.

 

[23:21] Cam Scorfield nods slowly, "Should look up Lead Pipe of Truth , Clyde. You'll get to know it soon....assure you.", he pulls the door open and stomps out, puffing his cigar like a freight train.

 

[23:22] Laurick Scarbridge let Cam have the last word, but he had the last laugh, finding the remark rather humorous, "Kwa hoo hoo hoo!"

Eurasian blue tit is usually 12 cm (4.7 in), long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) for all genders, and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz).A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue and the back is yellowish green. The underparts is mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet.[The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown.Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow. The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

Eggs are 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) long and 10.7–13.5 mm (0.42–0.53 in) wide. Egg size appears to depend mostly on the size of individual females and secondarily on habitat, with smaller eggs found at higher altitudes. The clutch's total weight can be 1.5 times as heavy as the female bird.

The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK.[When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, and bigger clutches are usually laid by two or even more hens. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species.

In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%, while the adult annual survival rate was 53%.[18] From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years.Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire.The maximum recorded age overall is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic ..... I simply love these little acrobatic colourful stunning birds .

Daisy Nook Country Park

"Are you gonna bark all day little doggie? Or are you gonna bite?"

 

('Mr. Blonde' by Mezco Toyz)

 

Diorama by RK

Yesterday, with a little light, I discovered a fox, who has entered a goose-billy. This was not difficult because there is only a littered fence.

My fear was that the geese are now being eaten.

So I quickly sneaked to the fence and brought my dogs under control.

Instead of chattering loudly as usual, the geese were absolutely quiet this time and were tightly compressed in one corner.

The fox has ignored the geese and the ducks and marched leisurely over the paddock.

Even if he looked at us for a short time, we were not exposed.

With his good nose he had then found rolls and one of them was once eaten. After this bite, he went towards the approximately 30 geese.

Shortly before the geese were still more rolls and the following scene I had not yet seen before.

The fox grabbed first, then the second and then the third roll to march with it.

Unfortunately he lost the third roll. Surprisingly how big a fox's mouth is.

Fox you stole the rolls.

Have a look at the other pictures of this story...

 

P1011985

Yesterday, with a little light, I discovered a fox, who has entered a goose-billy. This was not difficult because there is only a littered fence.

My fear was that the geese are now being eaten.

So I quickly sneaked to the fence and brought my dogs under control.

Instead of chattering loudly as usual, the geese were absolutely quiet this time and were tightly compressed in one corner.

The fox has ignored the geese and the ducks and marched leisurely over the paddock.

Even if he looked at us for a short time, we were not exposed.

With his good nose he had then found rolls and one of them was once eaten. After this bite, he went towards the approximately 30 geese.

Shortly before the geese were still more rolls and the following scene I had not yet seen before.

The fox grabbed first, then the second and then the third roll to march with it.

Unfortunately he lost the third roll. Surprisingly how big a fox's mouth is.

Fox you stole the rolls.

Have a look at the other pictures of this story...

 

2017-05-24_0036491268

Yesterday, with a little light, I discovered a fox, who has entered a goose-billy. This was not difficult because there is only a littered fence.

My fear was that the geese are now being eaten.

So I quickly sneaked to the fence and brought my dogs under control.

Instead of chattering loudly as usual, the geese were absolutely quiet this time and were tightly compressed in one corner.

The fox has ignored the geese and the ducks and marched leisurely over the paddock.

Even if he looked at us for a short time, we were not exposed.

With his good nose he had then found rolls and one of them was once eaten. After this bite, he went towards the approximately 30 geese.

Shortly before the geese were still more rolls and the following scene I had not yet seen before.

The fox grabbed first, then the second and then the third roll to march with it.

Unfortunately he lost the third roll. Surprisingly how big a fox's mouth is.

Fox you stole the rolls.

Have a look at the other pictures of this story...

P1011941

Esmerelda / Come What May sailing in the Sound of Bute, Scotland. Inchmarnock and Arran in the distance

 

Log of the Dinghy Esmerelda or Come What May

Three seasons learning to sail (1998 - 2000)

 

May 1998

For years, it seems, it has been at the back of my mind that, when it was convenient, I would learn to sail my own boat. Life being such as it is, I have spent the last nine years living within ten minute's walk of the sea but have not been in a sailing boat in all that time. Last weekend, I answered an advert in the local paper. Now, I am the proud owner of a 14ft Lark sailing dinghy! Ian, the seller, kindly offered to teach me to sail her. She’s a modest little boat, but seems worth the price. Adam (my elder son) is delighted and is raring to have a go.

****

Yesterday evening was our first time out on the water, not on the tide, but on West Kirby marine lake in the Dee estuary. I felt very much an incompetent land-lubber. I have a whole new set of coordination skills to learn, certainly more than when learning to ride a motorcycle or drive a car, but this is part of the challenge. I think it helps to have the limbs and bodily plasticity of an octopus.

****

Ian took me out in the boat for the second time yesterday evening and it was beautiful! - sun sinking in the west, warm blue sky, a gentle breeze and the boat gliding effortlessly through the water. If I am not yet completely hooked, then I soon shall be. My aspirations are modest: I'd be thrilled simply to learn the necessary skills and gain the confidence to navigate the Wirral coast.

****

This sailing has really got a grip on me. I spent last Thursday night in Manchester so that I could start earlier on Friday in order to be home by 5 p.m. to take the boat out. It was wild! The wind was approaching force 4 and we managed to capsize twice, (although we were the last boat on the lake to do so). It is a wonderful activity which, like mountaineering, is completely absorbing both mentally and physically, and which, if you're not actually doing it, then you're thinking about doing it or pottering around with the equipment. I'm pleased, because it has restored a dimension to my life that has been sadly lacking for a few years. Alix and I have decided definitely to withdraw our house from sale and stay put here on the coast, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

Inanimate objects

I hesitate to consider my boat an inanimate object. She has several traits suggestive of animation, and female at that:

a nice shape,

moves gracefully,

behaves wilfully,

demands attention,

requires sensitive handling,

and on two occasions has been quite upset and ditched me.

 

Friday 12th June 1998

Stimulating, thrilling, absorbing and therapeutic.

We went out last Saturday and plan to again this Saturday. It is time I took it out on my own though, or rather with someone I can't rely on to take the initiative in a tricky situation. After all, the whole idea is to sail this boat myself. With this in mind, I persuaded my German colleage Tobias to come over on Sunday to join me. He has never sailed, so it'll be the blind leading the blind, but it has to be the quickest way to learn.

 

Sunday 14th June 1998

Achievement!

I took the boat out truly as 'skipper' this evening (with Tobias). The wind was northerly, gusting force 4, and slightly intimidating - I nearly called the whole thing off - but once we'd cast off it was magical!

Suddenly after all the flapping and palaver of rigging, all is quiet and smooth as we glide downwind. A slightly anxious moment ensues when I realize we'll have to gybe before we run out of lake, but this manoeuvre works smoothly and I realize with relief that I can actually tack back against the wind.

After an hour, despite some interesting moments, we have managed to avoid capsizing and are still relatively dry. We are rewarded by the sun peeping out from under the clouds just before it vanishes below the horizon.

 

Clynnog fawr, Lleyn Peninsula, north Wales, July 1998

 

Wonderful holiday! - the best I think for several years. Brothers Martin and Chris and our three families (15 of us in all) staying in a farm house together. Best of all was to see all the kids together (eight cousins and one half-sister) - how the older ones looked after and amused the younger ones, and also how the younger ones amused the adults, and how the adults are actually kids at heart and behave as such when they are all together. It was invaluable to have so many young cousins for Adam to play with, and to be able to let Ricky trot out into the large green spaces around the house and to play in the sand, knowing that there were nearly always three or four others keeping an eye on him.

 

The farm itself was in a beautiful location on a magnificent length of coast, north west facing, catching the best of the sunsets. The whole area is delightfully quiet and unspoilt (and only two hours drive from home, even towing the boat). The weather was not ideal, but we still managed to spend a large proportion of the time outside.

 

At the beginning of the week high winds, cloud and some rain made it quite unsuitable for sailing but we managed some hiking and some went horse riding. By Wednesday, the forecast was slightly better and we'd discovered relative shelter and what seemed to be a nice launching site at the northern end of Llanberis Lake, so we decided to sail come what may. [At this moment Come What May suggested itself as a name for my boat. Only later did I discern the name Esmerelda almost completely faded written on the hull.]

It turned out to be a delightful, sunny and warm afternoon, the shore had trees to climb, sticks and stones to splash in the water and soft grassy spots for picnics. We launched and I was able to take everyone out in turn. For Adam and Alix it was actually their first time, the complexities of child care being what they are. Adam was fairly excited but not a hundred percent confident, he finds it a little intimidating but hopefully that will change. It was the perfect day for him - gentle and warm.

 

The next day started fine with a light breeze. Majority interest however determined that we go riding again followed by a pub lunch, but in the afternoon I was determined to get the boat out. The tide was up and three of us succeeded in handling it down a steep track to the shore and then over small, slippery, seaweed-covered boulders to the water's edge.

I still find it miraculous how, once rigged, with a quick shove and hop in, we are gliding through the water as if by magic (hoping a freak gust doesn't turn us round before I grab hold of the tiller and get the centreplate down!)

Caernarfon Bay, and first time on the sea! The swell was a little daunting as we sailed into deeper water, especially with four adults aboard (not sailed with that many before), but I practised a few tacks, sailing up-wind and down-wind, and she seemed to handle alright without shipping water, albeit a bit heavy at the tiller, so I was happy. It was a delight with the rhythm of the waves and the late afternoon sun sparkling through the spray and sea to the open horizon; with our course set for the open Atlantic I just wanted to keep going. Fortunately, I didn't. All of a sudden there was no more resistance on the tiller and we swung round into the wind: the rudder had torn off its mounting! I was glad that I'd invested in some oars as a precaution with which we were able to turn about to face shoreward; then, by holding the rudder (fortunately still attached to the boat by the uphaul line) and leaning right into the water astern, we were able to hold a course back to the shore. I since realised that the reason the rudder felt so heavy in the first place was because it was not engaged in its fixed down position but trailing horizontally behind; the extra leverage combined with the weight in the boat must have sheared the two mounting bolts. I've now repaired it with four new reinforcing bolts. It was a learning experience and exciting at the time. The others all seemed to enjoy it and seemed to think it was all in a day's sailing adventures.

 

7th August 1998

Last weekend was wonderful. Summer finally seemed to have arrived: it was comfortable to spend dawn 'til dusk in shorts and T shirt and to sit out late in the garden for dinner with a bottle of wine after the kids were in bed. Adam and I went onto the beach on Sunday and spent a good hour just splashing in the sea and being crabs and sea-monsters wallowing in the deep soft sand. Simple happiness!

More exciting still, I took the boat out twice. First, on West Kirby marine lake completely on my own for the very first time. I was out on the water by 7.30 a.m., it was a gorgeous morning and I had the whole lake and, indeed it seemed, the whole estuary to myself. Second, again on my own, on the high tide for the first time. Two significant achievements which have given me such a thrill that I can't wait to do it again! In fact, I can now say that I have achieved my long held ambition of being able to sail my own boat on the sea, albeit in very easy conditions: a smooth surface and barely a breath of wind. I sailed for three hours on the high spring tide and was really chuffed to be out there on my own, but it would have been nice to have had some good company too. I feel this is only the beginning: my curiosity is already drawing me to peruse the second-hand yacht sections of the sailing magazines!

 

17th August 1998

I had my sailing abilities stretched this weekend when I took the boat out on the tide in a breeze that was slightly too strong for me (also my muscles and parts of the boat were well stretched). It was a humbling experience:

On the sea front, the breeze felt rather intimidating. The lifeguard on duty hailed me, having seen me with my boat the previous week,

"Going out today?"

I confided my reservations to him, but he replied, presumably intending to encourage me,

"Only way to learn, by experience!"

This was a challenge I felt bound to accept.

Having rigged and launched, all there was to do was push off and hop in. It was that moment of hesitation that reminded me of the feeling I had as a novice skier on the lip of my first black run: the point of no return. Hesitation over, the first few seconds I spent struggling to lower the rudder, which for some reason would not go down (because, I found out later, I'd hitched the uphaul too tight), while keeping an eye on other boats at their moorings skimming past me at an alarming rate even before I'd trimmed the sails. In the excitement, I forgot to lower the centreplate, which meant that having covered about half a mile in what seemed like about ten seconds I tried to come about into the wind but couldn't. Hemmed in by a sand bank on one side and an approaching groyne on the other, there seemed to be little room to manoeuvre and all I could do was gybe, but this didn't work properly either and I capsized. I realised the centreplate wasn't down when I tried to stand on it to pull the boat back upright, it then took me a few moments to lower it because first I had to untangle the anchor warp from the centreplate uphaul, the two having become intertwined. The boat then righted quite easily and I tacked back against the wind with the water gurgling reassuringly out through the self-bailers; I was determined not to be defeated.

Eventually though, the jib became wrapped around the forestay and I capsized again trying to unwind it. At this point I felt I was doing everything wrong and it was time to come in so I limped back to the slip still half full of water where by now a small group of spectators had gathered to watch me, including the lifeguard and two old sea-dogs who'd obviously been passing comment. Later, the lifeguard told me that the old sea-dogs were "impressed" that I'd got back without assistance. But really I don't suppose I impressed anyone much. I clearly have much to learn.

 

7th September 1998

I took Adam out in the boat on Saturday. There was almost no breeze: we seemed to spend long periods just playing with the sails trying to detect what little air movement there was. Adam had a go at the helm which quite thrilled him, and he even tacked. He was pretty good at holding a course when I told him to steer towards particular landmarks.

The dissipated remnants of hurricane Danielle have been lurking off the coast of Ireland these last few days and forecast to be moving across the British Isles; on Sunday the wind got up and there were gales forecast in the Irish Sea and I chickened out of going out on my own although several boats did sail on the high tide.

 

14th September 1998

Sunday was too windy for sailing. I'm going to have to experiment with techniques for reefing the sails, or sailing on the jib only.

 

18th September 1998

I saw a centre page pull-out guide in one of the yachting magazines this week entitled, "Your guide to crossing the Atlantic" - I dream.

 

9th October 1998

It's been cool and windy here but with a lot of bright sunshine interrupted by occasional showers. The leaves are starting to thin on the trees and most of the apples are in, except the late ripening ones. I was hoping there might have been a chance to take the boat out, but the weather really wasn't suitable. Most of the moored sailing boats are coming in onto dry land for the winter now.

I did get some useful clearing done in the garden and managed to build up our supply of fire-wood. Richard was following me behind the wheelbarrow and he managed to tumble into the pond!

It is simply beautiful being out in the garden. There is something very special about this time of year: the colours, the earthy smells and the sound of the wind in the trees.

 

20th October 1998

Autumn has set in a big way: chilly, grey and wet, and particularly dismal now that the nights are drawing in. Definitely time for the wood fire in doors. It was beautiful though in the garden on Sunday: I got a lot of clearing done and generated much material for bonfire night; also, I came across a hedgehog - not so rare in our garden but unusual in broad daylight and nice to see. Adam insisted I tell stories to him about hedgehogs for the rest of the day.

 

3rd November 1998

At 11 p.m. there was a 10 metre tide bursting on the sea wall with a strong northwesterly wind behind it and a full moon. I never saw such a high tide here. The sea was all over the road. I felt a strange, pleasant, almost terrified excitement because there is one recurring nightmare that I have occasionally had in adult life which involves standing on a foreshore and seeing the monster of all waves rising up and bearing towards me and the growing realisation that I won't escape it in time.

Our bonfire party is tomorrow. As usual, a huge pile of wood has appeared as though by magic in the night, the local contractors see it as an opportunity for free rubbish disposal and it will take four of us half the day to built it into burnable shape tomorrow, but this is all part of the fun. Adam is looking forward to it and so am I.

 

2nd December 1998

We like too much where we live: our wonderful garden, horses over the fence, lying in bed listening to the waves on a summers night, the crashing surf of a winter storm, opening the door to the tangy smell of sea air in the morning, sunrise in a crispy dawn sparkling on frost-covered sand, and the pink rays of setting sun over the water glowing off the distant Welsh hills. It's a clear, frosty night with a full moon. There's a thin, misty vapour over the water as the tide silently slides past the sea wall and the oyster catchers make their eerie call - I love it!

 

***

 

26th April 1999

Out sailing again - first launch this year. Saturday was a beautiful day and I took Adam out on the high tide in the evening while the sun was lowering in the west. It was neap and there was virtually no wind - very still, we moved like a whisper. It was so still that we went aground (neap tides don't leave much room to manoeuvre between sand banks) and didn't even notice that we were stuck for about a minute! It was good to be on the water again.

 

28th April 1999

The sun is a great red orb above the horizon. The boat is all set for launching at the next available opportunity - this weekend. It is a long weekend with the May Day holiday and there are high spring tides around midday - perfect!

 

14th May 1999

Sailing has been wonderful! Especially yesterday, when conditions were perfect and I spent three hours exploring some of the far reaches of the sand-banks several miles up and down the coast. I'm looking for the best route across the shallows that will allow me to circumnavigate the islands in the mouth of the Dee estuary on a single high tide. The timing is important in order to avoid being left high an dry.

 

18th May 1999

Sailing is good exercise: strong on the back and arms hauling the trailer along the road to and from the slipway, and then on the tummy muscles when leaning out to balance the boat when it's heeling over.

 

I had an embarrassing little incident two weeks ago in front of the lifeboat. It was a perfect day for sailing, sunny with a gentle breeze. I'd been out for about an hour and was starting to think about coming in for some lunch when I saw the Hoylake lifeboat coming past. This is a big, powerful, offshore boat with an experienced, sea-going crew. It pulled up close to our slipway, and the crew having passed some lines ashore set about some rescue exercises. Meanwhile, I thought I'd better make a good impression. I gave them a wide berth and tacked cleanly round to make my approach to the slipway in such a way as to avoid any risk of entanglement with their lines. Gliding in smoothly, I reached aft to raise the rudder to stop it grounding, but instead managed to pull the tiller off the rudder stock: the boat slewed round out of all control and, before I could do anything about it, heeled over wildly and capsized, right in front of the life-boat! What's more, a crewman was recording the whole incident on video! I righted the boat without assistance and then sailed out again to allow the self-bailers to empty the boat of water to avoid the embarrassment of having to do so ashore. Afterwards, our local lifeguard, who was also there on duty, remarked that I couldn't have chosen a better moment: the lifeboat only comes down here about once a year!

 

We've finally booked our holiday cottage for this summer: a house on the shores of Loch Torridon, way up in the north west of Scotland. I'm really looking forward to it. It is in one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland and a superb area for mountaineering. Everything is literally on the doorstep. There is access to the loch to launch the boat and the cottage lies at the very foot of one of the most spectacular mountains in Scotland, Liathach, the crest of which, soaring to 3,456ft directly above the sea, is considered to be one of the four classic ridge routes in the country. Of course, scope for serious mountaineering will be limited, but at least we will be four adults to share child minding. Unfortunately, the cottage was only available for one week and not two, but we plan to take the tent and tour for a few days after. I'm already really excited.

 

10th June 1999

Sailing, it is completely absorbing and I love it! This was my diary entry last weekend:

Onshore breeze, about force 3, which seems plenty strong enough for me single handed. The question arises how to launch at a right angle to the breeze with the sails up; hoisting the sails once afloat would be the better solution but with no means of holding the bow this could be awkward. I wheel the boat on the trolley half into the water then swing the trolley to head the boat into the wind, hoist the sails, rig the rudder, then manoeuvre the trolley so as to allow the boat to float, holding the bow. I'm glad Alix then turns up to retrieve the trolley. Which direction to cast off? Try to avoid the embarrassing and awkward situation of being blown back onto the sea wall before making way, but to make good way, must lower the plate and sheet-in immediately but can't lower the plate until in deeper water. Conundrum. Oh well, try it. Here goes. Shove, hop in and grab tiller. Impetus of shove already gone, drifting back on shore into small party launching rowing boat; sheet-in sheet-in: yes! now 45 degrees to wind and making way, miraculously avoid sea wall. Rudder down, plate down - no, not enough depth for plate, grounding on sand bank; half raise plate, can't tack, bear round with wind, avoid moored boats, must gybe - tricky in confined space, risk of capsize. Steady gybe by holding vang as boom swings across. Success! Now on course with clear water ahead.

It takes a few minutes of lively sailing to convince myself that I am really in control. The swell is slight but riding the waves is exciting as every other crest bursts on the bow, shooting spray up my bum leaning out over the windward gunwale. Shortly, the rhythmic plunge and rise through the waves works a very soothing effect, my senses become fully attuned to my immediate surroundings and all else seems a world away.

 

Hoylake Sailing Club Regatta, 15th June 1999

I actually took part in a race this weekend. The local sailing club held its annual regatta. While I was launching on Friday evening one of the officers of the club introduced himself and invited me to take part. It's quite an event locally, with a lot of visiting boats from the region and open to non-members.

So there I was on the water on Sunday morning with only the vaguest notion of what was expected. I was confused by the order of buoys and posts that marked out the course, which ones to pass on which side and in which order. Then there was the gun. There were meant to be six minute and three minute warning shots but I'm sure there was an extra one, and on which side of the line was I supposed to be? At the last moment but too late it suddenly became clear and the start gun found me on the wrong side of the line going the wrong way! The other boats were racing towards the first buoy whilst I having recrossed the line lagged hopelessly in their wake. For a while I was able to follow them, but as the wind got up and the sea became grey and choppy the field spread out and even some of the more experienced boats appeared to become confused and eventually I had to admit that I really didn't know where I was supposed to be heading! Oh well, I'll know what to expect another time.

I appreciated the opportunity to make contact with the sailing club. They seem to be a friendly and pleasantly informal lot and I may consider joining, partly for access to their rather nice clubhouse with bar overlooking the sea, but partly also because it represents a chance to get to know people whose company I might enjoy and who share an enthusiasm for sailing. It is not a sporty, highly competitive dinghy racing club, although they do organise racing on some Sundays. I have the impression that the competitive aspects are not taken too seriously. It is more a group of people who enjoy sailing in all its forms, which suits me. The attractive clubhouse is an added bonus.

It was not a competitive streak that induced me to participate in the race on Sunday, but an exploratory streak to see how I might enjoy it, and a sense of curiosity to see how my sailing matched up to others. I realised that racing is a good way to hone one's skills because I did a lot more manoeuvring and trying to maximise efficiency than when out on my own. I can see how racing could be enjoyable because it involves optimizing your performance, which can be thrilling and satisfying (and it would be nice to win sometimes too) but I can't yet see myself wanting to race regularly. Like skiing, I see sailing as a means of exploration rather than a competitive sport.

 

Tuesday 6th July 1999

We were sailing on Sunday, all of us together for a change. Rick was very excited before he got in, then once underway he kept saying, "Tip over!" and looking worried, but he got used to it for before long he was scrambling to the stern to grab the tiller saying, "Have it, Ricky do it!" Meanwhile Adam was intent that I tell him a story about some limpets who make friends with some ammonites. I am learning that taking the kids out demands additional skills to normal sailing competence.

We're soon away to Scotland for a fortnight. I actually bought myself a fishing rod and some tackle just in case the wind drops while out on the loch, as if I won't have enough to occupy myself with a boat and kids and magnificent nearby mountains. It telescopes down to 18 inches so it won't take up much space. I thought it might be fun for the kids too (good excuse, eh? Of course I'm just a big one.) I have fished exactly twice in my life and caught one trout about four inches long, so the family probably shouldn't rely on me for food.

 

Torridon and Kishorn, July 1999

 

[Monday 2nd August 1999, back home.] It is hard to be back after such a lovely break. Tragic actually. I suddenly see all the things that are wrong with my life here and what an effort it is to try to force myself to put up with them. Especially I see how drab, ugly and over-crowded are the areas where I live and work, even our little patch on the coast holds no magic compared with the northwest of Scotland.

While we were away it was wonderful to be able to spend so much time continually with Richard and Adam and coming back I realize how unnatural it is for a parent to see so little of his children as I normally do here. I have no illusions that we have a right to a perfect life - there is no reason why working for a living should be easy - but some things need to change.

The northwest of Scotland would certainly have limitations as a place to live, the principal of which would be an acceptable means to make a living, followed by the distance to secondary schooling for the boys. Also, family visits would be much less frequent, the midges bite terribly and the weather would not be as reliably good as we had it at least in the second week. But as for the rest of it - city life - I don't need it.

 

We spent the first week on the shores of Loch Torridon nestling at the foot of two of the principal mountains of the area. Torridon is rugged country - one of the last places in Britain to have glaciers as late as 9,000 BC - but like the whole west highland seaboard, sublimely beautiful. Other fjord-scape coastlines in the world are certainly more splendid, but Scotland has a special charm that appeals to me personally.

