Jobriath

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Jobriath, 1974 Album Creatures of the Street
Jobriath, 1974 Album Creatures of the Street

Jobriath was the stage name of Bruce Wayne Campbell (December 14, 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - August 3, 1983) a glam rock singer of 1973 and 1974.

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Signed to Elektra Records for a reported $500,000, he was advanced by his manager Jerry Brandt as the great American glam singer. A huge marketing campaign ensued, with Jobriath's naked torso on buses, in music magazines, and on a 43 x 41 billboard in Times Square. Jobriath is credited as the first mass-marketed pop star, and the first to be openly gay. On both counts, it was thought to be too much. Jobriath's first LP (self-titled) was well-reviewed, but commercially was not a huge success. The public seemed, not frightened, but puzzled by the performer who sang of hard sexual themes, posed as an alien (not unlike David Bowie), sang in a range of styles and voices, and name-checked everyone from Jesus to Marlene Dietrich.

Losing interest in the act, Brandt cancelled their much-talked-of stage show. A second LP, Creatures of the Street (songs from the same extensive sessions) was released, but to little interest. Glam itself was fading, and by mid-1974, had all but died. Jobriath and his band embarked on a brief American concert tour, and the act folded. Other members of the band included Jim Gregory, Steve Love, Greg Diamond, and Hayden Wayne. Over the next decade, he became known as one of the industry's most expensive blunders. He did, however, retain a cult of admirers, particularly among British popstars like Morrissey, Mark Stewart of The Pop Group, Siouxsie Sioux, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, and Gary