The peaks of Torridon rise straight out of the sea to over three thousand feet and are composed of thousand Myr old sandstone, which in the larger corries takes the form of sheer, dark grey precipices of giant masonry blocks, and on the tops, precariously placed boulders like part-melted stacks of huge dinner plates. Many of the peaks are capped with silver-grey quarzite which when wet glints and sparkles in the sun. The whole is founded on much older bed-rock (up to half the age of the earth) which shows itself in places as contorted swirls of intermingled shades of pink, orange and fiery red streaked with white. The region has remnants of the original Caledonian pine forest still undisturbed after eight thousand years. But the principal charms are the play of cloud and light on the hills and sea, and the unhurried style of life, where people still leave their house doors unlocked when they go out.

We had a fair bit of drizzle and overcast days in the first week, during the course of which ours was the only boat we saw afloat in the whole of Upper Loch Torridon. In fact, one afternoon, Martin and I were sitting in the boat in the middle of the loch, with the clouds low on the hills and the rain dribbling down the sails, awaiting any movement of air that might get us back to shore before tea, and I did start to wonder what it might take before I started to question my enjoyment!

Another day Martin and I thought we'd make the most of any time when the breeze died by trying my new fishing rod and three hundred piece fishing kit. Out on the water, the sails lolling impotenty, I gave Martin charge of the helm, should any light air arise to stir us, while I sorted hooks and fiddled, trying to remember how to tie them to the line. All of a sudden, there were ripples on the water, the sails filled, the boat heeled wildly and we were creating a creaming bow wave, covering the distance across the loch in a couple of minutes that it had taken us a whole afternoon the previous day, while I scrabbled to prevent fish hooks from littering the floor around our bare feet and at the same time tried to give instruction to Martin who'd never helmed a dinghy!

 

Come the weekend, the clouds evaporated and there followed six days of glorious hot weather when we were out everyday in T-shirts and shorts, even on the water and up at 3,000ft late into the evening - very unScottish! We found accommodation slightly farther south, with magnificent views from our living room window up into the majestic corries of Applecross and out to Skye, in a secluded bungalow just outside the small village of Achintraid on the shore of Loch Kishorn. Alix, Adam, Rick and I spent a couple of days of idyllic sailing when we were out for the whole day with picnic and cans of beer, mooring on uninhabited islands and remote beaches for long lunches, lounging in the sun, exploring the rock-pools for crabs and sea-anemones and swimming nude (there simply was no need for swimming costumes because no one was there!), although not for many minutes because the water was chilly. I love to abandon the trappings of civilization as much as possible on holiday - radio and television, swimming trunks, combing my hair, etc. I go happily for days washing and bathing only in salt-water with my hair gone wild, I like the feeling of it.

The Highlands can be extremely bleak and dreary ("driech" in the Scotch dialect) but only in some places and in certain weather. The atmosphere is often fresh and invigorating or imbued with a remarkable softness. Part of the beauty is this softness and the wonderful cloud-scapes. During our hot weather spell, although I wouldn't have wanted to change it, some of the distinctive charm was lost: it reminded me more of the Alps or the Sierra Nevada than Scotland.

I think we've all felt slightly down since returning, we had such a gorgeous few days. Sailing off the sea front here in Liverpool Bay has (at least temporarily) lost its appeal.

 

***

 

Sunday 19th March 2000

First launch of the year. It was wonderful to be on the water again! It is something very special to me. On the water, I am happy: life is as it should be and I don't want for anything. I was out at 8:30 a.m. for nearly three hours, and there was no one else.

 

28th March 2000

Summer time

We switched to British Summer Time this weekend and today the temperature has dropped to 3°C - it feels like January again! I did get out in the boat though, both on Saturday and Sunday. Good thing is, the kids have not adapted to the time change yet, so we get to sleep slightly later, but I wonder how long it'll take for them to catch on.

 

Sunday 2nd April 2000

Hoylake Sailing Club first dinghy race of the season.

It rained the whole weekend: a pretty much continuous light sea-drizzle which hardly let up even once. Alix took advantage of child-minding by parents and agreed to join me in the boat on Sunday (rare that we are ever in the boat together). At 9 a.m. there was a sea mist and hardly a breath of wind, and we really wondered whether we were silly, sitting bailing the rain out from where it collected from dribbling down the sails as fast as it came in, and feeling the wetness slowly creeping in down our necks. At the starter's gun, the few other boats all managed magically to coax some movement out of the still air, while it took a good two minutes before we managed first to point in the right direction then get underway, bringing up the rear. It was all quite amusing really, and in the end we were glad we'd made the effort to go out. Afterwards, all of us including the boys went into the clubhouse for a drink, then returned home for proper Sunday lunch of roast lamb, a good bottle of Rioja and an afternoon cozily by the living room fire. A near perfect Sunday.

 

Hoylake Sailing Club Regatta, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th June 2000

There were around 70 boats racing offshore, so quite a spectacle. I didn't race. I'm not convinced that racing is where my interest lies, I simply like to be out on the water and go where the whim takes me rather than jostle with other craft around buoys. The lifeguard introduced me to Billy who offered to take me out in Magnetic, his Cygnet cruising yacht. We walked out over the sand to his mooring in the outer channel. The tide comes up here with a rush; it is impressive like a fast flowing river, one minute you're lying aground and the next you're bobbing around floating free. It was interesting for a change and novel to be able to brew tea en route in the cabin, but it struck me how sluggish and how restricted in manoeuvring over the sand banks is a boat like Magnetic compared to my dinghy, so on Sunday I was happy to be back under my own sail.

Alix took the boys to the Millennium Dome in Greenwich at the weekend. It has been billed as a festival of Britain to match the great ones of the past but has had bad press and accusations of waste of public money. Alix thought it was accurate in presenting an impression of the state of Britain today in that it was confused and didn't seem to know what it was trying to be, and it had an abundance of what this country is famous for abroad: its queues.

 

12th June 2000

I'm considering an over-night sailing and camping expedition to Hilbre. The tides were right this weekend but the winds were too fierce for me, force 4 - 5 the whole time, and I didn't get out in the boat at all (I feel deprived). Beautiful sunny weather for the garden though; however, I had to use some of it on afternoon naps as, first Adam, then Richard, were sick during the night and left us very short of sleep.

 

16th June 2000

I went out on Tuesday evening just after I got home and it was gorgeous in the late light, sailing into the sunset. There was a significant breeze and I was even surfing in on some waves. This weekend the weather looks set lovely and, wind permitting, tomorrow we will all go out and perhaps anchor somewhere for a picnic.

 

19th June 2000

We are enjoying a heat wave; that is, I am enjoying it, but many are not. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the inner cities reached 90°F this weekend. We have a south wind, but plenty of breeze on the coast to be bearable. We all sailed on Sunday, cruising out to the far edge of the sandbank (about a mile offshore) where we beached, ate picnic lunch and had a swim; it is good to have a break to provide variety for Adam and Richard, otherwise they get restless just having to sit. After we returned, we all went to the beach again (with swimming costumes this time) to cool off while the tide was still up to swim in. Adam and Richard loved it. Later Alix and I were eating dinner on the lawn until 10 p.m. I love weekends like this and count it a great privilege to have the wonderful sea on the doorstep. Being back at work is definitely dull by comparison, but it is what I am paid for.

 

Monday 26th June 2000

We are in the 70s today, warmer than at the weekend with its brisk northwesterly breeze - too windy for sailing, unfortunately, which we’d been looking forward to as Alix’ sister and family were here to visit. We were a bit downcast from sadness that our visitors had to leave. The kids were so excited the whole time to have each other as playmates and they were all devastated when they had to part. They all shared the same bedroom and around seven each morning we heard the "gentle" patter of feet as they trooped down stairs, trying to be quiet but not quite succeeding, to organize their own breakfast before any of the adults appeared. On Sunday morning they even let themselves out of the house to play in the garden and in the lane before we got up - two of them still half in their night-clothes! And Adam was revelling in showing them around his home territory.

 

Sunday 30th July 2000

It's been a good weekend for sailing. Thursday evening was looking gorgeous and Adam decided to come with me (partly I suspect as a means of delaying his bed-time); unfortunately shortly after we launched some grey clouds coalesced above and released persistent rain for an hour. Friday really was gorgeous though: what little rain there was had cleared during the course of the day leaving a few fantastic cloud shapes and sparkling sunshine. I was the only boat out and I sailed until just after sunset in only my shorts and T-shirt. The breeze was very light and at one point I let myself hang backwards over the side with my hair almost dabbling in the water becoming almost dizzy from the huge upside down vista of red orb sun and pink tinted clouds gliding passed at water's-eye view. It was very pleasurable.

This morning Richard and I went out together. First time I've taken Richard alone. He was very good (in doing what he was told when told) and seemed really to enjoy and remain interested for the whole of nearly two hours that we were out (in perfect summer weather). He caused some amusement upon landing when he insisted in helping me by pushing the boat from behind with all his might up the slipway!

 

Saturday 5th August 2000

We are leaving for the Isle of Bute next Saturday and I feel there is a lot to rush to do before we go. Preparations for holidays these days are no longer a simple matter of organizing a rucksack on my back, boots on my feet and money in my pocket. There's the boat trailer to load - do the lights work? - need a new registration number plate to match the new car, grease the wheel bearings, where are all the straps and cords I used last year? Adam, Rick, where have you hidden xyz since I last saw you playing with it? Where are all the tent pegs? Does the camping stove work? etc. Alix tends to organise food and kids' clothes, which is a relief. All I've done is had a case of wine sent to the friends we're staying with for the first week (definitely essential provisions). I try to tell myself that this is a holiday and we're supposed to enjoy it, but I know I've worn myself down because I've succumbed to respiratory infection and my back is playing up (doesn't help to have to lift the boat trailer). None of this stopped us all going out sailing today though. We pottered along the shore to Leasowe beach and landed for the kids to build sand castles for half an hour (they like the break), then headed home before the tide went out. We saw lots of birds and a couple of very brightly coloured jelly fish.

 

Wednesday 9th August 2000

The boat and equipment is now loaded for the road and ready to go as soon as we can get out on Saturday morning. I avoid the check-list syndrome as much as possible and usually get by with a single pencilled sheet of paper scribbled a week in advance; I do what I consider necessary to avoid wasting time when we are actually away. High tide is about an hour before sunset and there is light air movement: if I feel I've worked well by the end of the day I'd be tempted to go out, although I'm not sure I want to face all the unloading and reloading again!

 

Isle of Bute and Argyll, August 2000

 

Our holiday was really wonderful. August Scottish weather again proved remarkably fine. There were only two days in nearly a fortnight when rain deterred us from doing what we had planned, and we had several magnificent days. Of our eleven days spent actually in Scotland, we sailed on six of them.

We enjoyed our time on the Isle of Bute spent with a long-standing friend David in his parental house. His parents are now dead but his sister lives there still. David lives in Switzerland, but returns every couple of years to supervise (and pay for) necessary structural upkeep as it is a large, rambling Victorian property. He generally invites a house-full of friends for the duration, which makes for a lively week - ideal for the kids, because there are other kids to play with, and for the adults too, who have the stimulus of each other's company.

The island is relatively close to Glasgow but, on its western shore particularly, it is quiet and has much of the character of more remote Hebridean islands. We had some fine sailing off the beaches in magnificent scenery and crystal-clear water. I also took some of the other guests out - I enjoy sharing their pleasure in it.

 

For the second week we moved farther westward and found a delightful camp spot on the shore of Loch Sween. It was a perfect, level, grassy platform a few yards above the shore, facing the sunsets. We had words with the local farmer who let us stay there and gave us access to a water tap, and who also offered to launch our boat from their adjacent field, enabling us to keep it moored right below the tent. We actually used two tents on this trip, letting Adam and Richard share the small backpacking tent together, which they enjoyed, thus leaving us some peace and privacy in the larger dome tent. It was very close to idyllic: we were completely secluded, I was able to read The Hobbit to Adam snuggled up to the campfire for his bedtime story, and we were very little harassed by midges, which is unusual for the Scottish west coast in August.

 

Upon arrival, it had been a hectic day travelling in the car, the kids had been fractious and were finally in bed, it was a beautifully placid evening with perhaps half an hour left of sun before sinking behind the hills, and I took the boat out. Ghosting along the middle of the loch with barely a whisper, making myself comfortable with my head resting on the thwart staring backwards up at the sky, I was so absorbed that I turned with a start when I suddenly realized I'd nearly bumped into an island full of seals! About a dozen of them on a craggy rock, about twenty yards long and four wide, breaking the surface of the water by about three feet. The rock was actually marked on the 1:50,000 map as a small blip but I hadn'd noticed it. It lay only about 500yd offshore from where we were camped, so we all returned there together in the morning for a closer look. There were several pups among them looking very cute.

 

Our nearest shop was 4 miles away by boat up the loch at Tayvallich on the opposite shore, but a 20 mile trip around by car, so we experienced the novelty of a family grocery shopping expedition by sail, making a fine day trip, with a good sea-food pub dinner thrown in.

 

Kilmartin Glen, not far away, is a centre for some of the earliest known settlements in Scotland, so on non-sailing days there were five thousand year old stone circles, burial sites, iron age fortresses, and also near by, tiny ruined churches dating back to the early Roman missionaries of the 6thC AD, some with original 12thC stone carvings still intact, as well as Castle Sween to explore. But I must say that I loved the sailing most: exploring the little islands, anchorages and unfamiliar harbour entrances. It is completely absorbing, demanding a wonderful combination of attention to physical coordination and judgment. That is what I find immensely satisfying about mountaineering too: this combination of physical challenges together with the continual need for reassessment of the situation in the light of one's knowledge of one's own abilities and of the objective dangers.

 

Tuesday 29th August 2000

I picked up a book from the library recently about how to build a wood and canvas kayak. I am wondering whether I could sustain the motivation and determination for such a project. This came after casually browsing for some information on glass fibre boat repairs: the boat could benefit from a little attention this year. I would like to paint her name on the hull. The word Esmerelda is just discernible written large on the side but so faded as to be almost invisible except in certain light. I'm still in two minds as to whether to call her this or Come What May, which refers to a remark made in conjuction with a decision to sail one day. To me, Esmerelda is the name of an elderly lady, and as time goes by I realize that she deserves the according level of respect.

 

Brother Martin and family came over the bank holiday and we sailed. Then today Adam and I happened to get the perfect combination of clear sunshine, fine breeze and high spring tide that allowed us to cross the sandbank and circumnavigate Hilbre, a feat that has been my aim since the beginning of the season, but from which I had been deterred either by too much or too little wind or insufficient tide. We spotted a dozen seals on the way, a pair of which followed us at close quarters for up to half a mile (Adam was thrilled).

 

Wednesday 13th September 2000

This day I was at home working, ostensibly, but there was mild, balmy sunshine and sufficient breeze to tempt me out onto the tide at midday. It was gorgeous and I made good way into the gentle south westerly air, ploshing pleasantly through the wavelets. Out of the distance, suggesting itself as a destination, appeared the HE2 East cardinal buoy that marks the east side of the West Hoyle Bank, beckoning me like a siren to go farther offshore than I have ever been, two and half miles out from the mouth of the Dee estuary. I decided I ought to be able to round it and return with the breeze behind me in time to cross the bank before the tide receded.

It was eerie being alone and so far out, with the buoy and its apparently resident population of perched seagulls on its large scaffold superstructure behung with lights, bells and other navigational symbols; the boat seemed small and fragile compared to its robust iron bulk.

On the way back the breeze became lighter. A seal investigated me closely, surfacing and blowing noisily just off the stern and rolling tummy-up as if to get a better look. Shortly afterwards the wind died.

I tried with the oars to get as far as possible, and then towed and hauled on the painter as the ebbing tide left me with barely enough depth to cover my ankles, but eventually had to deploy the anchors, abandon my vessel and walk home, some fifteen minutes back to Hoylake promenade.

Next high tide was not until midnight so I would have to walk out and wait for the flood two hours before, then row back in the dark. My main concern was to locate the boat on the vast expanse of sand in darkness; I had taken a compass bearing and, fortunately, noticed that the iron railings on the promenade caused the needle to deviate by about 30°!

Come What May / Esmerelda finally appeared as a ghostly white shadow in the torch beam. Waiting on board for the tide was a quietly serene experience, reclining quite comfortably in my 8mm wet suit in a slight drizzle. It was rather beautiful: wet but warm in the dark, with the night full of the sounds of oyster catchers and imagining the gurgling trickle of advancing water becoming louder by the minute, and a hint of moonlight behind the clouds.

 

20th September 2000

The season is distinctly about to slide into autumn. The apples have reached full ripeness and are starting to drop, and there are widespread hints of leaves starting to turn colour. The sunshine is warm during the day, but last night the temperature dropped nearly to 50°F for the first time probably in months. With the shorter days, the number of high tides potentially suitable for sailing becomes restricted; that combined with the higher probability of poor weather means sailing will be sporadic (I've been out only twice this month). But I love this season.

 

22nd November 2000

I'm enthralled with a book at the moment. It is a description of three seasons spent sailing up the eastern seaboard of North America, from Florida to the St. Lawrence, in a 16ft Wayfarer dinghy by Frank Dye. It is about exploration by sail stripped to its bare essentials, the idea of which appeals to me enormously, and is exactly the sort of sailing I'd love to do on this coast, although without some of the author's more hairy adventures. Among other things, he has opened my eyes to what an enormous and varied coast North America has - like distances on the land, the size of the coastline is difficult to conceive compared to this country.

Eurasian blue tit is usually 12 cm (4.7 in), long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) for all genders, and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz).A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue and the back is yellowish green. The underparts is mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet.[The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown.Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow. The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

Eggs are 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) long and 10.7–13.5 mm (0.42–0.53 in) wide. Egg size appears to depend mostly on the size of individual females and secondarily on habitat, with smaller eggs found at higher altitudes. The clutch's total weight can be 1.5 times as heavy as the female bird.

The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK.[When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, and bigger clutches are usually laid by two or even more hens. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species.

In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%, while the adult annual survival rate was 53%.[18] From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years.Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire.The maximum recorded age overall is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic ..... I simply love these little acrobatic colourful stunning birds .

Eurasian blue tit is usually 12 cm (4.7 in), long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) for all genders, and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz).A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue and the back is yellowish green. The underparts is mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet.[The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown.Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow. The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

Eggs are 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) long and 10.7–13.5 mm (0.42–0.53 in) wide. Egg size appears to depend mostly on the size of individual females and secondarily on habitat, with smaller eggs found at higher altitudes. The clutch's total weight can be 1.5 times as heavy as the female bird.

The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK.[When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, and bigger clutches are usually laid by two or even more hens. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species.

In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%, while the adult annual survival rate was 53%.[18] From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years.Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire.The maximum recorded age overall is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic ..... I simply love these little acrobatic colourful stunning birds .

  

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however, we are south of the Thames in the middle-class London suburb of Putney in the front room of a red brick Edwardian villa in Hazelwood Road, where Gerald has brought Lettice to visit his friend, Harriet Milford. The orphaned daughter of a solicitor with little formal education, Harriet has taken in lodgers to earn a living, but more importantly for Lettice, has taken up millinery semi-professionally to give her some pin money*. As Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, has forbidden Lettice to wear a shop bought hat to Leslie, Lettice’s brother’s, wedding in November and Lettice has quarrelled with her own milliner, Madame Gwendolyn, Gerald thought that Harriet might benefit as much from Lettice’s patronage as Lettice will by purchasing one of Harriet’s hats to resolve her fashion conundrum.

 

Lettice glances around the front parlour of the Putney villa, which doubles as Harriet’s sewing room and show room for her hats, with the critical eye of an interior designer, all the while listening to the notes of the oboe being played upstairs. The room’s middle-class chintzy décor immediately appals her as she takes in the floral covers of the flouncy Edwardian sofa on which she perches gingerly, and its matching roomy armchair by the fire, a hand embroidered pouffe and the busy Edwardian floral wallpaper. A bookcase stands in the corner, full of mystery novels covered in dust which Lettice suspects might have belonged to Harriet’s father, the deceased Mr. Milford. The bookcase’s top and the fireplace mantle are cluttered with family portraits taken in the possibly happier days of the idyllic summers before the Great War. The walls are hung with a mixture of cheap botanical prints and quaint English country scenes, all in gaudy gilded plaster frames. “How ghastly,” Lettice utters quietly with a sigh.

 

“I know: you hate the floral chintz,” Gerald says in reply to Lettice’s laconic observation. “You don’t need to tell me. The look of distaste on your face says it all. But you aren’t here to redecorate Lettuce Leaf, so be a darling and remember to mind your manners. You are a viscount’s daughter, after all, and Hattie is just a solicitor’s daughter. However, in spite of her low birth in comparison to your own, she is a good person, and she is my friend. Show some of your good breeding and be gracious.”

 

Lettice shoots Gerald an annoyed look at his use of her abhorred nickname yet again. “I’m beginning to question your choice of new friends – not that I even knew she existed prior to today.”

 

“Oh, there is a lot about me you don’t know, Lettice darling.” Gerald says with an air of mystery.

 

She glances around her again. “It’s awfully untidy in here.” she remarks not unjustly as she takes in the sight of a concertina sewing box on casters which stands cascaded open next to the armchair, threads, embroidery silks, buttons and ribbons pouring from its compartments like entrails. Hats in different stages of being made up and decorated lie about on the arm of the chair and the settee or on the floor in a haphazard way. The brightly patterned rug is littered with spools of cotton, scissors, ribbon, artificial flowers and dogeared copies of Weldon’s** magazines.

 

“Yes, well, Hattie hasn’t learnt the finer points of presentation yet,” Gerald admits. “But I’m working on that. However, suspend your judgement until you see what she can create for you.” Pointing to the three hats Lettice inspected a few minutes before sitting atop what must have formerly been a tea table, he adds, “You’ve already seen that her work really is every bit as good as Madame Gwendolyn’s.”

 

“Well, we shall see.” Lettice pronounces, withholding her judgement on Harriet’s work.

 

Just at that moment, Harriet’s scurrying footsteps across the tiled vestibule floor outside the door announce her arrival and she hurries through the door bearing a tray loaded with tea making implements and a plate of biscuits. “Be a lamb and bring over father’s chess table, will you Gerry darling.” she instructs Gerald.

 

Obediently Gerald gets up from his seat on the floral sofa next to Lettice, and with the familiarity of a regular houseguest, picks up a tilt table nestled on the far side of the fireplace. Tilting its surface into an upright position, Lettice momentarily sees the chess board set in marquetry on its surface before it is quickly obscured by an old fashioned Edwardian gilt banded tea set and the plate of biscuits as Gerald takes everything off Harriet’s tray.

 

“Thanks ever so!” Harriet sighs with relief before depositing the tray on the floor by the door, walking back across the room and around the table and then collapsing into the armchair with another deeper sigh.

 

“As an interior designer, Lettice has just been commenting on your décor, Hattie darling,” Gerald says to their hostess as he resumes his own seat.

 

“Gerald!” gasps Lettice, her face flushing at her friend’s frank admission.

 

“Oh I’m sorry it’s so untidy, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet apologises as she snatches a rather tattered copy of Weldon’s* off the arm of her chair, shoving in behind her floral cushion, and tries to bundle her sewing bits back into the tray of her sewing box on casters. “Gerry has told me I need to improve the presentation of my premises, but having no domestic staff to speak of other than me, and trying to run a boarding house at the same time as make hats means I just don’t seem to have the time to tidy up in here.”

 

“Nor do I, Hattie darling,” Gerald scolds. “But that’s no excuse.”

 

Harriet blushes at her friend’s gentle rebuke.

 

“Shall I be mother then***?” Lettice asks. When Harriet nods in agreement, Lettice perches herself on the edge of the chintz sofa and sets out the tea things. “So,” she asks, pouring hot brackish tea into the first china cup. “You run a lodging house too?”

 

“Yes, for theatrical artistes.” Harriet explains proudly with a smile. “That’s Cyril playing his oboe upstairs,” She rolls her eyes up to the white plaster ceiling decorated with floral boiseries. “Although he is a professional actor as well as a musician in the West End.”

 

“Indeed,” muses Lettice.

 

“Although I do wish he’d play something other than Schumann or Mozart when we have guests.” mutters Harriet.

 

“Oh why, Miss Milford?” Lettice asks.

 

“Well, it’s not exactly the jolliest of music, is it?” Getting up again, Harriet walks over to the open doorway leading to the vestibule. Standing astride the threshold she calls up the stairs, “Do you think you could play something a bit jollier on the oboe, Cyril? We have guests. Gerry’s brought a friend. How about a nice bit of jazz?”

 

The music stops abruptly followed by a rather feminine sounding man’s fey voice opining from upstairs, “How can you, Hattie? I’m an artiste!” The last word is uttered dripping with melodrama. “Jazz music does not make one money.”

 

“Really? Then explain to me how the Savoy Havana Band**** make a living, Cyril? Please? Do it for Gerry, if not for me!”

 

“Oh, alright,” the fey voice bemoans. “But only because Gerry brought a chum.” The music recommences, only this time the opening bars to ‘The Sheik of Araby’***** fill the air.

 

“Hattie had a rather awkward situation with a retired colonel when she first started letting rooms.” Gerald says in a lowered tone as Harriet smiles at the change in music.

 

“Yes, the old chap couldn’t keep his hands to himself.” Harriet replies with a curt nod as she walks across the room and takes her place again. “Dirty old lecher was old enough to be my grandfather!”

 

“How awful, Miss Milford!” Lettice exclaims.

 

“I don’t find I have the same problem with men who are theatrical types, especially those from the chorus, those who paint the sets or work in the wardrobe department,” She smiles at Gerald, who smiles back. “If you understand my meaning, Miss Chetwynd” Harriet says with a wink, returning her attention to Lettice “I feel much safer around the likes of Cyril and his chums.”

 

“Indeed yes.” agrees Lettice, glancing between Gerald and Harriet, the pang of jealousy curdling her stomach as it did when she first saw Gerald and Harriet embrace in the way she thought only she and Gerald did.

 

“My father sent me to domestic science classes, so I’m quite a dab hand at plain cooking and keeping house when I get the chance, so my lodgers are happy.”

 

“Do try one of Harriet’s jam fancies, Lettice,” Gerald encourages, picking up one for himself from the blue and gilt banded sandwich plate, placing it on the edge of his saucer as he picks up his cup of tea. “They really are rather good.”

 

Lettice picks one up and takes a small bite, the biscuit dough melting in her mouth. “Very good, Miss Milford.” she enthuses. “Every bit as delicious as my maid’s baking.”

 

“Thank you, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet replies with a proud smirk. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

 

“Considering that Lettice doesn’t know how to make a cup of tea, never mind bake a biscuit, I would.” Gerald remarks cheekily.

 

Ignoring his remark, Lettice asks, “So how is it that you came to make hats, Miss Milford? I was just admiring those hats on the table over there before you came in. They are beautifully made.”

 

Turning her head, Harriet gazes pleasingly at the three hats sitting on the table next to her sewing machine in the bay window. “Thank you, Miss Chetwynd. Well, my mother before she passed on taught me how to sew and embroider. She embroidered that.” Harriet indicates to the pouffe at Lettice’s feet with its green flounces and a rose stitched on its top. “I always enjoyed sewing and working with fabrics, so I thought I’d try my hand at making hats.”

 

“Harriet had to turn over her sewing room to Cyril when he came to board with her.” Gerald adds.

 

“How do you know where Cyril sleeps?” Lettice asks with mild shock, her face flushing with colour when Gerald clears his throat awkwardly and blushes bright red as a silent form of reply. “Oh… oh, I see.”

 

“The light is much better in here anyway,” Harriet quickly pipes up brightly in a chivalrous effort to prevent her friend any further embarrassment, a gesture that does not go unnoticed by both Gerald and Lettice who both admire her action. “The bay windows downstairs are much bigger than the oriel windows up under the roof. Besides it’s much easier for customers to step in here than trudge up three flights of stairs to the attic.”

 

“And your little enterprise has taken off, I believe Miss Milford.”

 

“I’ve been moderately successful, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

“You’ve been very successful, Hattie darling.” Gerald corrects her encouragingly.

 

“And what are you going to call your cottage industry, Miss Milford?” Lettice asks. “Not Hattie’s Hats, I hope.”

 

“Oh how drole you are, Miss Chetwynd,” laughs Harriet. “No. Well, I hadn’t actually thought what I should call my ‘little enterprise’, as you call it, Miss Chetwynd. Maybe you and Gerry can help me find the perfect name.” Clearing her throat, she carries on. “Which brings me to the reason why you are here. I believe that you are in need of a new hat, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

“So, Gerald has told you about me then, Miss Milford?”

 

“Well, yes, Gerry did tell me that you are both to attend your brother’s wedding at the end of November – a country wedding in Wiltshire I’ve been told – and he did tell me that you have fallen out with your former milliner, Madame Gwendolyn of Oxford Street. He also gave me some background to your family,” She leans forward in her seat, her demeanour suddenly going from a relaxed stance to a more professional and formal one. “However, I am also perfectly capable of doing my own research, Miss Chetwynd. I’ve often seen your picture in the society pages in the company of Gerry, Minnie and Charles Palmerston, Celia Bamford, Willie Chelmsford, Priscilla Kitson-Fahey and more recently, American department store heir Georgie Carter: your ‘Embassy Club Coterie’ I believe you call it. You are also acquainted with Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon****** who has been linked romantically with the Duke of York in the last year. I also saw you in Vogue twice this year: once at the wedding of Dickie and Margot Channon in January - Margot Channon née de Virre your best friend – and then again at the marriage of the Princess Royal******* in February.”

 

“My, you are well informed, Miss Milford!” remarks Lettice, unable to disguise how impressed she is at Harriet’s research.

 

“I also noticed, without Gerry needing to tell me,” Harriet glances momentarily at Gerald slyly scoffing another of her jam fancies before returning her attention quickly to Lettice. “That the rather fetching straw hat with silk and feather trim you wore to the Royal Wedding was a model bought from Selfridges.”

 

“Gerald!” Lettice exclaims, slapping him hard on the knee.

 

Sitting up and spluttering out bits of biscuit onto the floor in front of him he manages to utter between coughs, “I… I didn’t… tell… her.”

 

“It’s true,“ Harried elucidates. “Gerry didn’t need to. I make it my business to study fashion, and anyone with a keen eye who reads Selfridges advertisements would know that it is a French mode Mr. Selfridge paid to import from Paris. Pretty yes, but not unique. No doubt, after your falling out with Madame Gwendolyn you found yourself in a tight spot Miss Chetwynd, needing a new hat, but not one from her. Being one of hundreds of guests at the wedding, you could get away with a shop bought hat. As a significant event on the Wiltshire social calendar, I imagine that you need something a little more discerning to wear to your brother’s wedding, considering that there will be far fewer guests in attendance than there were at Westminster Abbey, and therefore more attention paid to you.”

 

“Please forgive me, Miss Milford,” Lettice smiles across at Harriet, suddenly sitting up straight and looking her hostess directly in the eye. “I must confess that I underestimated you. When Gerald brought me here, and when I first met you outside, I didn’t detect an ounce of your shrewdness.”

 

“My father may not have valued my further education, but I did learn a few tricks and traits from him before he died.”

 

“Bravo, Miss Milford.” Lettice’s eyes glisten with interest. “You have my full and undivided attention. What are you proposing?”

 

“I believe you are wearing lemon yellow to the wedding, with russet accents. Is that right, Gerry darling?” Still recovering his breath after choking on biscuit crumbs he can only nod in reply before coughing again. “Then considering the shape of your face and the colour and style of your hair, I would suggest a yellow dyed straw, small brimmed picture hat with lemon yellow muslin and perhaps some russet flowers or autumnal shaded imitation fruit.”

 

“Hmmm….” Lettice ponders Harriet’s suggestions with a downwards gaze, envisaging what the hat might look like, before looking up again. “Very well Miss Milford. Consider yourself engaged to make my hat for Leslie’s wedding.”

 

“Oh hoorah!” exclaims Harriet, clapping her hands in delight. “We can settle terms later.”

 

Just as Lettice is about to agree, a tall, slender and handsome young man with pale patrician skin and a mop of blonde curls walks through the parlour door, dressed in a set of tails with a square instrument box in his right hand. Unnoticed by the party sitting in the parlour, the oboe music had ceased a short while ago, and the player now stood before them.

 

“Well, I’m off up the West End, Hattie.” Cyril’s voice, still containing that fey quality, was instantly recognisable. Placing a kiss on Harriet’s proffered right cheek, Cyril turns and snatches up a biscuit off the tray on the table before leaning over to Gerald and placing a kiss squarely on his lips, causing Gerald and Lettice to both blush at the brazen expression of affection bestowed upon Gerald so openly by the young men. As if nothing could be more natural, the young musician spins on his heel and elegantly walks to the door. Pausing on the threshold he turns back to the trio and says dramatically, “Don’t wait up.” Then he looks intently at blushing Gerald and adds, “I’ll see you after the show, Gerry darling. Ta-ta!” And he disappears from view, his exit from the villa being heralded moments later by the opening and then slamming of the front door.

 

The room is suddenly plunged into quiet, broken only by the ticking of the floral china clock on the mantle and the chirp of birdsong in the bushes outside the parlour window, the silence even more evident by the lack of Cyril’s playing drifting from upstairs.

 

“Well, you were right, Gerald,” Lettice says breathily after a few moments.

 

“About Harriet?” he asks gingerly.

 

“Well yes,” she agrees. “But also, about the fact that there is so much about you I don’t know.” She smiles cheekily, breaking the nervous feeling in the room. “So, is Cyril the reason you have come to know Miss Milford, or did you come to know Cyril through Miss Milford?”

 

*Originating in Seventeenth Century England, the term pin money first meant “an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures. Married women, who typically lacked other sources of spending money, tended to view an allowance as something quite desirable. By the Twentieth Century, the term had come to mean a small sum of money, whether an allowance or earned, for spending on inessentials, separate and in addition to the housekeeping money a wife might have to spend.

 

**Created by British industrial chemist and journalist Walter Weldon Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was the first ‘home weeklies’ magazine which supplied dressmaking patterns. Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was first published in 1875 and continued until 1954 when it ceased publication.

 

***The meaning of the very British term “shall I be mother” is “shall I pour the tea?”

 

****The Savoy Havana Band was a British dance band of the 1920s. It was resident at the Savoy Hotel, London, between 1921 and 1927. Players in the band included future American crooner Rudy Vallée and British pianist and composer Billy Mayerl.

 

*****“The Sheik of Araby” is a song that was written in 1921 by Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler, with music by Ted Snyder. It was composed in response to the popularity of the Rudolph Valentino feature film The Sheik. "The Sheik of Araby" was a Tin Pan Alley hit, and was also adopted by early jazz bands, especially in New Orleans, making it a jazz standard.

 

******Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon as she was known in 1922 went on to become Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from 1936 to 1952 as the wife of King George VI. Whilst still Duke of York, Prince Albert initially proposed to Elizabeth in 1921, but she turned him down, being "afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to" She was one of Princess Mary’s eight bridesmaids at her 1922 wedding.

 

*******Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (1897 – 1965), was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the sister of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of Queen Elizabeth II. She married Viscount Lascelles on the 28th of February 1922 in a ceremony held at Westminster Abbey. The bride was only 24 years old, whilst the groom was 39. There is much conjecture that the marriage was an unhappy one, but their children dispute this and say it was a very happy marriage based upon mutual respect. The wedding was filmed by Pathé News and was the first royal wedding to be featured in fashion magazines, including Vogue.

 

This rather cluttered and chaotic scene of a drawing room cum workroom may look real to you, but believe it or not, it is made up entirely with pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces from my childhood.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism such as these are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable. The natural yellow straw hat with white ribbon trim on the arm of the settee was made by an unknown artisan in the United Kingdom and was sold through Doreen Jeffrey’s Small Wonders miniatures shop. The red velvet hat covered with roses on the arm of the chair was made by an unknown British artisan. The two hats on the carpet were both acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House in the United Kingdom.

 

The copies of Weldon’s Dressmaker and the Lady’s World Fancy Work Book scattered about the room are 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. The books on the bookshelf in the background are also made by Ken Blythe. Most of the books I own that he has made may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection, but so little of his real artistry is seen because the books that he specialised in making are usually closed, sitting on shelves or closed on desks and table surfaces. In this case, the magazines are non-opening, however what might amaze you is that all Ken Blythe’s books and magazines are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make this a miniature artisan piece. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.

 

The concertina sewing box on casters which you can see spilling forth its contents is an artisan miniature made by an unknown artist in England. It comes from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the in the United Kingdom. All the box’s contents including spools of ribbons, threads scissors and buttons on cards came with the work box. The box can completely expand or contract, just like its life-sized equivalent.

 

The hand embroidered and home made cream and green pouffe, the black japanned fire screen, the black metal fire tools and the plant in the corner all also come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop.

 

Harriet’s family photos seen cluttering the mantlepiece and the bookshelf in the background are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each.

 

The porcelain clock on the mantlepiece is made by M.W. Reutter Porzellanfabrik in Germany, who specialise in making high quality porcelain miniatures. The pot of yellow and blue petunias on the mantlepiece has been hand made and painted by 1:12 miniature ceramicist Ann Dalton. The castle shaped cottage orneé (pastille burner) on the bookshelf has been hand made, painted and gilded by Welsh miniature ceramist Rachel Williams who has her own studio, V&R Miniatures, in Powys. The bowl decorated with fruit on the bookshelf was hand decorated by British artisan Rachael Maundy.

 

The spools of threads, the tape measure, the silver sewing scissors in the shape of a stork and the box of embroidery threads I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House in the United Kingdom.

 

The tilt chess table in the middle of the room I bought from Mick and Marie’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom. The Edwardian tea set and cake plate on its surface come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House in the United Kingdom, whilst the biscuits on the plate come from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering.

 

The sewing basket that you can see just behind the straw hat sitting on the arm of the sofa I bought from a high street shop that specialised in dolls and doll house furnishings. It is an artisan miniature and contains pieces of embroidery and embroidery threads.

 

The floral chintz settee and chair and the Art Nouveau china cabinet are made by J.B.M. miniatures who specialise in well made pieces of miniature furniture made to exacting standards.

 

The sewing machine to the left of the photo, I bought from Melody Jane’s Doll House Suppliers in the United Kingdom. It is made with extreme attention to detail, complete with a painted black metal body, authentic sewing mechanisms and a worksurface “inlaid” with mother-of-pearl.

 

The Chinese carpet beneath the furniture is hand made by Mackay and Gerrish in Sydney, Australia.

 

The Edwardian mantlepiece is made of moulded plaster and was acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House in the United Kingdom.

 

The bookshelf in the background comes from Babette’s Miniatures, who have been making miniature dolls’ furnishings since the late eighteenth century.

 

The paintings and prints on the walls all come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House in the United Kingdom.

The Eurasian blue tit is usually 12 cm (4.7 in), long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) for all genders, and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz).A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue and the back is yellowish green. The underparts is mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet.[The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown.Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow. The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

Eggs are 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) long and 10.7–13.5 mm (0.42–0.53 in) wide. Egg size appears to depend mostly on the size of individual females and secondarily on habitat, with smaller eggs found at higher altitudes. The clutch's total weight can be 1.5 times as heavy as the female bird.

The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK.[When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, and bigger clutches are usually laid by two or even more hens. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species.

In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%, while the adult annual survival rate was 53%.[18] From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years.Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire.The maximum recorded age overall is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgG88p7F98c&t=9s

 

The Crunch

Second Coming. Vol. 5 No. 1 - 1977

 

---

 

Too much

too little

or not enough

 

too fat

too thin

or nobody

 

laughter or

tears

or immaculate

non-concern

 

haters

lovers

 

armies running through streets of blood

waving winebottles

bayoneting and fucking virgins

 

or an old guy in a cheap room

with a photograph of Marilyn Monroe

 

many old guys in cheap rooms without

any photographs at all

 

many old women rubbing rosaries

when they'd prefer to be rubbing cocks

 

there is a loneliness in this world so great

that you can see it in the slow movements of

the hands of a clock

 

there is a loneliness in this world so great

that you can see it blinking in neon signs

in Vegas, in Baltimore, in Munich

 

there are people so tired

so strafed

so mutilated by love or no

love

that buying a bargain can of tuna

in a supermarket

is their greatest moment

their greatest victory

 

we don't need new governments

new revolutions

we don't need new men

new women

we don't need new ways

wife-swaps

waterbeds

good Columbian

coke

water pipes

dildoes

rubbers with corkscrew stems

watches that give you the date

 

people are not good to each other

one on one.

Marx be damned

the sin is not the totality of certain systems.

Christianity be damned

the sin is not the killing of a God.

 

people are just not good to each other.

 

we are afraid

we think that hatred means strength

we think that New York City is the greatest

city in America.

 

what we need is less brilliance

what we need is less instruction

 

what we need are less poets

what we need are less Bukowskies

what we need are less Billy Grahams

 

what we need is more

beer

a typist

more finches

more green-eyed whores who don't eat your heart

like a vitamin pill

 

we don't think about the terror of one person

aching in one place

 

alone

untouched

unspoken to

watering a plant

being without a telephone that will never

ring

because there isn't one.

 

more haters than lovers

 

slices of doom like taffeta

 

people are not good to each other

people are not good to each other

people are not good to each other

 

and the beads swing and the clouds cloud

and the dogs piss upon the roses

and the killer beheads the child like taking a bite

out of an ice cream cone

and the ocean comes in and out

in and out

under the direction of a senseless moon

 

and people are not good to each other.

 

A week in the life of an American Target, in the United States of America

 

It’s been a long week, and it’s only Friday, as I start this. I was hoping to work on this throughout the week. But, I have been preoccupied, by trying to stay alive. For Reals Guys, for Reals…..

 

Bare with me folks, this is going to be a long list of events.

My intermittent vision loss in my right eye, has been going on for over two years. I first saw the Optometry Department at the Fresno, California VA. I was told if it returns, to rush to the clinic, so they could see first hand. It only last a few minutes, when it happens. I lived and worked in Yosemite National Park, at the time. An hour and 40 minutes away. I didn’t get any answers from them, and eventually, was forced into early retirement.

I thought I did my research before leaving Yosemite, and moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. Their VA Hospital, was the worst, toxic and vile VA, I have ever been to (and still is). I bought a motorhome, adopted Koda the Magnificent, and headed to Arizona. From there, I’ve been bouncing from hospitals, to clinic; trying to find something that resembles adequate medical care.

On 11-9-21, I was seen by the Phoenix VA, Optometry department, they called in two doctors. They requested I see a Retina Specialist. I was seen by one, on 12-15-21. That doctor requested, I be seen by an Ophthalmic Neurologist. These doctors, kept saying, it’s migraine headaches. Even though, I never had a history of migraines, and seldom get a mild headache. I’m not taking about the Direct Energy Weapons Attacks, I receive. I’m talking headaches.

It took another four months to be seen, by a doctor at Barrow Neurological Institute. When I first saw that doctor, on 4-14-22, he was very dismissive, short, and went on the migraine headache spill. I asked for an MRI on my brain, he he told me there was really no need. I insisted, and had it done at the Phoenix VA, on 5-27-22. I told the Neurologist I would be in Colorado. He said we could do a video conference call, to give me the results. His staff and I, set up the date; knowing I would be in Colorado. The week prior to the video call, I kept getting text and emails, from Barrow staff, saying I have an in office visit. I’m in Colorado, they are in Phoenix Arizona. They knew I would be in Colorado, but continued the text and emails.

Now it’s Monday (this week), 7-18-22. As I test Zoom, for the video conference call; a Crop Duster, buzzed the top of our Motorhome. We are on BLM (Bureau of Land Management), lands. The closes crops to us, are about 5 miles south. Maybe someones growing marijuana out here. I hope I find some. After the fly over; gunshots, from the other side of a hill. 150 meters to our left. This time, it sounded like a .22 pistol. Not a high powered rifle. When I took Koda out to poop, or pee; we get the Village Idiots of Mesa County, driving back and forth, on a road not far from us. Accelerating, sounding off, their Big Billy-Bob trucks. One even zooms pass the back of our Motorhome. Gas, still at $4.99 a gallon. This is the same list of events, that happens in Arizona and Wyoming. The same conspired, pattern of events. A plane, gunshots, then soon after; the Village Idiots appear.

I get Zoom dialed in, and wait for my video call. The Neurologist, from Barrow Neurological Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona; was supposed to give me my MRI result. Well, the Community Care Team, from the Phoenix VA; didn’t send the MRI, to the Neurologist. They had two months to insure they had the MRI. I made many calls, month after month. No one, from the VA Community Care Team in Phoenix, returned my calls. I also made repeated calls to the Neurologist staff, at Barrow Institute. They didn’t return my calls. They did call me last Friday, to make sure I was set up for the Video Conference; even though, they didn’t have an MRI to read. Maybe, so they could bill the VA for it? Or, so the doctor could talk down to me again; telling me I’m responsible to insure they have the MRI? Or, maybe they are trying to hide something from me? Could it have been deleted; like the Secret Service Text? Never to be found, but many, many bullshit excuses.

This is what happens to veterans, that dare speak out against the VA. Or any other Government Agency, of the United States of America.

So, after the Video call shit show; I called the Phoenix VA, Patient Advocate. I told a man named Anthony, what had happened. He said he would start a case number. He gave me the number to the Community Care Nurse. She still has not returned my call from Monday. Today, is Saturday.

Now, that you may be a bit confused by all the dates; it Tuesday. The Ophthalmologist, that I saw last week requested a CAT scan, so I scheduled to have it done at the VA, in Grand Junction.

Because of the radiation, I couldn’t take Koda. I scheduled him for a Dog Day Care, here in Grand Junction, CO. I spoke with a woman in detail, after reading their reviews. I informed her, he was up to date on all vaccinations. That I’m a Certified Animal Care Specialist. She had me fill out an owners contract online, and said they would send a request, for a copy of his records. This was last Thursday; I didn’t receive it. I called Friday, spoke with the same woman. She told me to come in at 11:00 am, Tuesday, with Koda, his records and we will take care of it.

We are back to Monday night, just before I go to bed. I get this notification from Yelp, at 10:35 pm. It was a review that reads :

“We left our dog here for day care with the instructions of he does not need much activity, 30 minutes or less. 5 hours later we were handed a dead dog with not much more than a “sorry” from the owner”. (Name Withheld)

It goes on to say, he was left with a young assistant and died of heat stroke. This was about a facility, I used here, two years ago. This was an attempt at Gaslighting. The night before I take Koda to a new facility, just before I go to bed, I get this. This is the kind of shit, a Target in the United States of America, gets on a regular basis. Now, if that wasn’t enough to get your hart racing, read what’s next.

Tuesday morning we get up, I take Koda out to poo; the Village Idiots of Mesa County, zoom back and forth, revving their engines. We go inside, have a bit of breakfast, and the Dog Day Care calls me. The woman tells me, they can’t except Koda; unless all his vaccinations are on a Veterinarian’s Letterhead. We went over that, Thursday and Friday. Now, I’m being told, Koda can not be on their premises, because of their license policy, or some shit. Here it is, the morning of my CAT scan, and they throw this shit at me. Like I keep telling you guys; “I’m used to it”. This shit happens all the time. I can’t miss my CAT scan appointment that day.

I asked to speak to the manager (not trying to be a Kevin). She agreed, to let me bring Koda, review his records, and give him an evaluation. As we head out towards Grand Junction, the Village Idiots of Mesa County; set up along the route. We even had the Village Idiot of Loma, Colorado; driving in circles, at their Post Office. In his little Postal Truck, as we drove by. Maybe he’s “Going Postal”.

I’ve mentioned crap like that, too, in previous post.

The manager said, she called the owners, and Koda was fine to stay. I was concerned leaving him there, but I had no choice. I needed to have the CAT scan. I head to the Grand Junction VA, and was chased down and crowded, by the Village Idiots, in Big Billy-Bob trucks.

I get to the Grand Junction, VA. I have a guy cut me off just before I entered. Then when I got in the building, a guy in civilian cloths, steps in front of me. His job, was to stall me, so I miss the elevator. I almost ruptured a nut, but made the elevator. I received my CAT scan, with no incidents from the staff. (Someone’s been reading my post). As I walk out of the hospital; the same guy that stepped in front of me, by the elevator, does it again. This time he has a guy with him, he called him Bill. Yes, it was a Billy-Bob, and a dose of Gaslighting.

I made it to my car, and was headed to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I payed my car off, and needed to switch the title to my name. They weren’t expecting that, and not set up for me. While one of the staff was waiting at the entrance, cell phone in hand, a guy rushed up to the ticket window ahead of me. There was only him ahead of me, at the ticket window, and two people inside, getting served. He starts telling the woman at the ticket window a long story. She gets on the computer and takes care of his transaction, as the Perps start rolling in. I asked the woman if this was the ticket window, she gets snappy, and says “I help out when they are backed up”. They were not backed up, I’ve never seen a branch so empty. As she continued to help this guy with a registration or some shit, two of the staff serving customers leave. I get this a lot, too. It was mid-afternoon, not lunch time. This is a stalling campaign.

Here I am waiting, then there’s a big line behind me. There’s a kiosk, just to my right. A woman drops a dental floss stick, on the floor. It was the exactly like the ones I use. She keeps sliding her foot back and forth beside it. I know people drop dental floss stick all the time. This is a conspired act of Gaslighting. These guys know I’ very perceptive. Doing live recons, I had to know my surroundings. Once all the Village Idiots made it in, to mob me. The guy waiting outside with the cellphone, goes into a back office. I finally get my ticket. I walk into an almost empty service area, and get my title. It took the you guy three attempts to get my mailing address correct.

I go back to pick Koda up, and the woman at the counter; shows me and reads Koda’s behavior assessment. She tells me that Koda was great. He remained calm when approached by staff, and the dogs they use to test his behavior. They said he didn’t get excited, remained calm and he did great. He has had many, what is called a Meet & Greet. He always passes with flying colors. (This will come back up later; an incident with the Forest Service) The staff were great, once they realized, I wasn’t afraid to stand up for myself. There was a creepy guy watching us in the lobby, as we checked out.

I have my little buddy in the car, and we head to a shopping mall. I needed new shoes, my daughter is coming out this summer. I don’t want to embarrass her, wearing Dad Shoes. As we head down the road; here comes another Billy-Bob. He has an American Flag the size of his truck, on a post, in his truck bed. I don’t know what the fuck these people are so proud of. Take a good look at the United States of America today! Soon after he drives pass us, with a big smirk on his face; we are surrounded by Big Billy-Bob trucks. These are large pickup trucks. There is one on each of our sides, one behind us. Then a small motorcycle pulls out from in front of one. It pulls in front of us, slows down to about 15 miles an hour. The big trucks slow down too. The one behind us, right on our ass. It’s as if they know where we are going. I can’t pass the guy, on the maybe 90cc motorcycle. I can’t get over to the right lane to make my turn. I finally do. The truck to my right pulls ahead, so I can get over. He then slows down and lets the motorcycle in front of him. This goes on, until we reach the mall. As we set in the parking lot, the motorcycle comes back by. These are Baiting Tactics, in hopes I will act out in anger, as others record it. No Law Enforcement to be seen.

We go into a Target store (no pun intended). We get mobbed and blocked by a couple of their staff, and the Mesa County Village Idiots (I’m done trying to be nice to these simple fucks). I wanted to pick up a few things there. We then found a nice shoe store in the mall. I picked out a pair. A woman using her young daughter, tries to cut us off; as we headed to the register. The shoes were even approved, by the young staff at the counter. As we walked through the mall, we saw an Ice cream store and had to stop. I got Koda a scoop vanilla bean , and me a pecan camel, something. It was great, the young woman at the counter was a sweetheart. We had the little shop to ourselves. Koda, laying at my feet, awaiting every spoon I fed him. He deserved every bite. That was short lived. Sociopath Karen comes in. Koda, laying calmly at my feet, jumps up. Something has him riled. Koda starts panting, looking her way. Karen at the counter, getting louder by the minute. I ignore the bitch, calm Koda down. I started receiving a light Energy Weapons Attack. Koda may have too. We finished our ice cream and left. Once in the parking lot; we get the second hand cigarette, and car exhaust treatment.

Last year in the spring, we were in Arizona. I wanted to go for a walk, get some exercise in. We were about a half mile from camp. Koda was off leash, but stayed close to me. He then, hits me hard, in the thigh with his nose. He sometimes nudges me when he wants something, but this was a hard nose butt. It almost knocked me down. I asked him what? He sets and looks up at me. I said, lets go Koda. He starts barking. He’s never done that. I said what again, he calmly stands, turns around and starts walking slowly back to camp. I though, OK, maybe it’s getting to hot for him, so we headed back. Now, I’m getting a little light headed, as we get closer to camp. We were about 100 yards from our camp, and I blacked out. I remember seeing gray. The next thing I remember; is Koda standing over me licking my face. Yuk, he stuck his tongue in my mouth. I got up, cleaned myself off, and we made it back to the Motorhome. This happened again, in Wyoming last summer. This time he alerted me the same way, I sat down, drank some water, and ate a few crackers. I thought the last time, I may have been a bit hypoglycemic. So we took water and snacks on our walks, even the short ones.

I adopted Koda, when he was about 11 months old. I found out at his vet check, he had a very bad puppy-hood. I wanted to give him the love he deserved, and possible train him to be a service dog. I took him everywhere to get socialized. I trained him for city street crossing in Gilbert and Phoenix, Arizona. That’s where he learned the wait command; from the automated crossings. I taught him all kinds of verbal and hand commands. All he needed was a soft spoken voice and praise. People, that aren’t the Village Idiots; are amazed at our interactions, as we shop. He will wait at the end of aisles; because the Village Idiots, love to block and run into us there. He will turn right, left, pull our shopping cart, and lay at my feet at checkout. The Walmart Staff Haters, seem to hate him. Fuck them too, right Koda. He will shake his head no at me. When I playfully tell him to stop shaking his head no; he will do it more vigorously. He is learning how to say yes. Not the actual word, but it kinda sounds like it. Its more of a loud squeaky yawn, but it means yes. This is why I call him Magnificent. He truly is. He is young, and if something were to happen to me, I’d like him to go to another veteran in need. I get emotional when I talk about him.

Where was I at? Oh, the Village Idiots; that’s what I call the people involved in American Gang Stalking/Community Mobbing. Seriously, lookup the definition of Gang Stalking. It has run rapped

in the United States of America, but many are afraid to openly speak of it.

Now, it’s Wednesday. We get up early, but I haven’t been feeling well for weeks. We go on short walks. I’ll play ball and tug with his rope, trying to keep Koda active. I wanted to do some scouting for a cooler camp site. So, we packed the cooler and headed out in the car. The Village Idiot Spotters, waiting on a hillside, to see which way we go. He hit the highway, and head for the mountains. I wanted to check out and area with a big river for fishing. We headed for White River National Forest. As I’m driving down the highway, I get a call from the Grand Junction VA. I put it on speaker, have trouble hearing the woman. I didn’t know who she was, and why she was calling, so I asked. She said she was a Community Care Nurse, and they have my CAT scan results. She then told me I have major blockage in my Carotid Arteries, its serious. She said I needed a Carotid Endarterectomy, and they would have someone call me to set it up. We continued to talk. I said, that may be why I’ve been so light headed. It’s restricting blood to my brain. This can lead to strokes, and even death. That’s why, I have the small bubbles floating around in my right eye’s field of vision. I also have a large floater, cover more than ¾ of my field of vision, in my right eye. I also have a small floater in my left eye. This may have been why I blacked out last winter, and the spring prior. It doesn’t explain the gray (what I call a gray curtain), that comes and goes in my right eye. Or, the 14 years of Direct Energy Weapons Attacks. I continued to talk with the nurse about the gray curtain, that covers my right eye. The Phoenix VA, not getting my MRI to the Neurologist. The MRI, I had in Phoenix, could have shown blood restrictions, or minor strokes. I talked to her briefly about my experiences with the Grand Junction VA. She tells me that I’m in the 2%, that are not satisfied with the Grand Junction VA. That’s because of their questionnaires. They don’t allow for specific negative comments, or feedback. If you do send a negative questionnaire, you stop receiving them. She, and many don’t take into account; that many veterans are aware of the retaliation, and will be treated the same as I am. So, they don’t fill them out. I inform her of the staff harassing not just me, but Koda too. She said they may need retraining. No, they need to be fired. Any staff harassing and preventing veterans, from quality care, needs to be fired! Period! No one is held accountable at the Grand Junction VA, Phoenix VA, and from what I read; anywhere.

Anyway, I’m now pulled over at the Kum & Go. Yep, folks, that’s the real name of a gas station out here. As I continue my conversation with the nurse, I told her not to take what I’m saying personal.

I’m setting in the parking lot; a Sociopathic Karen, starts bending over, so she can repeatedly flip her long hair into the air. Yes, folks, this is a real Half-wit thing. They have all kinds of tells, and they will throw them in your face; just to let you know they are with the Local Village Idiots Association (Gang Stalkers). I’m almost through the call with the Grand Junction nurse, she tells me that Chief or Assistant Chief doctor so, and so, has been listening in on our conversation. She waits towards the end of the call to tell me this. Not them, but others, two years ago, did the same. I think it’s Bullshit, and unethical. Every veteran should be told up-front, who they will be speaking with. The doctor, didn’t chime in once. I’ve had no other VA facility, do this….

We happen to be in Rifle, Colorado, setting at the Kum & Go. My family in the Midwest, are still laughing about the name. Karen is now joined by Kevens and Billy-Bobs. They know I have to pee by now, it’s been hours. We go in, Koda stands at my side. A Forest Service employee rushes in. We walk out, and there’s a Keven, phone in palm, looking down at it, as hes ready to step in front of us. I tell Koda; stay close Billy-Bob is ready to pounce. I told you guys, I’m tired of being nice to these Bottom Feeders. That pissed him off. He rallied his Billy-Bob Buddies, and they surrounded us in the parking lot. While I was looking at the map, and my phone, for camping areas; the Perps set up in front of the car smoking, the Honey-Pot in short, shorts pulls in beside us. A Want-a-Bee, with a hand held radio, puts on show directly in front of us. Yep, another Stupid Fest, right there in Rifle, Colorado.

I decided that the sites were to far away from the Grand Junction VA, and we headed back towards the highway. As we do, the local Sheriff shows up at the circle. When we pull onto the highway; a Black Tahoe, with Government plates pulls up behind us, then slowly passes. (ooooh, I’m shaking). Not really, it was only one. I’ve had 4, before.

I stopped at a BLM office in Grand Junction, last month. I asked a young woman about Dispersed Camping sites. She gave me 3 areas to check out. We were headed to check them out. Remember, its only Wednesday. I almost forgot. We drive to the 1st one on my list. Its 52 miles out of our way, and no real sites that will fit our motorhome, car dolly and car. We ended up in the White River National Forest. No shit, I was looking at it earlier, but decided it was to far, and here we are. We get to the top of this mountain, stop, get out and stretch for while. It’s beautiful, but far from the area, that I want to stay in. As I stand there with Koda, here comes our fly-over. 10 minutes after that; two motorcycles show up. The people on them, all dressed in black, full face helmets, dark visors. I couldn’t tell their age, male or female. They zoomed by. We were headed back, came over our first hill. There was a big bull, running towards us, on our side of the road. This thing, as big as my Mazda 6. I hit the brakes, as I swerve left. The bull, slowly trots pass the right side of the car, giving us a stern look. No shit, guys. It was so surreal. Koda, nudged me on the shoulder. He wanted to go out and corral this big thing. Not to far behind the bull, is a Gray Toyota Tacoma. We do get chased down by cows a lot, too. Damn, cow.

We made it back down to a small town, that we passed on the way up. As we drive slowly through it; the Town Marshal shows up ahead of us. Drives up a hill, stops and watches us go through. When we came through it on the way up, we were mobbed at a station. I stopped for information. Those Perps, used their teenage kids to mob us at the register. I did get a fishing license, 2nd pole stamp, and a lottery ticket. I need to check that ticket. If I win, I’m not going to write for you guys anymore. I’ll be in Spain.

We get back to the main road we turned off on. A total of 102 miles round trip wasted. Thanks lady at the BLM Office. We head towards, where I camped a couple years ago. Nice and cool, trees and shade. There was only one person in the secluded camp ground. It was a Dodge Camper Van, I’ve seen it before. The spot I stayed in, was open. They replaced the fire ring and picnic table, with new ones. Koda and I walked around, went up to the self check in; to see if anything changed. I took one of the envelopes and read it, then put it back. I walked Koda for a few minutes, then we get in the car to leave. As we pull up to the exit, a Forest Service truck comes rushing in. It drove right over to the self check in, and parked. I turned around to ask, how long the max stay was. It wasn’t posted. As I pulled up to them, one of the guys gets out of the truck, starts putting eye drops in his eyes. While, overexerting the process. Shaking his head, then flailing the arm he had eye drops in. I’m taking drops for my eyes; this is another act of Gaslighting. He sees my cell on the dash holder, pointed at him, he immediately turns around. I rolled down the window and asked the guy about max stay days. He straightens right up, turns around, looks at the board, and says he doesn’t know. Then, stepping out from the drivers seat, is the Honey Pot. She’s maybe 18-19, dressed in a tight shirt and jeans. Not a Forest Service Uniform. She walk towards our car, a couple objects in her hand, and items bulging from her pockets. As she walked towards us, Koda begins a low growl. He senses something, and continues a low soft growl. I said no Koda, no; he continues. By this time, she’s right at my window. Little boobies almost in my face. I said miss, he’s a service dog, and something you have, has him reacting. I said it, calmly and as polite as I can be. She gives me a look, doesn’t say a word, and walks back to the truck. Remember, he just had another Behavior exam, for boarding yesterday. I didn’t tell the young girl that.

There was another guy stepping out of the back passenger side. She said something to him, and he jumps back in. She opens the driver door, then two other guys from Forest Service truck, step out on her side. They are in Forest Service uniforms. They are hiding behind the drivers door, as the guy with the eye drops is stepping on his dick, trying to answer simple questions. Once he, and I realized he was pretty much useless. I rolled up my window, pulled ahead, so I could turn around. The guys in the uniforms, hiding in the truck. Hiding like; our CIA Director William Burns, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas. Hiding behind their positions and titles. Letting American children and people, fend for themselves.

As we left that Agency Shit show; I thought of all I dealt with, while working in Yosemite. Is this what you are teaching the young kids, you recruit out of our High Schools, Mr Directors? Koda the Magnificent, and I, unfazed, head out for greener mountains. We checked a couple other areas. By then, the local half-wits were set up at them. We headed down the mountain towards Grand Junction. As we got closer to camp, I ordered a pizza. I was drained, and to tired to cook. I ordered a Hawaiian Pizza, marinara sauce, not bbq, and two garlic butter dipping sauces. Koda loves Hawaiian, and we can eat on it for days. I double checked, to make sure they had my phone order right, before I hung up. We later pulled up, to the drive up window, the manager greeted us. She seemed very pleasant, I repeated my order, with the sauces. She said yep, that’s it. I opened the box partially to look at it, and didn’t see any dipping sauce. She said, it’s clear in the back. I said OK, closed the box, and left a nice tip. We got to camp and it was getting late. Koda and I were starving. I opened the box, it had marinara dipping sauce, not garlic butter. I took a bite out of the pizza; it had some kind of white sauce. It was fucking discussing. I called the place back, spoke to the same woman. She wanted to argue with me. I told her, I recorded the conversation, because things like this happened to us all the time. She didn’t argue anymore. I told her I couldn’t eat this, I would like what I paid for. She said she would refund me, and make us a new pizza at no charge. We went back, by then, the Village Idiots of Fruita, were set in place. We even had the bald guy, combing his bald head. He didn’t have any hair to flip, so he improvised. Really, I have it on camera, like millions of the other acts of Domestic Terrorism; aka Gang Stalking. The Fruita half-wit show was quite entertaining. Koda, didn’t even growl at the simple fucks. We got back, cranked up the ac, had our pizza and went to bed.

Now its Thursday. I wake up with a pee-boner, stand up too fast, and smash my face on the shower glass. It didn’t break, the glass anyway. Must have been that low brain blood supply. Fucking VA. Koda and I had a long day. I took him for a little walk, just back and forth, pass the motorhome. On the road behind it. The Village Idiots must had enough of their sociopathic needs fulfilled yesterday. Because we didn’t get a plane, gunshots, motorcycles or Honey-Pots.

Back to Thursday. Try and keep up guys. I’m the one, with the restricted blood flow to the brain. Koda and I chilled that morning. We watched a movie with animals, so he could ruff and watch with excitement. Mid-afternoon, we went into town to get some lunch. We were going to scout more camping sites that hot afternoon, in the air conditioned car. Koda loves car rides, and setting in his passage seat, in the motorhome. We get into Grand Junction, and are surrounded by Big Billy-Bob trucks again. They even follow us into the restaurant parking lot. We use the drive through, and as we pull out of it, we are cut off by a Big, Big, Billy-Bob truck (Pick-up). I get around and pull up to his window. It’s tinted so dark, you can’t see through it. I stopped, motioned for him to roll down his window. He reluctantly does and give me a smirk. I have to look up, because hes above the roof of my car. He’s a young 20 something, with a $70,000, pick-up truck. I look right at him and say “I just wanted to see if you were one of the Village Idiots”. That pissed him off. He blasted away, leaving me with a face full of exhaust. It was worth it.

Koda and I pulled over to a Sprout’s parking lot and ate our lunch. No one messed with us. Which I thought, was rather odd. After we ate, we pulled onto the main road, to do our scouting. Within a couple of minutes, we had a law enforcement car right on our ass. This guy was tailgating. This happens when I stand up for myself and Koda. Like Wednesday, in Rifle, Colorado. But, when Koda or I are harassed, blocked in my trucks, shots fired over the motorhome; they are no where to bee seen. Kinda like; when the KKK, ruled the south. You won’t read that in your history books, but its true…. I adjust my dash-cam, move over to the right lane. He slowly drives pass us, and onto the highway.

Koda and I make it back to our campsite search. We were checking on two more places, the woman at the BLM Office, gave us. The roads that she told us to take, were not on the tiny map she gave us. We passed some of the road numbers close to the numbers she gave us. The ones she gave us; stopped at or before BLM lands, and had no access. That’s 3 for 3, fuck me. I don’t know if you read one of the previous post. She was taking her time so called helping us, as an older couple (looked older than me)

brought in a teenage boy, to harass Koda. He had something clinched in his right hand, walking up to Koda, as he lay at my feet. Koda stood up and growled, while being in the office full of government employees. The older woman looks at the boy, and says “It’s OK, it’s OK”. Stalling, baiting, Gang Stalking at its best.

So much for our scouting, we went back to camp. I made a nice dinner. After, I started on this long winded writing spree.

Friday, we stayed at camp all day. I was feeling a bit weak. No boners this time, just fatigued. We both laid around, chilled, and I started typing again. Blood, I think, making it to my brain. I take Koda out, late afternoon, and a Perp Couple have set up, right behind us. The same place the Boob Flinging Mother of a Teenager, did last Friday night. They are setting facing the sun. It’s 100 degrees out, and they are facing the sun. They have a minivan, a tarp as an awning, Billy-Bob with his Perp Orange Tee Shirt. They had a tiny square trailer, but only large enough to sleep in. All they had to do was, turn their van in the other direction, to get out of the sun. They had plenty of room. But, it would have exposed their plate number. The guy gave us the stare down as Koda took a pee. We we don’t go into town, they come out here, to push our buttons. We went back in the motorhome, enjoyed the air conditioning. As they sat in the sun, watching our camp with a vengeance. Like good little Perps.

Last weekend, we had a woman camping right behind us with her teenage daughter. They 1st drove back and forth as I took Koda out to poo. I don’t know what kind of fetish these sick fucks have with Koda pooping? But, they love to harass him as he’s scrunching up to drop one. Anyway, once they did their poo skit, back and fourth, they left. After dark, they came back and set up camp right behind us. The next morning I took Koda for a short walk. The woman stood up as we walked pass, put her arms in the air, stretching her boobs out, in our direction. It wasn’t that impressive, rather repulsive. Knowing her teenage daughter was watching us, out of the screen door of their truck camper. Seriously, these sick fucks are teaching their kids how to bait, harass and be Bullies. Meanwhile; parents, watch their kids come home form school in tears, being bullied. Some kids, never make it home at all. This is the United States of America. Our children are taking active shooter classes in school. Some kids so bullied, with no help, turn to killing other children, as they get older. No one is going to give you those facts, though they are true. Like the mass shootings in the workplace, because of extreme Workplace Mobbing. The news media, won’t do the follow-up, and the full truth. It just silently goes away, being blamed as a disgruntled employee.

Saturday we get the early morning crop duster, buzzing us, just as we get out of bed. He’s back at it again, almost every day this week. I’d love to find that marijuana crop.

The sun-burnt Perps behind us left Saturday, as Koda was scrunched up for a morning poo. The guy, still in his orange shirt, giving us the stare-down, as he slowly drives by. Koda, let out a puffy fart, just in time. After they left, I took Koda for a short walk, back and forth behind the motorhome. I’ve been short winded, and don’t smoke. We stayed in, I played a little tug of rope with Koda and got back to typing. I took him out a couple time in the afternoon. Around 4:40 pm, the plane come back. I’m typing, Koda starts panting. When he want out to use the bathroom, he will nudge his leash, or bring his communication ball to the door. He’s panting, because something has him worked up. I asked if he wanted out, he lays in the hall panting. I know what’s coming; it happens over and over. I tell Koda, “we need to gather our half-wit gear”, as he stands at the door panting. Once we step out of the motorhome, some overly fat guy, shows up on a motorcycle. He’s decked out in white dirt bike gear and helmet; rides slowly, pass the back of our motorhome. He was hoping I had Koda off leash, so he would chase after him. Koda, looked at him like the idiot he was, I laughed, and took a couple of pictures. It’s the same skits, over and over. But, no one in our government, or law enforcemnt; actually gives a shit. Do they Mr Directors. Just like, when the KKK ruled the south.

It’s Sunday morning. We wake a little after 6:00 am. By 6:23 am, we get the plane fly over. I gather my Half-wit documentation devices, and Koda. We go out so he could take his morning pee. No motorcycles zoomed by. It’s Stupid People Sunday; where are they? Maybe they are at church; ya think? We go back in, Koda gets his morning chewy, and me coffee. Koda, hasn’t had much exercise in the last few days. I’ve been feeling fatigued, for the last year. I though it was a bought of Lupus fatigue, but now know better. I took him for a walk; back and forth, on the road just behind our motorhome. It’s close. As we stepped out of our motorhome; a high flying plane flies pass, on our west. 10 minutes later; the American Bully shows up. It’s the picture above. He’s rushing, to hide behind the hills to our left. Like our Agency Directors, in their offices. From there, he will start shooting high powered rifle rounds. Trying to intimidate us, so we go back inside. With these bottom feeders; its all about power and control. Koda and I continue walking back and forth. The American Bully, continues firing off rounds. I have my Half-wit documentation devices recording every moment. Koda, signals for us to head back to the motorhome. So, the Village Idiot puts off a barrage of rounds, just as we get to the motorhome. We go inside, document the half-wit show, go about our morning routine.

Koda, could have walked for miles, but he’s watching out for dad. He has been very clingy, for the last few months. He sleeps in the bed with me, and thinks he’s human. You can see a few pics in my photostream. I’ll wake, he’ll be laying stretched out beside me. Laying up against me with his back. His nose, tucked under my chin. I’ll roll over, he stands up, stands over my face; and starts smelling into my mouth. He’s trying to tell me something.

We took a nap around noon. Once we got up, I took Koda out to pee. As soon as we stepped out of the motorhome; the Village Idiot of Loma Colorado, starts shooting off rounds, just to our south. These are closer, and rapid fire. Those darn Half-wits. Again, as we start to go inside; another barrage of half-wit gunfire. The same exact events happened in Arizona, Wyoming, and now back again in Colorado. These are the American Bullies. They are hell bent on driving anyone from their communities; they feel not worthy. How are they any better than me, than you? They are protected by Law Enforcemnt, just like the KKK was. Like the Law Enforcement, that shows up when I stand up for myself. Like the Law Enforcement officer in Laramie Wyoming, the Sargent here in Grand Junction, the Department of Interior Law Enforcement Officers. I’m not saying all are bad, I have family in Law Enforcement. I’m talking about the Bullies that hide behind their badges. Their supervisors, that allow and encourage this type of behavior. They needed to be weeded out. They good ones need better training, better pay, better superiors.

 

The American Bully is running this country of ours. They are in our government agencies; like the FBI Branch Office in Fresno, California. They are in the Halls of our Nation. They are in our hospitals, workplace, schools, streets and neighborhoods. They are testing and using; Direct Energy Weapons on unsuspected United States Citizens. They are destroying the lives and future of our children.

Do I have all the answers; No. Violence, is not one of them. I do know, knowledge, truth and exposure; are powerful tools. Take a look, listen and read through my photostream. There, you will find the Truth. I am an American Patriot, I love this country. I hate what is happening to it.

I don’t want your sympathy, your money. I want you to know what is happening to this country or ours; behind closed doors. All photos, and content in my photostream, are free to download, print, copy and share. All I ask; is you try to share something with someone in need. Maybe to a local Veteran’s Organization. If you can’t that’s OK. Share the Truth.

 

Thanks for visiting our photostream.

Cristina as you said he is a beauty my friend and now a regular visitor to my garden.

 

Blue Tit

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, is a 10.5 to 12 cm (4.2 to 4.8 inches,) long passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and western Asia in deciduous or mixed woodlands. It is a resident bird, i.e., most birds do not migrate.

 

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Parus caeruleus.

Most authorities retain Cyanistes as a subgenus of Parus, but the British Ornithologists' Union treats Cyanistes as a distinct genus. This is supported by mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis which suggests that Cyanistes is not only distinct, but not close to other tits (Gill et al., 2005).

 

Description

The azure blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye and encircling the white cheeks to the chin give the Blue Tit a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue; the back is yellowish green; the under parts mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen. The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. Young Blue Tits are noticeably more yellow. This is a common and popular European garden bird, due to its perky acrobatic performances when feeding on nuts or suet. It swings beneath the holder, calling tee, tee, tee or a scolding churr.

The song period lasts almost all the year round, but is most often heard during February to June.

 

Breeding

It will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with House Sparrows or Great Tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession.

The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Blue Tit the colloquial nick-name "Little Billy Biter". When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, and bigger clutches are usually laid by two or even more hens

 

Behaviour

Blue and Great Tits form mixed winter flocks, and the former are perhaps the better gymnasts in the slender twigs. A Blue Tit will often ascend a trunk in short jerky hops, imitating a Treecreeper. As a rule the bird roosts in ivy or evergreens, but in hard weather will shelter in a hole. Blue tits are very agile and can hang from almost anywhere.

The Blue Tit has an average life expectancy of 1.5 years

 

Diet

The Blue Tit is a valuable destroyer of pests, though it has not an entirely clean sheet as a beneficial species. It is fond of young buds of various trees, and may pull them to bits in the hope of finding insects. No species, however, destroys more coccids and aphids, the worst foes of many plants. It takes leaf miner grubs and green tortrix moths (Tortricidae). Seeds are eaten, as with all this family.

 

Learning

An interesting example of culturally transmitted learning in birds was the phenomenon dating from the 1960s of Blue Tits teaching one another how to open traditional British Milk bottles with foil tops, to get at the cream underneath. This behaviour has declined recently because of the trend toward buying low-fat (skimmed) milk, and the replacement of doorstep delivery by supermarket purchases of milk.

 

Conservation

Blue Tit populations often decrease considerably during harsh winters or after poor breeding seasons where the weather is cold and wet, particularly if this coincides with the emergence of the caterpillars on which the nestlings are fed.

 

I sure hope that doctor Connors is able to find way to counteract Billy's transformation, as I can see how much it's hurting Billy when he was trying to fight for control against the Lizard. Also, I personally don't want to fight the Lizard again for the sake of my well being. Owwh so many bruises. It's evening now, as I swing myself home. Luckily my evening curfew is extended on the weekends. Not that I'm ever on time anyways. Once I'm in my neighbourhood, I find a spot to change. It takes me only a minute or so, before I'm finished changing. After that's all taken care of, I walk up the street to the house, and open the door. I see the light on inside the kitchen, with Teresa there making an evening snack for herself. She spots me walking in, and walks over to me, with a sandwich in hand.

 

"Hey Pete! Want one?"

 

"Nah, I'm good. Probably just gonna hit the hay here pretty quickly."

 

"Long day of webswinging?"

 

"Not so loud Teresa. Aunt May doesn't know." I whisper.

 

"Oh don't get so worked up over it. She's over at the MJ's house anyway, so it's fine. So who was it this time?"

 

"Well, first off, there was Clown Nine. A gang of clowns trying to rob a dollar store. Suffice to say they went down pretty easily. After that, was this giant lizard. That's where all these bruises came from." I point at my newly acquired bruises before continuing.

"Anyways, I somehow managed to take him down, and it turned out to be Billy Connors, a guy in my grade that goes to Midtown as well. Just another victim of Oscorp's experiments."

 

"Clown Nine? Seriously? Where do they come up with these names?!"

 

"Says the one who calls herself Beetle."

 

"I could say the same about you. But touché.. As for Oscorp being behind it, that doesn't really surprise me. They've been behind a lot of shady dealings recently. Unfortunately for us, they find ways to twist the truth into a cover-up, and blaming it on random employees. Like Otto Octavius for example. He was the scapegoat for one of many dealings, and now he's our school's janitor."

 

"Haven't you been able to find any evidence against them?"

 

"Oh lots. But considering I learned most of it during my time as Beetle, it's not like it's admissible in a courtroom."

 

"There has to be a way."

 

"If there is, you'll find it. You always do... Anyways, I guess I better let you get your sleep. Before I go, you should use makeup to at least try to cover those bruises. Either that, or wear a better costume." She takes a bite out of her sandwich, and turns off the kitchen light, before going to her room.

 

"Yeah, good luck with either of those things happening sis!" I say with a laugh, as I start walking up the stairs. It still feels strange calling her my sister. But the memories are all there... I enter my room, placing my bag in the closet, behind some other random things. I take a minute or so to brush my teeth, before getting into bed, and falling asleep approximately an hour later.

 

---------------

My alarm wakes me up, and I'm reminded that the weekend is once again over. Ughh, this is one of those days where I don't really want to get up and go to school. But that's the way things go, and you can't always get what you want. Finally, after a few minutes of just laying there, I manage to pick myself up, and out of my bed. I go through my typical morning routine to get ready for the day ahead. Teresa insists on putting makeup on me, but I manage to evade it happening through various excuses. Upon finishing breakfast, me and Teresa head out for the bus stop. Teresa sits close to the back of the bus, where some of the other juniors sit, while I'm closer to the front. When we arrive at Midtown High, I make my way to my locker, to grab the books I need for history class. I still haven't had a study session with Gwen Stacy, but that's mostly on me. With learning about Teresa, being a superhero, and remembering things for other classes, I've been too busy to study history. It'll become apparent to Mr. Maxwell soon enough, with

 

"Pete! Hey man! Oo, what happened?" Harry says as he notices the bruise around my eye.

 

"Hey Harry. Oh this? Ah it's no big deal. Just took a tumble, that's all." I notice Flash Thompson walk by, but something's different... Wait a minute. Is that a smile I see on his face? What is going on here?! He even waves at me as he passes me in the hallway. It's official, Flash Thompson was replaced by a Skrull.

 

"So it looks like your sister is adjusting pretty well."

 

"I already know where you're going with this, and no, I'm not going to set you up with my sister. But yea, I'm glad she's already found some friends. Not really surprising though as she is quite sociable."

 

"Ookay okay! Just thought I'd give it a shot. So how are things with you and Lana?"

 

"Eh, pretty much the same as it has been since her first day. I mean I like her, but I don't think she feels the same way for me."

 

"You're kidding me right? You literally ran after her to try to save her life after those two superpowered goons tried to take her. I mean sure, at the end of the day it was Spider-Man who saved her, but you still made the effort. I'm sorry, but I don't see how she couldn't like you after that. All that aside, it's blatantly obvious that she likes you back, even before you tried to save her. I mean, you're the only one who has tried to get to know the real her. You should just go for it man! Besides, what's high school without having a little romance?"

 

"Uh, it's still high school... But maybe you're right."

 

"Of course I'm right! I am Harry the wise after all." He replies with such confidence, and a big grin on his face.

 

"Right... How could I ever forget?." I say in a mocking tone, as I shut my locker door, and locking it in place.

 

"Anyways, we better get to class. Don't want to get lectured by Mr. Maxwell again!"

 

"That's the last thing I could use right about now." I say agreeing with Harry. We start navigating the hallways, heading towards history class. I spot Lana ahead of me moving through the crowds. I try taking longer strides, to catch up. Eventually, I manage to catch up, as the crowds get somewhat smaller.

 

"Hi Lana!" I manage to say. It looks like I catch her off guard, as she turns her head, finally noticing me.

 

"Oh hi Peter! Didn't see you there. How are you? Besides getting into fights and all that."

 

"What?! Oh the bruise. That was more of me being a klutz, but whatever. I'm doing okay, but having history first thing doesn't help my mood much."

 

"Awh it'll be fine! You're a smart guy, I'm sure you'll get your grade up in no time." She smiles as she's talking to me. Within minutes, we're outside the history classroom. I follow behind her, as we make our way to our seats. I sit down, and open my textbook, along with my notebook. The bell rings, and the stragglers come in one by one. Sally Avril being the latest of the bunch, being 10 minutes late, but that's not very surprising. Mr. Maxwell starts his lecture, as we all start with writing down notes. Here we go again.

My only comment is: Hahaha i love this animals.

 

Gona add a bit Information about this cool animal.

 

Arctic fox at Svalbard autumn in september, its starting to get winter and the fox gets whiter again.

 

Many of them are where curious but they can have some parasite so you dont whant them to take a shit close to your gear or on stuff that you will be useing.

 

And rabies that they can have can only spred trow wounds or if they bite.

 

You maibe think this little thing will freeze during the cold winter but the Arctic fox has one of the most developt coat of all the animals that exist in the arctic, very adapted to cold.

List time (again).

 

1. I need to apply for a passport, and I keep putting it off. My next major vacation WILL be to Europe (hello 2010!).

 

2. I think people who put microchips inside their pets is just the beginning of chips in our kids. And I think it’s really scary. By the year 2100, we won’t need Social Security Numbers anymore because we’ll have all that information and more embedded in our fucking brains.

 

3. I love apples. I can’t bite into an apple until I get my braces off. And let me tell you, it’s a real fucking pain in the ass to cut it up with a plastic knife when I’m out.

 

4. My favorite zoo animal is the giraffe. Why? Because their necks are fucking long! Not sure why this qualifies them as my favorite but fuck it, it’s a creditable reason.

 

5. I’m considering getting a cat for the babe. My apartment requires a $500 deposit. They can go get fucked. I might pull a sneaky on their ass.

 

6. I played trumpet from 4th grade till I graduated high school. When I was in 7th grade I played so loud during practice that I blew the kid ears out who stood in front of me. I think he had to go to the hospital. Or at least that is the story I’ve continually exaggerated till this day that I think I have talked myself into believing.

 

7. I always try to woo girls with mix CD’s. If you get a mix CD from me, there’s a real good chance I probably want to eventually fuck the shit out of you.

 

8. I am almost as addicted to ice cream as I was to hard narcotic drugs. It’s so bad that I will avoid the whole goddamn aisle in the grocery store due to temptation.

 

9. With the exception of swimming trunks, I don’t wear shorts. I don’t give a fuck how hot it is.

 

10. Billy Mays was right! That shit called OxiClean actually works. The other day it took red wine right out of a stained white shirt.

 

11. Earth to Andy Reid: THE WILDCAT OFFENSE ISN’T WORKING!

 

12. My next tattoo is going to be an old Irish prayer and/or phrase written in old Gaelic on the back of my left arm. I haven’t found one that I like yet. Suggestions?

 

13. I’m a Pisces. However astrology is a load of shit.

 

14. I try to drink as much water as humanly possible. The water guy at my work would hate my guts if he knew I was personally responsible for at least 1 round trip to his water truck.

 

15. Since we are less than 2 months from the new decade, what are we going to call this decade? The 70’s were the Seventies, the 80’s were the Eighties, and the 90’s were the Nineties, etc. So this decade will be the … Zero’s? Hmmm.

 

The shot at hand? Chloe and I swinging on the swings at a park after work. I set the tripod up and the exposure fairly long to capture the motion. It wasn’t too hard because the Sun was going down and it was dusk.

 

The album below? I guess it’s art rock meets glam rock with a little bit of pop. It’s very musical and extremely digestible even on the first listen. Give it a whirl!

 

Location: Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline; San Leandro, California

Taken: October 1st, 2009

Posted: November 10th, 2009

Album of the Day: Dragonslayer by Sunset Rubdown

Video: Black Swan by Sunset Rubdown

*=lapse

 

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

A bridge technique I came up with. But I'm sure it's been done before. Thoughts?

 

Heres the full story:

Three Billy Goats Gruff

  

A Norwegian Folktale

retold by

S. E. Schlosser

Snippity-snip, snap and swill,

The tale begins upon a hill…

 

The air was crisp and cool. The sky was an endless blue. The green meadow grass swayed in a gentle breeze. And Big Billy Goat Gruff was bored.

 

"I am tired of eating in the same old field every day," he told his brothers. "I want to eat in the meadow on the far side of the stream.

 

"Ohhh no, Big Billy Goat," said little brother. "We cannot walk through the stream for it is too deep and too fast. We would be swept away!"

 

"And we cannot walk over the bridge," said middle brother, "because there is a big troll under the bridge who will gobble us up if we try to cross it."

 

"I am not afraid of the troll," said Big Billy Goat Gruff, tossing his bold head with the huge round horns. He stamped the ground - once, twice, thrice - with his big hooves. "Let him try to eat me! We shall see who wins the fight!"

 

"But we won't be there to see," said Middle Billy Goat Gruff practically, "Because Little Billy Goat Gruff and I will have been eaten."

 

"Not so!" cried Big Billy Goat Gruff, dancing around the meadow excitedly, his large hooves making holes in the mossy turf under his feet. "I have a plan!"

 

The three billy goats put their heads together and whispered for a long time. Finally they broke the huddle and all three of them trotted across the wide meadow to the narrow bridge that crossed the fast-flowing, deep stream in the ravine dividing their meadow and the one on the other side.

 

Taking a deep breath for courage, Little Billy Goat Gruff stepped onto the rough wooden bridge. Trip-trap, trip-trap. His little hooves made the bridge spring up and down a little as he moved carefully forward.

 

A pair of huge round eyes peered out from the darkness under the bridge. "Who's that trip-trapping over my bridge?" rumbled the troll. A big hairy arm reached out from the darkness and huge fingers gripped the rail beside Little Billy Goat Gruff.

 

"It's just me," said Little Billy Goat Gruff in a very small voice. "I am the teeny-tiniest Billy Goat Gruff, all skin and bones, going over to the meadow to make myself fat."

 

A second huge hand joined the first on the rail. "I am coming to eat you," said the troll, his voice rumbling so deep that it shook the whole bridge.

 

"Eat me?" asked Little Billy Goat Gruff, shaking from head to toe, "I am too little. Not even worth a bite for a big troll like you. You should wait for my middle brother to come. He is much bigger than me."

 

This made sense to the troll. Why go to all that bother for one small bite of Billy Goat when a bigger Billy Goat was on its way?

 

"Gerroff my bridge then," the troll roared, slipping back down into the darkness underneath. "And don't come back here until you are big and fat!"

 

"Yes sir," said Little Billy Goat Gruff, trotting off the far side of the bridge in triumph and heading up into the wide-green meadow above. The plan was working!

 

When Little Billy Goat Gruff reached the top of the hill, Middle Billy Goat Gruff stepped onto the rough wooden bridge. Trap-rap, trap-rap. His medium-sized hooves made the boards of the bridge spring and sway under his weight as he moved forward.

 

A pair of huge round eyes peered out from the darkness under the bridge. "Who's that trap-rapping over my bridge?" grumbled the troll loudly. Hairy arms reached out from the darkness and huge fingers gripped the rail beside Middle Billy Goat Gruff.

 

"It's me," said Middle Billy Goat Gruff in a very medium-sized voice. "I am the Middle Billy Goat Gruff, all skin and bones from the winter. I am going over to the meadow to make myself fat."

 

Two blazing troll eyes over a long, twisted nose glared at him through the rails of the bridge. "I am coming to eat you," said the troll, his voice rumbling so deep that it shook the whole bridge.

 

"Eat me?" asked Middle Billy Goat Gruff with a laugh. "Why do you want to eat me? I am all skinny from the winter. Barely two bites for a big troll like you. And my bones will get stuck in your throat and make it feel all scratchy and horrible. You should wait for my big brother to come. He is huge! Much bigger than me."

 

This made good sense to the troll. Why go to all that bother for one bony, medium sized Billy Goat when a bigger Billy Goat was on its way?

 

"Gerroff my bridge then," the troll roared, slipping back down into the darkness underneath. "And don't come back here until you are big and fat!"

 

"I'm off then," said Middle Billy Goat Gruff, trotting to the far side of the bridge in triumph. He headed up to the wide-green meadow above and joined Little Billy Goat Gruff at the top of the hill. Then both of the brothers peered down at the bridge to see what Big Billy Goat Gruff was going to do.

 

As they watched, Big Billy Goat Gruff stepped onto the rough wooden bridge. Stomp-tromp, stomp-tromp. His huge hooves made the boards bend and give protesting creaks under his massive weight as he moved forward.

 

A pair of huge round eyes peered out from the darkness under the bridge. "Who's that stomp-tromping over my bridge?" roared the troll. He sprang out onto the top of the bridge in a single leap. Big Billy Goat Gruff narrowed his eyes at the large, hairy troll. "It's me," he said, lowering his huge head so the curved horns were pointed at the troll. Then he charged.

 

Wham! Big Billy Goat Gruff slammed into the troll. "Arrrgh!" screamed the troll as it was lifted clean off its feet and thrown way, way, way up into the air. The troll landed head down on the bridge, making it shake and rattle from top to bottom. Big Billy Goat Gruff stomped and tromped on the troll with his huge hooves until the troll was smashed flat on the wood boards. Then he tossed him into the raging stream with his huge horns and the troll sailed down the ravine and out of sight, never to be seen again in those parts.

 

And Big Billy Goat Gruff went up the hill to join his brothers in the meadow. All summer long they ate the lovely green grass in both meadows until they all grew quite fat. And they walked back and forth over the troll-free bridge whenever they wanted.

 

Snippity-snip, snap and snout,

This little tale has been told out!

Photograph by Michael A. J. Rumig.

 

What better song to go with the title for this by none other than of Sir Elton John & Bernie Taupin: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXqFJJ5AX0c

 

And here are the words from: www.eltonography.com/songs/kiss_the_bride.html

 

Kiss The Bride

 

Available on the album Too Low For Zero

Music: The FABULOUS & WONDERFUL - Sir Elton John

Lyrics: Bernie Taupin

 

Well she looked a peach in the dress she made

When she was still her mama's little girl

And when she walked down the aisle everybody smiled

At her innocence and curls

And when the preacher said is there anyone here

Got a reason why they shouldn't wed

I should have stuck up my hand

I should have got up to stand

And this is what I should have said

I wanna kiss the bride yeah!

I wanna kiss the bride yeah!

Long before she met him

She was mine, mine, mine

Don't say I do

Say bye, bye, bye

And let me kiss the bride yeah!

Underneath her veil I could see a tear

Trickling down her pretty face

And when she slipped on the ring I knew everything

Would never be the same again

But if the groom would have known he'd have had a fit

About his wife and the things we did

And what I planned to say

Yeah on her wedding day

Well I thought it but I kept it hid

 

© 1983 Big Pig Music Limited

 

Halloween Risings 09 (Or Friday the 13th) By Michael A. Rumig

 

And it's Halloween Tyme! OOOOOOH!!!!!!

 

HALLOWEEN Rock N' Roll MUSIC SOUNDTRACK background suggestions for Halloween & or Friday the 13th:

Friday the 13th by Thelonious Monk or Theme From Firday the 13th by Manfredini or Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles or Dr. Wu by Steely Dan or their other song Kid Charlemagne or the song Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) by David Bowie or I Put A Spell On You by Scremin' Jay Hawkins or The Witch by The Sonics or the Witches' Rave by Jeff Buckley or Walking With A Ghost by Tegan & Sara or This is Halloween by Marilyn Manson or Monster Mash by Bobby "Borris" Pickett and the Beach boys did this to on their Live Album or Burning Down the House by Talking Heads or Love Potion # 9 by The Searchers or Free Fallin' by Tom Petty or Super Freak by Rick James or The Snake by Johnny Rivers or Spooky by Classics IV or Phantom of the Opera by Iron Maiden or Feed My Frankenstein by Alice Cooper or Clap For The Wolfman(Jack) by Canada's - The Guess Who and also another Canadian group is April Wine and their song Sign Of The Gypsy Queen or as Ian Tyson told me personally at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia, Ontario the greatest folk song in his opinion ever written is The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by the Canada's legendary Gordon Lightfoot or his other song If You Could Read My Mind or another Canadian doing Spiderman Theme by Michael Buble or Beware The Friendly Stranger by Boards of Canada or check out Fogbounded Creepy Music album Xenophobia on You Tube or The Slender Man Song by Brentalfloss or Behold The Darkness by Medwyn Goodall or Suspiria Theme - 1977 by Goblin or Maggot Dream by Death Cube K or Atmospheres by Gyorgy Ligeti or Volume Alpha by Minecraft or Pokemon G/R/B/Y Lavender Town Remix or check this out on Youtube Hatsune Miku - "結ンデ開イテ羅刹ト骸(Hold, Release; Rakshasa and Carcasses)" Eng subbed or Lavender Town theme(Depressive Black Metal Version) by Anit or for some fabulous creepy listening check this one out called Tidal Tempest Bad Future(Extended) by Sonic CD or The Bottom Feeder by Nurse With Wound or Gwely Mernans by Aphex Twin or Blood On Satan's Claw by Reverend Bizarre or Love Me Forever by Motorhead or +Everything by Limp Bizkit or Creeping Death by Metallica or Blind by KoRn or White Wedding by Billy Idol or his other song called Dancing With Myself or The Visitors by Abba or Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley or Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr. or This Is Halloween by Gary Gee or The Adams Family by Vic Mizzy or The Cask Of Amontillado by Alan Parsons Project or The Raven (Long Version) by Alan Parsons Project or Halloween by Aqua or Witches Promise by Juthro Tull or Witches - Aqualords by Dark Horse or Witches by Switchblade Symphony or Witche's Brew by Palmer Hap or Witch Queen Of New Orleans by Redbone or Wicca the Witches Song by Marianne Faithful or When You're Evil by Voltaire or Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon or We Only Come Out At Night by Smashing Pumpkins or Transylvania Twist by Ex-Voto or Tito and Tarantula by After Dark or The Time Warp by Rocky Horror or Thriller by Michael Jackson(the ultimate classic) or Strange Brew by Cream or Nightmare on My Street by DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince or Monster by the B-52's or Friend Of The Devil by Grateful Dead or (Don't Fear) The Reeper by Blue Oyster Cult or Zombie Stomp by Ozzy Osborne and Rob Zombie or the Halloween Volume II soundtrack from Mannheim Steamroller or The X-Files Theme by Enya or Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) by Concrete Blonde or Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones or Devil In Disguise by Elvis or JJ Cale's version or Devil Inside by Inxs or Race with the Devil by Gene Vincent or The Ghost by Jim Morrison(Lizard Man) and The Doors and then one of the kings of the country boys is It's A Monster's Holiday by Buck Owens and the words will sure to turn your twists or Season of the Witch(Sunshine Superman) by Donavan or Season of the Witch by Brian Augur, Julie Driscoll & Trinity or Toccata and Fugue in d Minor, s. 565 (Anton AHeiller, organist) or Sorceror's Apprentice (Magic?) (transcribedand performed by Peter Richard Centre or Cauldron of Cerridwen(Emerging) by Kay Gardner or Ghosts in the Landscape(Terma) by Tuu & Nick Parkin or All Souls Night by Loreena McKennitt or Strange Brew by Cream or The Burning Times by Charlie Murphy or This is Halloween by Danny Elfman or Witchy Women by The Eagles or Flight of the Magicians by David Michael & Randy Mead or Magic Man by Heart or Arrival To Nowhere by Numina or White Rabbit by The Great Society or The Earth, The Air, The Fire, The Water(ACirle is Cast by Libana or Ghost(Sacred Sacrifice) by Fountain's M.U.S.E or Totem(Picture Music) by Klaus Schulze or Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix or The Ghost In Me(Wanderlust) by Terra Ambient or You Must Be A Witch(Nuggets vol.3, Rhino) by The Lollipop Shoppe or Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf.

 

This is some fine Halloween Rockin' and whatever to amuse and stimulate your senses come what the 31st or for any other Friday the 13th!

 

Is it TRICK or is it TREAT or is it Friday the 13th!

 

I wonder what Gene, and Alice and Ozzie and Marilyn are doing on the 31st?

 

Check out these websites for More HALLOWEEN MUSIC:

 

top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/halloweensongs.htm

 

www.rocknrollview.com/blog/2009/10/13/13-killer-rock-n-ro...

 

itunes.apple.com/ca/album/100-halloween-rock-n-roll/id406...

 

This site here is one of the best with links: creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Recommended_Listening_Music

 

www.amazon.com/Halloween-Rock-Roll-Party-Sha/dp/B000000K82

 

www.imdb.com/title/tt0373883/soundtrack

 

And on Facebook this site: www.facebook.com/shoutingthomasthetorments

 

Also from this site is this poem:

gluvlee.blogspot.ca/2012/02/halloween-2010.html

 

. . . THRILLER!!! Ah-ha-ha-ha!

 

Gramma Luvlee’s Good Friend Fred

 

Here lies Fred, my dear departed friend.

I know he wished to be here til the end.

Fred was a fun man a giving man too.

He wanted to share his body parts with you!

 

1) Fred was a golly man with a great big gut.

Let's pass around his intestines just for luck.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Twisted and shriveled in a bunch

just like they were after his lunch.

 

( A long thin balloon filled with jello & oiled)

 

2) His fingers were long, almost pure white.

Lets pass around a few, no need for fright.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Pretty greasy & slimy, he lived in a cave.

Never really had time to bathe.

 

(Slightly cooked & cooled & oiled baby carrots)

 

3) His toes were grimy from wearing no shoes.

Short & stubby and a little bit blue.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His toenails are long and a little bit brittle.

Don’t mind the wet, it’s just his spittle!

 

(Cold Vienna sausages)

 

4) One eye went left, the other right.

Poor Fred had really bad eyesight!

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Handle them gently for they may roll.

Fred would hate if they fell from the bowl!

 

(2 Large peeled grapes)

 

5) Now Fred he wasn’t a very smart man.

We found his brain stuffed in a can.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Give them a squeeze, there’s not a lot.

I guess old Fred, his mind is shot!

 

(I rounded the corners on three sponges and put a rubber band in the center to hold them together. It sort of resembled a brain. Then I soaked them in cold water. You could also use a cooked cauliflower.)

 

6) Fred’s bones were brittle, dry & old.

Give them a crack, if you’re so bold.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

The rats have chewed them, you can too!

But wipe them first, there may be goo!

 

(Pretzel rods)

 

7) Now one thing Fred couldn’t be called

was billiard ball, hairless, slick or bald!

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His crowning glory, styled with spit.

They ladies liked to run their fingers through it!

 

(Fake Fur)

 

8) It stopped beating with a start.

Poor Fred’s little slimy heart.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His heart it stopped no more to thump.

Please don’t scream if it starts to jump!

 

(A large tomato, blanched & peeled)

 

9) Fred was proud of his pearly whites.

A good set of choppers kept him feed right.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His teeth were strong unlike his eyesight.

Be careful when you touch them, they might bite!

 

(Corn Nuts)

 

10) Just like Van Gough, he only had one ear.

But he heard just fine, perfectly clear.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

A little bit shriveled because of age.

But an ear nonetheless, it says on this page.

 

(Dried apricot)

 

11) The last thing we found was Fred’s strong hands.

They were down deep, covered in sand.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Cold and stiff as they were when he died.

Hold one or you’ll think that I lied.

 

I WANNA GO TO SYRIA - THE SHOOTING OF SAMMY YATIM

 

Words & music by MICHAEL A. J. RUMIG

 

A VIDEO OF THIS SONG WILL BE RELEASED SOON.

 

. . . . . . . . . Starting with the sound of bullets and or maybe the eerie sound of a haunting church bell ringing nine times!

 

Key of Open D Minor

 

VERSE 1

 

I wanna go to Syria

 

But now I stay in this paranoia

 

Gonna take the TTC

 

Get me home safely

 

VERSE 2

 

Dundas Street Friday mid-night

 

Turned out to be a fearful flight

 

Catch a ride on the Red Rocket

 

Got my tokens in my pocket

 

PRE-CHORUS

 

This summer I hear nine shots

 

Eight bulls eyes on the dot.

 

After getting all of those layers

 

Then finally they got me tasered

 

REFRAIN

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Down I go

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

A cop on a roll

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

You think they'd know

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Why is it sooooooooo

 

LEAD GUITAR SOLO

 

VERSE 3

 

Neon lights torments Toronto

 

This vision you get onto

 

Surrounded by cops in rage

 

I'm cornered in this cage

 

VERSE 4

 

Cut off by men in black

 

No one has got my back

 

Last ride on the TTC

 

Why did it have to be

 

VERSE 5

 

I wanna go to Syria

 

Now I stay in this paranoia

 

Gonna ride No. 4058

 

Destiny has got my fate

 

2nd PRE-CHORUS

 

This summer I hear nine shots

 

Eight bulls eyes on the dot.

 

After getting all of those layers

 

Then finally they got me tasered

 

2nd REFRAIN

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Down I go

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

A cop on a roll

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

You think they'd know

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Why is it sooooooooo

 

(For the ending repeat the last line)

ENDING

 

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

Get me home safely

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

Canada's land of opportunity

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

Why did it have to be

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

bell Why Why Why

Why is it so

bell Oh Why Why Why

Why must I die

bell Why Why Why

Do Cops ever Cry

bell Oh Why Why Why

bell Why must I die die die

 

. . . . . . . . . ending maybe with the sound of a haunting bell ringing nine times!

 

When I was at Ryerson at this time a fellow student was there(Ohio) and behind the troops when this following event happened at OHIO.

 

After the troops killed 4 students in Ohio, Neil Young went into the woods and wrote his classic signature song 'Ohio'.

 

The Ohio song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkg-bzTHeAk

 

A documentary on Ohio: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdCpI2qdsd8

 

ohio- neil young

movie for a history project

 

ohio- neil young

www.youtube.com

movie for a history project

 

If you are looking for a CORN MAZE or two to enjoy anywhere in the United States, you may find it at this web site: www.cornmazesamerica.com/directory.php?state=US

And here: www.funtober.com/cornmaze/

For Canada: puzzles.about.com/od/cornmazes/qt/CDNCornMaze.htm

And here: kccbigcountry.hubpages.com/hub/Corn-Mazes-in-Canada

 

If you are looking for HAUNTED HOUSES in United States go here: www.trutv.com/conspiracy/paranormal/haunted-houses/galler...

And here: www.hauntworld.com/americas_scariest_best_haunted_houses

For HAUNTED HOUSES in Canada: www.hauntedhouse.com/canada/

And here: paranormal.boomja.com/Haunted-Canada-31326.html

And INTERNATIONALLY: directorywww.haunted-places.com/International.htm

  

So long dare Spookies!

 

Blue tit-Cyanistes caeruleus

The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size.

 

Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are widespread and a common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and western Asia in deciduous or mixed woodlands with a high proportion of oak. They usually nest in tree holes, although they easily adapt to nest boxes where necessary. Their main rival for nests and in the search for food is the larger great tit.

 

The Eurasian blue tit prefers insects and spiders for its diet. Outside the breeding season, they also eat seeds and other vegetable-based foods. The birds are famed for their skill, as they can cling to the outermost branches and hang upside down when looking for food.

 

Breeding

 

The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

 

The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK. When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, and bigger clutches are usually laid by two or even more hens. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species.

 

In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%, while the adult annual survival rate was 53%. From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years. Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire. The maximum age is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic.

Diet

File:Cyanistes caeruleus -garden bird feeder-8.ogvPlay media

Eating peanuts from a garden bird feeder in England

 

The Eurasian blue tit is a valuable destroyer of pests, though it is fond of young buds of various trees, especially when insect prey is scarce, and may pull them to bits in the hope of finding insects. It is a well-known predator of many Lepidoptera species including the Wood Tiger moth. No species, however, destroys more coccids and aphids, the worst foes of many plants. It takes leaf miner grubs and green tortrix moths (Tortricidae). Seeds are eaten, as with all this family, and blue tits in British urban areas have evolved the ability to digest milk and cream.

For more information please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_blue_tit

 

Tonight, I finished my book. I wrote what I think is the most important part early this evening—odd because I'm a morning writer. But whatever.

 

Just a few minutes ago, I added eight quotes to the eight parts, and I sealed it up and sent it to myself.

 

Here's the letter to the reader. I hope you like it. It's truly a taste of the rest of the book's tone and flavor, though the book is much funnier.

 

- - - - - - book excerpt

     

“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

—Steven Wright, Comedian

   

A Note to the Reader:

 

Lots of writers I know tend to keep their projects a secret, as if someone will steal the idea right out from under them. But it takes a long time to write a book. This one is three years in the making, and something noteworthy about cake—a funny quote, a standup routine, a new snack cake—seems to unfold daily, like a serial flasher. You know it’s freaky, but you just can’t look away.

 

News finds me because I’ve told everyone about it.

 

Sometimes the responses go the way they did on a trip to New York. I duck into Desmond’s, a seedy pub on Park Avenue near 29th Street, to hide from the rain. Brian, the bartender, is celebrating his 42nd birthday without beer, cigarettes, or cake. Poor guy. If I had met him before this late afternoon, I’d swear he had aged from the stress of it. I order a proper Smithwicks (Smiddicks) and take out my notebook. A few guys want to buy Brian a drink, but that would weaken his resolve to quit smoking for good.

 

Brian moves from one customer to the next, switching places with an empty, used pint glass, setting it on the bar ledge in front of me while he talks with the guy next to me, putting it in front of that guy while he talks to me. He does this several times before I ask. “It’s an idiosyncrasy,” he tells me, blaming it on the nicotine withdrawal. He looks like a movie star. He’s smart. He has a good vocabulary. He knows more facts about politics and history than any of the twenty-something business people he sets straight about them at the bar. I don’t know why this surprises me. Bartenders often know more.

 

At least two guys near me are British, and the one beside me is on a Christmas-shopping holiday. He is in his forties, too, it seems, and wears a knit cap pulled down to his eyebrows; I have no idea if he has hair. He’s just finished describing how his forklift flipped over while he was driving it, how he got back into the seat, how he was subsequently ejected, how the forklift kept going, and how it ran over three of his toes, which had to be amputated. He's having trouble getting around.

 

Because I asked him, he wants to know what I’m doing in New York, and I tell him I’m working on a book. In order to hear this properly in your head, imagine the bloke is folk singer Billy Bragg or some Bob Hoskins character—or whatever you think is Cockney.

 

"About what?" he asks.

 

"Cake," I say.

 

"Cake?" he asks.

 

"Cake," I say again.

 

"C-A-K-E cake?" He almost cocks his head like a puppy.

 

"Yes, cake!"

 

"About making it?"

 

"No, about eating it!"

 

"Well, all right then!" And with that, he offers to buy me a beer. Both he and a gentleman at the end of the bar start laughing about someone they and the bartender know as "Mr. Kipling." By way of explanation, they say, in unison, "Exceedingly good cakes!"

 

"Are they?" I ask.

 

It's the company's tag line (and, I discover, the name of a now-defunct band). They agree that the cakes are pretty good, but the pie! I'm a sucker for those mincemeat pies, the little ones that look like cookies, but I’d still choose cake.

 

My seven-toed English friend and I move on to other subjects, amputation among them. I show him where I chopped off my thumb tip a few years ago with an X-acto knife, and he shows me a similarly damaged finger.

 

Back at home in Baltimore, I visited their site on the web and learned that Mr. Kipling’s cakes are the “benchmark of quality and innovation in the ambient cake market place.”

 

It is ambient, isn’t it? Oh, how I long for some cake ambience right now!

 

My e-mails to the forty-year-old Kipling, a man who’s as fake as Betty Crocker, yielded little more than a lovely chat with a woman named Elinor about their pretty Battenberg cakes. I never even learned whether Rank Hovis McDougall, Mr. Kipling’s parent company, has a crying room, like General Mills does for all the ladies who are reduced to crumbs when they learn their beloved Betty was a marketing tool.

 

So you won’t find a visit to Mr. Kipling’s in this book about eating cake. There’s no appendix of every cake ever made. I don’t even speak much of carrot cake, our household favorite. I hardly utter one of the biggest names in cake: Martha Stewart. I neglect to mention a late 2007 bobblehead cake topper recall (it contained lead), and when to use baking soda instead of powder. (Since you asked, for recipes with sour ingredients—sour cream, vinegar, buttermilk—use soda.) And though all of those ingredients are often found in cake, they aren’t essential.

 

I set out to write a layered cake full of a little bit of this and that—some history for those who need to know, some folklore for flavor, some narrative. Every bite has a little bit of something, including nuts. And like cake, this book is light and fluffy. Don’t look here for answers to poverty (and don’t look at Marie Antoinette anymore, either) or a cure for heartache or ennui—though you may laugh a bit and forget your pain or boredom briefly. But I would be lying if I told you that everything about cake is here. It can’t be here. Cake is just too big.

 

Even as I finish the last words, friends and acquaintances are calling me with cake news or email links, or they show up at school dismissal with a newspaper article they’ve clipped for me. The other day, over coffee and a delicious breakfast muffin from the Red Canoe, a bookstore and cafe in my neighborhood, my friend Kim told me about moving her grandmother to a nursing home. She took a few things home with her, including her grandmother’s cool old cake pan, and I was coveting it—remembering my grandmother’s silver and black one. Talk of grandmothers usually turns to cake eventually.

 

“My uncle, Chris, always had a birthday cake from Fenwick’s,” Kim told me, “always the same cake from the same bakery—yellow pound cake with chocolate icing, a ring cake with a cardboard tube in the center—and she actually shipped that same cake to him through the mail when he was in the Marines, including once when he was aboard ship in the Mediterranean.”

 

Kim reminisces about her grandmother’s cigarette dangling, the kitchen fan swishing, and the cake, made each weekend, then sliced and kept in that square 1950s cake keeper, from which it diminished, a slice or two at a time, throughout the week.

 

The stories of cake are such important ones! Now that I have finished collecting all these hunks and slices and have carved something new out of them, I am loath to waste a crumb. I’d like to wrap them up in foil and stick them in here somewhere, like little surprises. It’s actually considered bad luck to throw away scraps of bread or cake, so perhaps the rest of it will have to be baked into a second book. Or fed to the birds.

 

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

 

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As the morning light stole into the vigorous and violent nightmares of Annie's tortured mind, flickering eyelids defending against the intrusive rays like flailing limbs warding off the onslaught of an attacking army of troublesome bees, a sense of foreboding lay a veil of woe that pricked her consciousness Eyes scrabbling for definition in the minutia of detail, she looked down at the bloodstained arms folded neatly across one another, a mass of tangled thick brown and black hairs covering the very sinews of her flesh. She knew the drill by now, only too well.

 

The full moon was nothing but a faint recollection as the early morning light penetrated her flesh, battering her into submissive stance, though this had been anything other than the ordinary though freakish transformation that had plagued her life since the wolf bite whilst alone and wandering in the forest behind her wooden homestead in the summer of two thousand and seven. She sucked in a great gulp of air and heard the grumbling resonance of a deep growl within the pit of her stomach, rising to the top of her larynx. This was not how things were supposed to be. By now she should have changed back to mortal form, the petite Blonde with bloodied limbs and embarrassingly cold naked flesh, seeking refuge and a route back to her abode by whatever means necessary after the violence and mayhem of the slaughter.

 

Through stark grey eyes of immense beauty, she surveyed the length of her substantial snout, raising a gigantic paw to brush her right ear which tickled from a passing summer fly that seemed intent on wreaking havoc with the intricate workings of her inner ear canal. Casually lifting her head, she gazed rearwards towards her right flanks, hunkered down and splattered with copious layers of dried mud from her natural surroundings. Fur thickly matted and caked in as it had dried during the morning hours.

 

“ That's gonna fucking hurt when I transform “, she thought to herself, trying to mouth the words which appeared as snarls and growls from her massive and tooth infested jaws. She drooled saliva in great globules that spattered her own paws, baulking at this most unbecoming behavioural trait from one so normally demure and refined. Priding herself on her status as a Lycan, superior to ordinary werewolfs due to their ability to free transform at will, she felt perturbed at her inability to do so right now, and strangely isolated and vulnerable, attributes not normally associated with seven foot snarling creatures with rampant claws and teeth like hacksaws. Carefully pushing upwards with her powerful front paws, Annie lifted herself up from the ground, catching a sudden glimpse of a human eye and socket that had been trapped under her weight, pieces of facial tissue all around like shredded crispy duck that had been torn by excited forks. She felt a sense of nausea welling from within, the realization on the kill coming thick and fast.

 

It wasn't the sound of the rifle hammer being cocked that startled Annie, but the glimmer of brilliant white light as the silver polished barrel caught the sunlight as it was raised into the air, the round ends pointing right at her, shaking as the Police officer stared at the creature in fear and disbelief. Quickly flicking the power button to the on position with the right index finger before firmly gripping the rifle once more, officer Jacobs nervously punched out his words as though his very life depended upon it. In truth, it surely did.

 

“ This is Officer Jacobs, I need back up immediately to Weltons Creek, by the old abandoned saw mill. I've got a large animal trapped here, sort of a big beary-wolfy mutant dog type of thing and need urgent assistance “

 

“ Hey Ray, the Sheriff is offline just now, just at Timmy H's grabbing us all some Vanilla lattes and doughnuts, you know those new little suckers with the yummy maple syrup filling, he won't be long. I always wonder how they get the maple syrup inside the little bastards. I mean, do they wrap the dough around the syrup or is some underpaid immigrant on a dodgy visa paid three bucks an hour to ram the shit inside it when it's fully cooked? Hey by the way, which is it, a bear or a wolf or a dog? “, came Mylene's reply, as chirpy and chipper as ever she was whilst reading the local paper and filing her elongated nails at the office desk.

 

Officer Jacobs shook his head in disbelief, “ Rest assured Mylene, if I knew exactly what the hell it was, you'd be the second person to know. What about Billy boy and Davey? “

 

“ Oh the Sheriff gave them the day off to go fishing at the lagoon. Things being so quiet and all, we haven't had an incident more serious than old Jed reporting his dead goat in over a week, and he shot the damn thing himself on account of all the bleating and a'hollering it done all through the night. “

 

The will to live was slowly ebbing away from Officer Jacobs brain. “ Well looky here Mylene, I think I might have solved that particular case and a few more besides with what I'm staring at right now. So you do me a favour and get the Sheriff over here mighty damn quick will you “

 

“ Whad'ya caught Ray? A grizzly, a wolf? “

 

At that point, Annie pushed with her hind legs, slowly raising herself onto her haunches and breathing deeply as she rose to her full height of seven feet eight inches. With her right paw, she began to brush off the mud and blood and debris from the deep thick fur coating all over her massive chest, spotting a large piece of flesh that nestled near her midriff. Opening up her paws, the long six inch black claws so neatly retracted within the furry cushion and pad, elongated with a tantalising menace as she gathered up the fleshy morsel, a severed thumb from whatever hapless victim had been her evening meal, and raised it up to her snout to sniff he delicious aroma that made her belly rumble and gurgle with anticipation.

 

“ That's disgusting girl “, she thought within, fighting hard against the urge to just give the thumb a casual lick, a little nibble perhaps. All at once it was all she could do but thrust the severed digit into her mouth, crunching down on the tender flesh and crispy bones before swallowing hard.

 

“ I can't believe I just did that”, she murmured, her words transforming into a strange growly-snarly bark as the officer looked on in utter disbelief and revulsion.

 

“ Mylene, this thing has done gone and eaten somebody recently “

 

Mylene's ears pricked up, as she stopped filing her nails and felt a wave of great excitement bathe over her. “ Really, who? “

 

“ If I could ascertain that simply from an eye ball socket and some strips of flesh Mylene, I'd have my own TV show and a large following! How the hell should I know, gal, it just chomped on someone's finger, and there's a human eye lying right on the floor in front of the beast “

 

“ What sort of a beast are we talking here Ray? “

 

Officer Jacobs gulped as he stared into Annie's dark eyes. “ A fucking big one Mylene “

 

Annie, still sickened by the depravity of her own actions, slowly began to remember the occurrences of he previous night. A full moon rising high into the night sky, so big she could see the craters better than ever before. The heat of her body rising as she ripped at the flimsy tee shirt and skimpy underwear caressing her sweating flesh. The intense pain in her skull like an axe to the cranium as the hormones mingled and jangled like a cocktail in the hands of an expert barman. Throwing herself to the floor, clutching her head, she felt her entire body being overcome with an adrenalin rush so excruciatingly painful as to border on the sublime, the thresholds of pain and pleasure meeting head on for a few gloriously violent minutes. Looking down at her abdomen as her pale flesh succumbed to the invasive sprouting of a mass of dark brown hairs that weaved a patchwork al over her body, she giggled like a girl amidst the discomfort and pain, pondering what her ex boyfriend Michael must have thought as he viewed this grizzly and bizarre transformation just prior to becoming her main course back in the Autumn. The bastard had it coming for cheating on her with Rose from the diner anyhow.

 

Officer Jacobs took a breath and lined his gun sight up with the beasts head, knowing only too well the gravity of the situation right now. Annie stared down at the little man, shaking visibly in his boots and perspiring profusely from orifices that perhaps he never knew could.

 

“ Three god damned months from retirement and I have to run into a fucking werewolf. Ain't that just my luck. Just like them big old Hollywood blockbusters where you know the cop who is about to leave the force is gonna die before the last reel comes to an end. Aw shit and double shit! “

 

The delicious though revolting light snack of a severed finger that Annie had only moments earlier enjoyed, reached the acidic portion of her huge gut, sending forth a resonating burp that pulsed along the inner chambers and exploded from her mouth with an irresistible force that made her giggle involuntarily. Now Ray, more accustomed to deer and an occasional medium sized bear, had never before encountered a seven foot werewolf, let alone one that burped and seemed to shuffle on it's hind legs, sort of snorting in a giggly demeanour, and now seemed most perplexed. He also realized the futile logistics of handcuffing said seven foot beasty and the attempting in vane to try and accommodate the creature in the cramped confines of his Ford F250 pick up truck. His mind was a wash with questions that could not be answered

 

Meanwhile Annie's own mind was a tad confused at her own failure to regenerate back again to human form, something that in all her six years as a very well practised and accomplished werewolf, had never before occurred. It was a stalemate of the brains right now as both parties eyed each other, contemplating their own fate and pondered the realms of possibility. Annie knew she had only one course of action open to her, and right now that finger licking appetizer had readied her digestive juices for a rare food fest of a main meal. She could smell Officer Jacobs fear, along with his bone marrow and liver which would soon be washed down rather gratifyingly with lashings of his ruby red blood. Claws extended, she bellowed a roar the likes of which no man should ever wish to experience, a deep resounding call of the wild as she pushed her left hind hoof forwards and began to head his way.

 

Officer Jacobs, never the finest shot this side of the Richmond prairies, and also devoid of his spectacles which were tantalisingly out of reach in his upper left shirt pocket, just next to a well thumbed pack of chewing tobacco, aimed quickly at the snarling snout and let forth a single shell which spiralled at breakneck speed straight over Annie's head, the whistle of air rush teasing her ears as she stopped momentarily to look back the old Douglas fur tree behind that now included a deeply embedded rifle shell.

 

“ Oh shit! “, officer Jacobs screamed as the beast bared down once more and he fired off four more rounds in quick succession through bleary eyes and shaking hands, all of which skimmed and skirted the hairy torso of the beast as it came within feet of the trembling man. Annie was right into this now, rather enjoying the bravado and teenage recollections of Halloween parties with her peers, the demure female within a terrifying costume as she acted out her fantasies on all around her. With her left paw she reached down and grabbed officer Jacobs Rifle, crushing it within that single grasp and throwing it to the ground before clasping her claws around his neck and lifting him up into the air until their eyes met.

 

“ I hope I give you the worst case of the shits you've ever had you son of a drunken bar room whore “, officer Jacobs yelled with sheepish defiance as those terrible fangs came close to his neck, the vile stench of the beasts breath swamping his senses. A single gunshot rang out from behind them both, the beast flinching and faltering as it's eyes flickered in disbelief. A second shot pierced Annie's confused skull, a searing pain enveloping her senses as she let slip the flailing officer from her grasp, and slowly turned to face Billy boy and Davey who had heard the radio transmissions whilst fishing down at the lagoon and come to their colleagues aid. Annie felt her life force draining as eager rifles pumped six more shells deep into her bleeding flesh. Snarling and yelping, Annie fell to the ground, her last breath exiting her gigantic jaws as she finally expired. Naturally the euphoria of the trophy hunting police officers who had just saved the day soon subsided into horror and disgust as the giant werewolf transformed into the diminutive and beautiful named form of Annie, the sweet girl who lived in the wooden homestead off Peaks point.

 

“ I always said they were fake ones “, Billy boy grinned, pointing to the silicone implants proudly adorned by the rising sunlight as it trickled across her battered and bloodied body. “ Those out of towners, I told you they're never to be trusted.

 

Rushing over to help their comrade, the boys gave a high five and whooped for joy, reliving every moment of the kill with childish excitement, not a care for the bitch of a job they would now have in explaining how they came to shot an unarmed five foot two resident of the community who was running naked through the forest.

 

“ I'm OK boys, I'm alright “, officer Jacobs said, brushing aside their offers of assistance as his right hand felt the gash two inches long in his neck from Annie's claws and the blood now seeping down his flesh.

 

“ It's OK, just a little cut, that's all......... “

 

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Thank you to KAY SWABEY, owner of NEW BARN STABLES and registered BHSII Instructor who so kindly allowed Patricia and myself to photograph her magnificent stables and the stunning Equines who resided there on October 24th 2010. Thank you also to Daniel Lowe and his sister Tash for making a wonderful day possible..

  

Written February 20th 2011

 

Photograph taken on October 24th 2010 at New Barn Stables in New Barn, Kent, England.

 

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Nikon D700 50mm 1/250s f/13.0 iso200

 

Nikkor 50mm f/2.8D AF. UV filter. MetaGPS geotag.

 

Latitude: 51 23\'37.35"N Longitude: 0 20\'24.546"E

 

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

The French River…chapter two… The Hawks Head an Omen

 

The following summer Alex and I got a hankering to go to The French River to fish for big Bass and giant Muskies. We may have been aware of the fact that mom had received a small sum of $3,500. Dollars as fathers insurance money. I don’t recall how we hatched this scheme or how we come to choose the French River as our destination. Our pitch to mom was simple, if she gave us just $350. Dollars Alex and I would catch a bus to the French River and camp there for three weeks. Like I said, I was thirteen, Alex fourteen. We didn’t own a tent. When I think back on that I really don’t believe it was wise for us to go without an adult. So many different things could happen to two young boys away from home. Parents and grand parents were always saying weird evasive things like, ‘when you are at the Runnymede show matinee, don’t go to the bathroom, don’t talk to strangers’, that was weird telling us not to go to the bathroom, I mean, everyone has to go to the bathroom. The words sex, or dick or penis or womans areas such as breast or vagina could never be said specifically, or diddler or molester, that’s how it was back then, at least for us.

I had been to cub scout camp so I had some experience at camping out, I was all for it. We would look at fishing magazines to pump us up on this exotic location. The French River is quite an unspoiled body of big water located south east of Sudbury by thirty or so miles from which it winds its way south to Georgian Bay. We gathered all the equipment we could, we had one sleeping bag, one heavy tartan blanket, two scotch pins to keep the blanket closed while sleeping, I had used it the previous year while camping with the cubs. We had water jugs, and frying pans, a pot to heat soup in, a green two burner coleman stove, a couple of coat hangers to use as toasters, we had two flashlights, there was some strong bug spray, matches of course, a few changes of clothes, a jacket to wear at night. Everything was packed in a pair of old army duffle bags, left overs from the war.

We got to the bus station at Bay and Dundas and took the first bus to the French River. Except we didn’t get out at the French River, we were asleep when the bus passed there and the next stop was downtown Sudbury, we got there around five in the afternoon. We had no choice but to rent a room at the Nickel Range Hotel right in the downtown core. Neither of us had been alone in any other city before, we stuck together, we went for a meal and then went up to the room, the bus back the next day left around eleven in the morning. I remember waking up and the two of us looked in all the shop windows, this was terribly exciting. There was a fishing tackle shop attached to an Army Surplus store right near the hotel. Al and I filled our tackle boxes with new lures, Rapalas and Flatfish and Lazy Ikes and Williams Warblers, Hula Poppers and Worm Harnesses, Jitterbugs in two different sizes, more weights for sinkers and bobbers and packs of snelled hooks in various sizes, we were ready. Lures and tackle in general were never cheap, ever, we also each bought new skinning knives with leather sheaths that attached to your belt and weigh scales to weigh the fish we were going to catch with. By the time we were finished we had spent about $50 each on stuff and it was time to catch the bus back to the French River. The driver let us on for nothing because it was the other driver the day before who actually had forgotten to let us out.

The driver waved goodbye to us as we departed the southbound bus. There was a general store called the French River Outpost that we took a quick look in before we walked across the bridge that spanned the famous French River that Samuel de Champlain had once travelled, we were at an historic place. Coincidentally this year marks the 400th year of his travels here. On the other side of the bridge we walked in a bit towards the river and found a suitable place to put our stuff. Then we marched back to the Outpost store and bought about four six packs of Pure Spring pop in a variety of flavours, I especially liked the black cherry flavour. We also bought two quarts of chocolate milk, bags of chips and some more canned provisions, like Heinz spaghetti in a tin for Al, I didn’t eat sphagetti, Liptons soup, two packs of hot dogs, Blue Bonnet white bread to eat the wieners on, remember that blonde girl on the wrapper, whatever we needed for a week or so of camping. We got back to our site and took out our neatly organized tackle boxes and climbed down the somewhat precarious side of the embankment to the waters edge. The water was deep and black under the span of steel bridge above us, in the mid day sun we failed to get so much as a nibble. On one cast a smallmouth bass did follow my orange flatfish in but it did not strike. We walked down river towards the rapids a few hundred yards away from the bridge. It looked like a promising spot, again we threw everything we had at them, still not much action, a few sunfish, that was all. We walked back to our campsite and cooked some beans and wieners in the pot on our small Coleman stove. At least we had brought a stove! After rinsing the pot out in some dirty water we went to bed, exhausted. As the oldest, Alex of course got to use the sleeping bag. I had the tartan blanket with the two scotch pins. Up to that time there was little sign of mosquitoes. That changed at night as I spent most of the time chasing them away from the openings in the blanket that they uncannily could find. It may have been my worst night of sleep ever. In the morning I counted 64 mosquito bites, they were all over my face, behind my ears, my legs especially the ankles my arms, everywhere, while Alex had just a few. It was rather unbearable. We fished for a while the next morning and I must admit it was lovely and peaceful, when we didn’t catch anything again we decided to go rent a canoe and travel up the river, we’d have to find the fish.

There was another commercial place down a road across from the Outpost it was a marina on the river that had a big Shell gas sign that lit up at night in a yellow hazy way, sort of a beacon at night for river travelers. This mom and pop establishment was called The French River Camp, we knew it was there as at the roadside a white official highways sign pointed in that direction stating, French River Marina ½ mile, this was long before metric. Besides selling provisions they also sold gas, tackle, live bait and rented boats and motors as well as fiberglass canoes for the princely sum of $1.50 per day. We paid for a fourteen day rental in advance and stocked up on soda pop and other luxury items. Our hopes were buoyed by the sudden intelligence in renting a boat to get us to where the fish were. We probably did not have a map of the river other than the highway maps we got at the Toronto Exhibition in the Ontario Building. That was a cool place back in them days, they had exhibits of live fish swimming in tanks, all our favourite sport fishes, bass, muskie, pike, pickerel and the trout family as well, in other parts of the building they had a one quarter size display of how ores were mined using mini cars on tracks to shift the material from one part of the mine to another as well as an actual miniature shaft with an elevator, it was so neat. Maybe seeing those fish at the Ex was part of the catalyst that created our lust for fishing, that and the fact our father had instilled fishing in us from a young age. I’m sure we looked at the big map of the area, not only at the highway 69 location where one was displayed in a glass case but also in the two stores we were in, the Outpost and the Marina who both had large four foot maps on their walls for the tourists to look at. Our logic was that a river goes up, and a river goes down.

We paddled the canoe now full with our gear about a half mile upstream through a narrow rock lined channel, after about fifty yards the river opened up and on our right there was a large private fishing lodge where there were a dozen professional boats parked for the well heeled clientele. About a hundred yards up form that camp to the left we found a very nice one acre island camping spot with a gravel landing area for the canoe, a prebuilt rock campfire pit and plenty of dry wood lying around to burn. The French River is still preserved in this fashion, there is very little development, as an historic site the government preserves it as a natural wilderness, they build campsites for visitors to use, but you would be hard pressed to find any permanent cottages. The word Pristine comes to mind, today, fifty odd years later it is a strong testament to thoughtful thinking about a treasure.

Again we were excited to cast our new lures into the water that held promise. We had some luck, small fish that we would catch and release, nothing really to write home about, perhaps we had set our sights to high. Night fall was coming, I was casting like a madman, working my lure at various speeds and depths trying my hardest to catch the first big fish, then all of a sudden on a back cast my lure, a small Mepps #3 spinner ricocheted of f Alex’s head and he instinctively reached up to protect his face and as I tossed my arm forward not knowing what I had hit behind me the lure submerged into his right hand palm, so much so that the hook was not visible. He let out a huge shout calling me every name in the book, not realizing that it was his fault for walking behind me as I cast. In a few moments the shouting subsided, it was getting dark, we already had a fire going for warmth and had been snacking all day long on wieners and chips and sodas. Calmly Al stated, “I’ll get in the canoe and go to that fishing camp a ways back, there’s sure to be a doctor there”. He paddled away, a black flashlight tied to the bow of the canoe, the hundred or so yards back to the camp where the big boats were docked. I tended the fire and worried, and also thought how brave he was to paddle there as night settled in. Within an hour he was back, there had been a doctor and the doctor removed the hook easily by pushing it through the other side of the meaty palm, giving him a small injection for the pain and some pills to take to ward off infection and some antibiotic cream to put on the area. We sat around the campfire, the mosquitoes must have had enough of my blood as they were not nearly as bad that night. Sleep came easy.

The pair of us got up before the sun. We had planned this, we loaded the canoe with our rods, some peanut butter sandwiches and drinks that we placed in the small hard sided cooler in the bottom of the canoe. We paddled upstream away from our camp, as we paddled the boats from the lodge went flying by, one after another ten in all, huge boats with immense motors, more like small yachts. The wake they made almost tipped us, we hung onto the shore until they passed, we waved to each boat, after that it was completely silent, the birds were chirping quietly in the trees above the cliff, a soft chiffon mist rose from the waters and hung in the pine tree branches like a Japanese painting. We began casting towards the rocky shoreline and the ten to twenty foot high cliffs. We tossed each lure softly to the edge of the rock face, let it sit a moment, then gave the surface lure a twitch, a jerk, another twitch, another jerk then we would slowly move the rod from left to right, having the lure imitate a wounded baitfish, we did this for ten minutes, then paddled further, still in this rock lined channel, my feet inadvertently hit the bottom of the canoe as I reached for a different lure, Alex told me to keep the noise down a couple of times as I was humming a song that had been popular on the radio, ‘I’m Henry the 8th I am, Henry, Henry’, “ keep quiet,you’re scaring the fish, that’s why we aren’t getting any”. Perturbed at his domineering character I just kept on doing what I was doing quietly singing and eating my sandwich, casting towards shore, he yelled again, “keep the fucking noise down or I’ll kill you” ! I believed him, but it was too late, his face had turned red with anger, his eyes bulged, I’d seen that face before in life, almost always after I had beat him at a sporting thing or something as simple as a monopoly or scrabble game. He was standing in the boat which isn’t smart in a canoe, he held a paddle up in the air and began swinging and swiping it at me, I dived overboard into the deep water and swam the twenty feet to shore for safety where I clung onto the rock face and had difficulty climbing the slippery slimey with green guck sheer rock face, the paddle got me in the back of the head and I could feel my front upper tooth come in contact with the rock face, the same tooth that I had chipped on the tap at the ice rink, I must have yelled and screamed until he stopped hitting me. After a cooling out period, he let me back in the canoe and we paddled back to the campsite at my request. By this time, the magic hour had passed, it was close to nine AM the sun was higher. We fell asleep for a few hours by the dying fire. Shade was provided by a large pine tree to our back. When we got up we again went out on the river, this time we paddled quite a distance, the river opened up and appeared now much more like a lake, we came to a spot that looked very promising, there were pencil reeds and some lily pads, sure signs of fish habitat. To no avail we pitched our lures, we landed a few small pike that were feeding close to shore, I love pike, you can always catch them they are so voracious they will eat all day long and are very protective of their area. By days end we were beat and paddled back to the camp. Alex opened up another can of spaghetti for his dinner, I was happy with the hot dogs. Afterwards he insisted again that I do the dishes, including his spaghetti pot that he had not bothered to put water in as a pre rinse. I balked and well that simple not malicious act on my part drove him crazy again, it was all I could do to survive the night without my head being chopped off.

In the morning, we decided to call it quits, we both realized we weren’t getting along, we took the canoe back to the French River Marina where they gave us a refund for the twelve days we had paid for in advance. A local man driving a dusty old white pickup truck gave us a lift up to the highway, me and Alex sat in the back box with our gear, our duffle bags and fishing rods. When we got to the main road we stuck our thumbs out to no avail. We walked and walked in the baking hot sun until we came across a small provincial park that we knew was nearby. We walked in and decided to rent a campsite near the waters edge. The site was quite reasonable, about three dollars a day and it came with a picnic table and one of those steel grate provincial parks bbqs elevated from the ground as well a nicely sanded camping area to place our gear and lay our bags out in.

The small lake was less than fifty feet from the camp site through a tree lined path. We both tried like tigers to catch something, but again we had little luck, we did catch some sunfish but that was not what we were after. It seemed the only thing we were good at was fighting with each other. Once again, the issue of doing the dishes came up, I would not clean his dirty pot again at which he went into the typical rage, we decided by mid afternoon that day that we would break camp and hitch hike to the nearest town and take a bus to Toronto. It took us forever to catch a lift then finally this guy a soldier dressed in Army clothes stopped, he was going as far as Bracebridge, he was talkative, he said, ‘there’s a Greyhound bus station in town’ and he dropped us off there around five in the afternoon, we were so pleased to get out of the blazing sun, we rolled the windows down in the car, let the breeze chill us out. We were too late for the afternoon bus and would have to wait until 9 that night for the next one. The depot closed at five, so we had to leave our bags and stuff out front and stand guard for almost five hours until the next bus came. The stairs up to the depot were made of poured concrete, an adult passed us by and said to us, and it amazes me that I recall this, they said, ‘better not sit there too long or you’ll get piles’, now what the heck are piles my kid self thought. We purchased two tickets to Toronto at about $7 dollars each, we counted up our money, after each of us having Banquet Burgers with fries and gravy, chocolate sundaes and milkshakes for dinner at a small diner which was part of the bus depot, we had the whopping sum of $26 dollars left. We slept on the bus ride home, I don’t think we spoke to each other the entire way the bus was nearly empty. It pulled into the Toronto bus station around eleven o’clock, we tossed a dime into one of those black rotary pay phones and called home. Mom answered, I recall Alex saying, ‘we’ll be home in an hour, we just got off the bus, we couldn’t get along’. At home, mom was devastated, when we told her we only had $26 dollars left she might as well of wept for the look on her exasperated face, poor woman.

Throughout life Alex and I continued to rival each other, especially in sport as we both played a good game of football, and we rivaled each other with friends as well. He was good at bullying people into being his friend, often they would find me through him, which I am sure he carried to his grave. We tried to go to the French River one more time, I have wrote about this before in a story towards the beginning of my writings, it is called Last Chance Fishing and it can be viewed on my blog by going to Wordpress Selrahc Yrogerg. Julia, my better half and I spent a couple of weekends fishing at the French River. One time we took our big cedar strip boat with the brown and white 18 Horse power Johnson motor. We travelled well up the river to a wide expanse and camped on an island. One morning we were just up, hadn’t even had our coffee when we both saw this enormous fourty or so pound Muskellunge jump into the air, the image remains. We hopped in the old boat and began pitching our biggest lures in the area we thought the fish was hunting in, we pitched for over an hour, with no luck. It was our last day on the river as we had planned to go to another area north of Sault St. Marie, Lake Michipicoten. to give it a try, as we drove towards the French River Marina we watched as two Americans played an almost ten pound pickerel to their boat, they were fishing not far from the marina. Though I have never had much luck with big fish at the French I have seen others catch them.

The last time I was at the French was in the year 2006, the year Alex died from ‘the drink’ at his apartment in Valemount British Columbia. It may just be a coincidence but I am writing these words on his birthday, April the 1st, 2015. My sister Suzanne reminded me of that fact today, Al’s birthday, he would have been 68. My cell phone rang as I was working at one of the properties I managed for a group of entrepreneurs, I was repairing some holes in the siding that a colony of bats were using to enter the wood sided structure, I was on a ladder. The call was from the coroner in Valemount British Columbia, I don’t recall how she got my number. She gave me the news that Al was dead and thought I should get out there to settle up his affairs. I found myself on a plane the next day, landing in Vancouver then taking a second flight to Prince George where I rented a Jeep (Peej) to drive across country eastwards towards the town of Valemount. I stayed a night in Prince George as I waited for Alex’s daughter Maxine and her husband to arrive from their home in the Calgary area. The next day they showed up driving a luxury small Mercedes sports car. They were tired and wanted to post pone the events a day till they caught up on sleep, I refused as I had already wasted half a day waiting for them to show up. We went to the hospital first to see Al in the morgue, it was a gruesome sight as he had turned blue and yellow from not being kept refrigerated for a few days after he passed. I believed he was dead but his daughter insisted on seeing him. The moment was not dissimilar to those you see on television wherein the family visit the morgue to identify a relation. I snapped a photograph, the image did not appear on the screen of the digital camera, only later on the computer did it come out after working with it in a phtotoshop type program. You don’t want to see that photo. Afterwards we went to a funeral home and made arrangements to have him cremated, when I came back to Prince George I would come and pick up the ashes and take them with me to Toronto. In typical funeral home employee fashion the attendant tried to persuade us to buy expensive decorative urns to place his ashes in and to spend a bunch of money on notices in the paper. I do recall telling the guy we weren’t interested. Maxine and her man took a room at a motel. The nasty work being done I chose to drive on to Valemount as there was lots of sunlight time. It is a four hour trip to Valemount on a very quiet paved road. I didn’t quite make it to Valemount but stopped one town before there in a town called McBride where I took a room at a motel. A small jug of scotch whiskey helped me sleep, I was very emotional.

The next morning I pulled into Valemount a picturesque town on the other side of the mountain range from Banff and Jasper. There were tall mountains in all directions. On the Jeep stereo I played a new Eric Clapton CD Me and Mr.Johnson that I had bought in an interesting truck stop all purpose supply store on the edge of town that appeared to be the place to be. The record was in one of those sales bins priced at just $6, The music was comprised of old blues tunes, the song When The Train Pulls Into the Station was particularly sad as Valemount is a railroad town and Alex had been working for CN rail for over twenty years. It was difficult to hold back the tears, I had some time to put in before the scheduled meeting with the coroner, I found a quiet lake on the outskirts of town to say a few inner prayers. I met the coroner at the apartment complex Alex lived in as scheduled at eleven AM, it was a modern four floor structure on the outskirts of town with young jack pines growing around it, there was a bike rack and the bike Al road was there. The coroner told me about the circumstances of his death, they aren’t pretty, in a drunken stupor he just sort of fell on his face and died in the hallway outside of his apartment, a young twenty something neighbor who knew Al felt bad as he had passed him in the hallway early on the morning in question and just ignored him as he had seen Al in worse shape numerous times. The cause of death we later found out via an autopsy was alcohol, he drank himself to death.

We went into the apartment, I wasn’t ready for what I saw. When I say there was a carpet of beer bottles on the floor mixed with small empty vodka bottles, I mean there was a carpet of empties, mostly Heineken. A trail, a foot path led through the empties to a TV set a newish 32” inch flatscreen, I believe there was a couch and little else except the remote, the curtains were closed, no light came in, to my knowledge, no one had ever been in the apartment, it was quite a hovel, with dishes piled high in the sink, the bathroom was a sight as well, Al was never known for his good housekeeping. The apartment superintendent was also a bartender at the local bar, she had never been in the apartment. I was far beyond embarrassment. The degree of drinking that took place in his life is difficult to fathom. I will include a photograph of the bottle strewn floor.

I had been made the executor of his will when he had it drawn up twenty or so called years prior at a law office in a town south of Valemount called Clearwater. It was my duty by law to look after things, regardless of what his son in law said was the law or accepted rule in Vietnam. We did not get along to say the least. There was one specific request in the will, ‘please sprinkle my ashes in the French River’. No piles of gold or otherwise were found at the apartment, no matter how many times they ripped his VCR apart it did not pour out a pot of gold. What was salvageable would fill a black garbage bag, a talking Billy the Bass still in the box, two fishing reels, a pair of fishing rods, some tackle, the TV, a handful of books, a note that said “The Truth is a Very Long Drink Indeed”, and that’s about it, as well as a key for a safety deposit box in Clearwater, British Columbia where the lawyers office was located that had drawn up the will. After his family and I finished our look through the mess I wanted to inspect the contents of the safety deposit box as it was my responsibility to look after the affairs. The key was gone. Neither of his kin would own up to taking it, I reported this to the RCMP in town when I left the apartment. A while later the son in law returned the key to me at a cabin I had rented for a few days by a mountain, we had a heated argument.

There was a railroad employee organized send off for Alex at the Valemount Tavern, the same tavern that sold him the drinks that killed him, I did not attend as I was repulsed by his family. The next day I ran into some of his fellow employees as well as his supervisor when I visited the CP offices to get information about his pension plan, from that exchange there was the story we call The Lunch.

For a time Al worked as a trackman on a crew with a few other guys, the routine was that they would get driven to a site, usually in a remote part of the track system to maintain the line, to repair the tracks where necessary. At this one particular area there was a bear hanging around making a nuisance of itself. One day, while the workers were up track fixing something or another the bear took Alex’s lunch which along with some drinks was kept in a hard topped cooler, when the men came back for their break, there was the bear a hundred or so yards down the track eating the food within the containers. Al picked up a tool, a steel pole over an inch thick, over six feet long with a hard metal welded piece on the end, they used it to raise the track while gravel was placed under the creosoted boards. He never said a thing, the other two workers with Al watched as he approached that thief of a bear, Al beat the bear to death with that steel pole. That’s the kind of man he was, fearless.

It was necessary for me to visit the bank Al dealt with in town, that took some time and certain protocols are in place for next of kin to access the account information. A kindly gentleman eventually informed me that there was just $600 dollars in Al’s account..this did not come as a surprise as there were signs and verbal innuendo that he was just scraping by in life with the benefits he received from the railroad sick plan that he had been on and off of for several years. At the doctors office, I thanked the doctor who had been providing him with care for his addictions. At the Valemount Hotel I met the servers who were devastated by his death. I went for a long drive inland from the town to explore, to see what the area was all about, a road led me to a grand lake where there was a family fishing and camping in a Beverly Hillbillies way, I gave Mr.Blanchett one of the fishing rods for his grand son, I had a feeling he knew I was giving something special away. At a motel a few guys who worked with Al were having a beer, I gave one of them Als ornamental belt buckle and the other a guy named Red I gave one of Als fishing rods and a reel. There was little left to do. As I drove to the lawyers office in Clearwater a pleasant two or three hour drive south through a mountain range, I passed a town called Avola with a red neck bar that Al once hung around when he first went to BC many years back, that’s about all there was in that town, a red neck bar, I was hesitant to go in as there were some rough looking characters in the bar and some Harleys parked out front, I went in anyways, a bit timid. I said hello to the barkeep and asked if he knew Alex, he did know him and he had heard Al had passed, I shook his hand, the bikers actually melted with the sad news of Als death. A ways further up, my heart beating quickly I saw a large dead hawk on the road, I pulled over and with a knife I had scavenged from Alex’s stuff, I portioned the fresh, still warm magnificent bird into sections, the head, the tail feathers, the wings, the sacred feet, the body I tossed into the woods and said a Shamans prayer of thanks for this wonderful omen.

The safety deposit box was located in a bank beside the lawyers office. We went in together, the lawyer and I, a bank person took us to where the safety deposit boxes were, we opened the box that was assigned to Alex Gregory, it was empty. The lawyer agreed afterwards to help me sort Als affairs out, there would be damage payments due to the apartment owner and several other matters needed sorting out before the pension funds could be released to his daughter Maxine. It took a year or so to get everything in order for her, I just like to say that she did well, there were enough funds for someone to have a fresh start in life. I headed back to gather my things at the cabin, I took a walk towards the mountains behind the assembly of rental cottages, it was Mt.Trudeau and in an opening in the green plateau I saw two black animals grazing, at first I thought they were horses, I turned back to look again and the pair of regal moose were slowly trotting away. I said goodbye to the landlady who made rugs out of worn blue jeans, I drove back to Prince George. On the drive back I saw a coyote running in a field with hay bales, I like to think that that was Alex playing in the sun, a few miles on there was a bear cub, picking away at something in the ground. I picked the ashes up at the funeral home. I took them on the plane with me in my personal luggage, the airline seeing my remorse let me sit alone, the ashes were placed in the bin above, wrapped with a wing from that dead hawk omen. The rest of the bird was sent via mail to our address at the farm above Rice Lake in Ontario. The head, now remiss of all signs of life except a few wilted feathers sits in a glass jar on the stereo shelf, a reminder of those times.

Late that summer, my son Cassidy, my brother Kevin and I took the ashes to the French River. I had my own style shaman ceremony, I poured the ashes into the river at the spot we first camped at. I lit a fire for some sacred purpose as well as to burn the box the ashes were in. The other fishing reel of Als, I attached one of the feet from the hawk omen and tossed it far out into the river as I bluttered out some sacred incantation. Kevin, who had been abused by Alex witnessed the ceremony but understandably would not participate. I had sent half the ashes to Maxine via her mother Glenda’s house in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Those ashes I understand were placed in the grave with his deceased partner who had died years earlier.

Some lives are sad, very sad. From time to time I will come across a man who reminds me of my brother Alex in a physical way and it sends a ripple through me. In all the places for this to take place it did once in the early seventies at the auditorium theatre of the Guelph Reformatory as a man sat in the row in front of me who had an uncanny resemblance to Alex, a Neanderthal feeling. Just this week, as I gave the street person Bob a hug at his motel on the outskirts of town, there was a slight, ever so slight similarity to that love I shared with Alex. I doubt that I will ever go back to the French River. Om Sai Ram

 

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

16 things...16 things...Hmmm...Was going to go with a CoolnCasual, laidback Rico Suave pose, but, being the poster child for the photogenically challenged, this was SO much easier.

Actually, this was taken right after work...Yup, that's what working out in -30 degree windchill does to you. Not many people know this, but being exposed to such low temps for a significant length of time will make one's skull contract - That's why Eskimo's invented those big, round hoods, to make their heads appear more spherical...Also, those hoods ( if genuine Inuit ) contain a rigid internal framework that pulls into a perfect sphere when tightened via the drawstrings. This device, and the fact that whale blubber contains a certain enzyme which causes one's features to broaden, are why you never see any pinheaded Eskimos...but I digress.

OK...

1.) I've always had a way with/thing for critters, critters of any kind. When I was 2 we visited a Deer Park in Michigan, a couple seconds of parental inattentiveness was all I needed to make my way into one of the pens...When my parents next saw me I was grinning, and surrounded by several whitetail buck...Yeah, my Dad had to run the gauntlet - so to speak - to get me out. When I was about 4 I loved Bumblebees and found it much easier to catch them bare-handed than to try to use a net or a jar. When I was 5 there was the Hummingbird incident at Rocky Mountain Nat.'l Park. I'd never seen a Hummingbird before we camped there that Summer, and I thought they were the Coolest thing alive. Well, an innocent trip one morning to the ranger station to see the Hummingbirds feed turned rather sour When I almost got us kicked out of the park. You see, I REALLY wanted a Hummingbird, but I guess the rangers frowned upon people catching them as they fed...boy did I get it that day! I grew up in the country, and When I was about 10 I got a baby goat for my Birthday - Billy ( Yeah, I was a clever one ) and he was the Coolest, Cutest thing...even though he was small he liked to play rough, and so did I...well, about 6 months later Billy wasn't so small anymore...that goat beat the CRAP out of me! Don't ever get your kid/s a goat for a pet...Ever! Growing up in the country afforded me an endless supply of critters to bring home and share with my family...how fortunate for them, especially my Mother ("A Fox Squirrel! How did a Fox Squirrel get in the back of my dryer?!!" - But DANG, can they BITE!!!), but the coolest were the baby Screech Owls - On two seperate occasions I successfully raised & released two orphaned, baby Screech Owls...That Totally Rocked! Oh yeah, I was also kicked by a horse, and sprayed by a skunk, both of which didn't rock, but Totally Sucked! The horse kick hurt like hell, but the skunk was worse...I really don't recommend it.

 

2.) According to some, I have tendency to ramble...whatever.

 

3.) I am a Gemini...and, as many of you have stated, I too, don't believe in Astrology, but am intrigued by how accurate it can be...and I have a theory which involves the date of one's conception and the developmental stages while in the womb relative to the gravitational pull of the moon and the fact that we are mostly liquid...but I won't get into that now 'cause y'all'd be referring back to #2.

 

4.) When I am severely stressed I have what could be called an adverse affect on certain electronics and especially lights. Also not going to go into detail here except to say I know there are plenty of others out there who have/are going through this same thing (no doubt some of you) and no you're not going insane/don't have a brain tumor/aren't being haunted - this is a documented phenomena upon which our government and quite a few prestigious institutions of higher learning have dumped loads of money to better understand.

 

5.) My middle name starts with an "M", and very few people ever guess it. No one ever on the 1st try.

 

6.) I met "Miss Right" about 14yrs. ago and wasn't aware of the fact until a few months after I broke it off ( You'd think having the same birthdays would've been a clue & a half - that and the fact that we had almost everything in common and got along Superbly...DUHHH!!!! )

 

7.) I have an addiction to Frank's RedHot Sauce.

 

8.) I am convinced that gigantopithecus blacki still walks the Earth...again, not going to go into detail here, except to say that I feel to deny that it's even a possibility is the epitome of arrogance.

 

9.) I think/know that RUSH RULES!

 

10.) I Love to read! Fiction, that is...

 

11.) When we were pre-teens people thought that my older sister and I were twins.

 

12.) I pretty much entirely lost my sense of smell a little over a year ago - hence the RedHot addiction.

 

13.) When I grow a beard and my hair long I am the spitting image of Jesus - case in point...when we were married, my ex worked at a Lutheran institution for the mentally handicapped/challenged/ retarded/whatever is P.C.. On the wall in the lobby was a large portrait of Jesus. One afternoon while I was waiting for her in the lobby, a group of about 2 dozen residents came walking through... they saw me and froze, then they looked at the portrait on the wall opposite me, their eyes grew wide, then they were staring at me, an uneasy murmur and mumbling was running through them and getting louder, then, it happened, I was rushed and just about assaulted...though there was no malice, it really scared the hell out of me.

 

14.) Having worked the P.M. shift outdoors through the past 13 Winters, I REALLY want to move back to Arizona!!!

 

15.) My dog Shilo is my Best Friend!

 

16.) I don't think I've ever been more happy to see the number 16.

     

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more. Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States, where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart. Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse". She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith, having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night. She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School, before being sent to a nearby public school. As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD. Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones. Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation. The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material. By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list. Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s. Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album. The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era. The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available. In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time; a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004. Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Monument dedicated to the memory of John George Howard.

 

Photograph by Michael A. J. Rumig.

  

HALLOWEEN Rock N' Roll MUSIC SOUNDTRACK background suggestions for Halloween & Friday the 13th:

Friday the 13th by Thelonious Monk or Theme From Firday the 13th by Manfredini or Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles or Dr. Wu by Steely Dan or their other song Kid Charlemagne or the song Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) by David Bowie or I Put A Spell On You by Scremin' Jay Hawkins or The Witch by The Sonics or the Witches' Rave by Jeff Buckley or Walking With A Ghost by Tegan & Sara or This is Halloween by Marilyn Manson or Monster Mash by Bobby "Borris" Pickett and the Beach boys did this to on their Live Album or Burning Down the House by Talking Heads or Love Potion # 9 by The Searchers or Free Fallin' by Tom Petty or Super Freak by Rick James or The Snake by Johnny Rivers or Spooky by Classics IV or Phantom of the Opera by Iron Maiden or Feed My Frankenstein by Alice Cooper or Clap For The Wolfman(Jack) by Canada's - The Guess Who and also another Canadian group is April Wine and their song Sign Of The Gypsy Queen or as Ian Tyson told me personally at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia, Ontario the greatest folk song in his opinion ever written is The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by the Canada's legendary Gordon Lightfoot or his other song If You Could Read My Mind or another Canadian doing Spiderman Theme by Michael Buble or Beware The Friendly Stranger by Boards of Canada or check out Fogbounded Creepy Music album Xenophobia on You Tube or The Slender Man Song by Brentalfloss or Behold The Darkness by Medwyn Goodall or Suspiria Theme - 1977 by Goblin or Maggot Dream by Death Cube K or Atmospheres by Gyorgy Ligeti or Volume Alpha by Minecraft or Pokemon G/R/B/Y Lavender Town Remix or check this out on Youtube Hatsune Miku - "結ンデ開イテ羅刹ト骸(Hold, Release; Rakshasa and Carcasses)" Eng subbed or Lavender Town theme(Depressive Black Metal Version) by Anit or for some fabulous creepy listening check this one out called Tidal Tempest Bad Future(Extended) by Sonic CD or The Bottom Feeder by Nurse With Wound or Gwely Mernans by Aphex Twin or Blood On Satan's Claw by Reverend Bizarre or Love Me Forever by Motorhead or +Everything by Limp Bizkit or Creeping Death by Metallica or Blind by KoRn or White Wedding by Billy Idol or his other song called Dancing With Myself or The Visitors by Abba or Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley or Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr. or This Is Halloween by Gary Gee or The Adams Family by Vic Mizzy orThe Cask Of Amontillado by Alan Parsons Project or The Raven (Long Version) by Alan Parsons Project or Halloween by Aqua or Witches Promise by Juthro Tull or Witches - Aqualords by Dark Horse or Witches by Switchblade Symphony or Witche's Brew by Palmer Hap or Witch Queen Of New Orleans by Redbone or Wicca the Witches Song by Marianne Faithful or When You're Evil by Voltaire or Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon or We Only Come Out At Night by Smashing Pumpkins or Transylvania Twist by Ex-Voto or Tito and Tarantula by After Dark or The Time Warp by Rocky Horror or Thriller by Michael Jackson(the ultimate classic) or Strange Brew by Cream or Nightmare on My Street by DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince or Monster by the B-52's or Friend Of The Devil by Grateful Dead or (Don't Fear) The Reeper by Blue Oyster Cult or Zombie Stomp by Ozzy Osborne and Rob Zombie or the Halloween Volume II soundtrack from Mannheim Steamroller or The X-Files Theme by Enya or Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) by Concrete Blonde or Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones or Devil In Disguise by Elvis or JJ Cale's version or Devil Inside by Inxs or Race with the Devil by Gene Vincent or The Ghost by Jim Morrison(Lizard Man) and The Doors and then one of the kings of the country boys is It's A Monster's Holiday by Buck Owens and the words will sure to turn your twists or Season of the Witch(Sunshine Superman) by Donavan or Season of the Witch by Brian Augur, Julie Driscoll & Trinity or Toccata and Fugue in d Minor, s. 565 (Anton AHeiller, organist) or Sorceror's Apprentice (Magic?) (transcribedand performed by Peter Richard Centre or Cauldron of Cerridwen(Emerging) by Kay Gardner or Ghosts in the Landscape(Terma) by Tuu & Nick Parkin or All Souls Night by Loreena McKennitt or Strange Brew by Cream or The Burning Times by Charlie Murphy or This is Halloween by Danny Elfman or Witchy Women by The Eagles orFlight of the Magicians by David Michael & Randy Mead or Magic Man by Heart or Arrival To Nowhere by Numina or White Rabbit by The Great Society or The Earth, The Air, The Fire, The Water(ACirle is Cast by Libana or Ghost(Sacred Sacrifice) by Fountain's M.U.S.E or Totem(Picture Music) by Klaus Schulze or Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix or The Ghost In Me(Wanderlust) by Terra Ambient or You Must Be A Witch(Nuggets vol.3, Rhino) by The Lollipop Shoppe or Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf.

 

This is some fine Halloween Rockin' and whatever to amuse and stimulate your senses come what the 31st or for any other Friday the 13th!

 

Is it TRICK or is it TREAT or is it Friday the 13th!

 

I wonder what Gene, and Alice and Ozzie and Marilyn are doing on the 31st?

 

Check out these websites for More HALLOWEEN MUSIC:

 

top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/halloweensongs.htm

 

www.rocknrollview.com/blog/2009/10/13/13-killer-rock-n-ro...

 

itunes.apple.com/ca/album/100-halloween-rock-n-roll/id406...

 

This site here is one of the best with links: creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Recommended_Listening_Music

 

www.amazon.com/Halloween-Rock-Roll-Party-Sha/dp/B000000K82

 

www.imdb.com/title/tt0373883/soundtrack

 

And on Facebook this site: www.facebook.com/shoutingthomasthetorments

 

Also from this site is this poem:

gluvlee.blogspot.ca/2012/02/halloween-2010.html

 

Gramma Luvlee’s Good Friend Fred

 

Here lies Fred, my dear departed friend.

I know he wished to be here til the end.

Fred was a fun man a giving man too.

He wanted to share his body parts with you!

 

1) Fred was a golly man with a great big gut.

Let's pass around his intestines just for luck.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Twisted and shriveled in a bunch

just like they were after his lunch.

 

( A long thin balloon filled with jello & oiled)

 

2) His fingers were long, almost pure white.

Lets pass around a few, no need for fright.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Pretty greasy & slimy, he lived in a cave.

Never really had time to bathe.

 

(Slightly cooked & cooled & oiled baby carrots)

 

3) His toes were grimy from wearing no shoes.

Short & stubby and a little bit blue.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His toenails are long and a little bit brittle.

Don’t mind the wet, it’s just his spittle!

 

(Cold Vienna sausages)

 

4) One eye went left, the other right.

Poor Fred had really bad eyesight!

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Handle them gently for they may roll.

Fred would hate if they fell from the bowl!

 

(2 Large peeled grapes)

 

5) Now Fred he wasn’t a very smart man.

We found his brain stuffed in a can.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Give them a squeeze, there’s not a lot.

I guess old Fred, his mind is shot!

 

(I rounded the corners on three sponges and put a rubber band in the center to hold them together. It sort of resembled a brain. Then I soaked them in cold water. You could also use a cooked cauliflower.)

 

6) Fred’s bones were brittle, dry & old.

Give them a crack, if you’re so bold.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

The rats have chewed them, you can too!

But wipe them first, there may be goo!

 

(Pretzel rods)

 

7) Now one thing Fred couldn’t be called

was billiard ball, hairless, slick or bald!

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His crowning glory, styled with spit.

They ladies liked to run their fingers through it!

 

(Fake Fur)

 

8) It stopped beating with a start.

Poor Fred’s little slimy heart.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His heart it stopped no more to thump.

Please don’t scream if it starts to jump!

 

(A large tomato, blanched & peeled)

 

9) Fred was proud of his pearly whites.

A good set of choppers kept him feed right.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

His teeth were strong unlike his eyesight.

Be careful when you touch them, they might bite!

 

(Corn Nuts)

 

10) Just like Van Gough, he only had one ear.

But he heard just fine, perfectly clear.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

A little bit shriveled because of age.

But an ear nonetheless, it says on this page.

 

(Dried apricot)

 

11) The last thing we found was Fred’s strong hands.

They were down deep, covered in sand.

Fresh from the grave, wet & cold.

Just a little slimy, just a little old!

Cold and stiff as they were when he died.

Hold one or you’ll think that I lied.

 

I WANNA GO TO SYRIA - THE SHOOTING OF SAMMY YATIM

 

A VIDEO OF THIS SONG WILL BE RELEASED SOON.

 

Words & Music By MICHAEL A. J. RUMIG

 

. . . . . . . . . Starting with the sound of bullets and or maybe the sound of a haunting bell ringing nine times!

 

Key of Open D Minor

 

VERSE 1

 

I wanna go to Syria

 

But now I stay in this paranoia

 

Gonna ride the TTC

 

Get me home safely

 

VERSE 2

 

Dundas Street Friday mid-night

 

Turned out to be a fearful flight

 

Catch a ride on the Red Rocket

 

Got my token in my pocket

 

PRE-CHORUS

 

This summer I hear nine shots

 

Eight bulls eyes on the dot.

 

After getting all of those layers

 

Then finally they got me tasered

 

REFRAIN

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Down I go

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

A cop on a roll

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

You think they'd know

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Why is it sooooooooo

 

LEAD GUITAR SOLO

 

VERSE 3

 

Neon lights torments Toronto

 

This vision you get onto

 

Surrounded by cops in rage

 

I'm cornered in this cage

 

VERSE 4

 

Cut off by men in black

 

No one has got my back

 

Last ride on the TTC

 

Why did it have to be

 

VERSE 5

 

I wanna go to Syria

 

Now I stay in this paranoia

 

Gonna ride No. 4058

 

Destiny has got my fate

 

2nd PRE-CHORUS

 

This summer I hear nine shots

 

Eight bulls eyes on the dot.

 

After getting all of those layers

 

Then finally they got me tasered

 

2nd REFRAIN

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Down I go

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

A cop on a roll

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

You think they'd know

 

Shoot me up, Shoot me up

 

Why is it sooooooooo

 

(For the ending repeat the last line)

ENDING

 

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

Get me home safely

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

Canada's land of opportunity

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

Why did it have to be

bell Then finally they got me tasered.........

bell Why Why Why

Why is it so

bell Oh Why Why Why

Why must I die

bell Why Why Why

Do Cops ever Cry

bell Oh Why Why Why

bell Why must I die die die

 

. . . . . . . . . ending maybe with the sound of a haunting bell ringing nine times!

 

When I was at Ryerson at this time a fellow student was there and behind the troops when this following event happened at OHIO.

 

After the troops killed 4 students in Ohio, Neil Young went into the woods and wrote his classic signature song 'Ohio'.

 

The Ohio song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkg-bzTHeAk

 

A documentary on Ohio: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdCpI2qdsd8

 

ohio- neil young

movie for a history project

 

ohio- neil young

www.youtube.com

movie for a history project

 

If you are looking for a CORN MAZE or two to enjoy anywhere in the United States, you may find it at this web site: www.cornmazesamerica.com/directory.php?state=US

And here: www.funtober.com/cornmaze/

For Canada: puzzles.about.com/od/cornmazes/qt/CDNCornMaze.htm

And here: kccbigcountry.hubpages.com/hub/Corn-Mazes-in-Canada

 

If you are looking for HAUNTED HOUSES in United States go here: www.trutv.com/conspiracy/paranormal/haunted-houses/galler...

And here: www.hauntworld.com/americas_scariest_best_haunted_houses

For HAUNTED HOUSES in Canada: www.hauntedhouse.com/canada/

And here: paranormal.boomja.com/Haunted-Canada-31326.html

And INTERNATIONALLY: directorywww.haunted-places.com/International.htm

  

So long dare Spookies!

  

The Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size.

 

Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are widespread and a common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and the western Palearctic in deciduous or mixed woodlands with a high proportion of oak. They usually nest in tree holes, although they easily adapt to nest boxes where necessary. Their main rival for nests and in the search for food is the larger and more common great tit.

 

The Eurasian blue tit prefers insects and spiders for its diet. Outside the breeding season, they also eat seeds and other vegetable-based foods. The birds are famed for their acrobatic skills, as they can hold on to the outermost branches of trees and shrubs and hang upside down when looking for food.

 

Taxonomy

The Eurasian blue tit was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Parus caeruleus. Parus is the classical Latin for a tit and caeruleus is the Latin for dark blue or cerulean. Two centuries earlier, before the introduction of the binomial nomenclature, the same Latin name had been used by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner when he described and illustrated the blue tit in his Historiae animalium of 1555.

 

In 2005, analysis of the mtDNA cytochrome b sequences of the Paridae indicated that Cyanistes was an early offshoot from the lineage of other tits, and more accurately regarded as a genus rather than a subgenus of Parus. The current genus name, Cyanistes, is from the Ancient Greek kuanos, "dark blue". The African blue tit (Cyanistes teneriffae) was formerly considered conspecific.

 

Subspecies

There are currently at least nine recognised subspecies:

 

C. c. caeruleus – (Linnaeus, 1758): the nominate subspecies, occurring in Continental Europe to northern Spain, Sicily, northern Turkey and northern Urals

C. c. obscurus – (Pražák, 1894): found in Ireland, Britain and Channel Islands

C. c. ogliastrae – (Hartert, 1905): found in Portugal, southern Spain, Corsica and Sardinia

C. c. balearicus – (von Jordans, 1913): found on Majorca Island (Balearic Islands)

C. c. calamensis – (Parrot, 1908): found in southern Greece, Pelopónnisos, Cyclades, Crete and Rhodes

C. c. orientalis – Zarudny & Loudon, 1905: found in southern European Russia (Volga River to central and southern Urals)

C. c. satunini – Zarudny, 1908: found in the Crimean Peninsula, Caucasus, Transcaucasia and northwestern Iran to eastern Turkey

C. c. raddei – Zarudny, 1908: found in northern Iran

C. c. persicus – (Blanford, 1873): found in the Zagros Mountains

Hybrids

Pleske's tit (Cyanistes × pleskei) is a common interspecific hybrid between this species and the azure tit (Cyanistes cyanus), in western Russia. The cap is usually darker than the azure tit, and the tail is paler than the Eurasian blue tit.

 

Description

The Eurasian blue tit is usually 12 cm (4.7 in), long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) for both sexes, and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz). A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue and the back is yellowish green. The underparts are mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet. The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar and often indistinguishable to human eyes, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown. Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow.

 

Distribution and habitat

There are currently around 20–44 million pairs in Europe.

 

The Eurasian blue tit and the related hybrids are considered native species in areas of the European continent with a mainly temperate or Mediterranean climate, and in parts of the Middle East. These areas include Ireland, the United Kingdom and most of the European Union and EFTA (except Malta, where they are considered vagrant, and Iceland, where they are absent), plus: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Vatican City and Ukraine.

 

In Great Britain the Eurasian blue tit can be found in a variety of environments, and is typically found in deciduous woodland, parks, gardens and even in the centre of towns.

 

Behaviour and ecology

Eurasian blue and great tits form mixed winter flocks, and the former are perhaps the better gymnasts in the slender twigs. A Eurasian blue tit will often ascend a trunk in short jerky hops, reminiscent of a treecreeper. As a rule the bird roosts in ivy or evergreens, but in harsh winters will roost wherever there is a suitable small hole, be it in a tree or nesting box. They are very agile and can hang from almost anywhere.

 

This is a common and popular European garden bird, due to its perky acrobatic performances when feeding on nuts or suet. It swings beneath the holder, calling "tee, tee, tee" or a scolding "churr".

 

Breeding

The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

 

During the incubation period, female blue tits perform all of the incubation, however the male feeds the female during this time. During the nestling period both female nest attendance and male feeding rate are higher in the morning, declining throughout the day. Although socially monogamous, blue tits regularly engage in extra-pair copulations with other individuals.

 

Eggs are 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) long and 10.7–13.5 mm (0.42–0.53 in) wide. Egg size appears to depend mostly on the size of individual females and secondarily on habitat, with smaller eggs found at higher altitudes. The clutch's total weight can be 1.5 times as heavy as the female bird.

 

A study found that the timing of breeding in blue tits is related to the expression of nestling carotenoid‐based coloration, which could play a role in offspring–parent communication.

 

The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK. When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, clutch size varies with latitude and other geographic parameters. Some bigger clutches may be laid by two or even more hens in some locations but single hen clutches of 14 have been verified in the UK. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species.

 

In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%, while the adult annual survival rate was 53%. From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years. Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire. The maximum recorded age overall is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic.

 

Diet

The Eurasian blue tit feeds on many insects, though it is fond of young buds of various trees, especially when insect prey is scarce, and may pull them to bits in the hope of finding insects. It is a well-known predator of many Lepidoptera species including the Wood Tiger moth. No species, however, destroys more coccids and aphids, the worst foes of many plants. It takes leaf miner grubs and green tortrix moths (Tortricidae). In common with all members of the family, seeds are also eaten.

 

Voice

Eurasian blue tits use songs and calls throughout the year. Songs are mostly used in late winter and spring to defend the territory or to attract mates. Calls are used for multiple reasons. Communication with other Eurasian blue tits is the most important motivation for the use of calls. They inform one another on their location in trees by means of contact-calls. They use alarm-calls to warn others (including birds of other species such as the great tit, the European robin or the treecreeper) about the presence of predators in the neighbourhood. Scolding, for example, is used when a ground predator (e.g. fox, cat or dog), a low flying predator or a perched owl are noticed. Sometimes this is followed by mobbing behaviour in which birds gather together in flocks to counter a predator. The alarm-whistle warns other birds about the proximity of a Eurasian sparrowhawk, a northern goshawk, a common buzzard or other flying predators that form a potential danger in the air. A series of high-pitched 'zeedling' notes are given by both partners before and during copulation. The begging-call is used by juveniles to beg for food from parents.

 

Learnt behaviours

An interesting example of culturally transmitted learning in birds was the phenomenon dating from the 1920s of blue tits teaching one another how to open traditional British milk bottles with foil tops, to get at the cream underneath. Such behaviour has been suppressed recently by the gradual change of human dietary habits (low-fat or skimmed milk instead of full-fat), and the way of getting them (from a supermarket in plastic containers with hard plastic lids, instead of the milkman). In addition, the instinct to strip bark from trees in search of insects has developed into a tendency to peel building materials such as thatch, wallpaper, stucco and window putty.

 

Predators and natural threats

The small size of the Eurasian blue tit makes it vulnerable to prey by larger birds such as jays who catch the vulnerable fledglings when they leave the nest. The most important predator is probably the sparrowhawk, closely followed by the domestic cat. Nests may be robbed by mammals such as weasels and red squirrels, as well as introduced grey squirrels in the UK.

 

The successful breeding of chicks is dependent on sufficient supply of green caterpillars as well as satisfactory weather. Breeding seasons may be affected badly if the weather is cold and wet between May and July, particularly if this coincides with the emergence of the caterpillars on which the nestlings are fed.

 

Parasites

Eurasian blue tits are known to be host to feather mites, and rarely lice and flat flies. In Europe, the only feather mite species known to live on the blue tit host is Proctophyllodes stylifer. However, this mite seems to be of no concern to the bird as, until now, it is only known to feed on dead feather tissue. P. stylifer lives all its developmental stages, i.e. egg, larva, protonymph, tritonymph and adult, within the plumage of the same host. The usual sites where P. stylifer is encountered are the remiges and the rectrices of the bird where they can be found tandemly positioned between the barbs of the rachis.

 

Status and conservation

The Eurasian blue tit is classified as a least concern species on the IUCN Red List (version 3.1), and as a Green Status species, since 1996, by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom.

 

Cultural significance

The Eurasian blue tit has appeared on many stamps and ornaments. Its most recent appearance on a British stamp was the 2010 Birds of Britain series.

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena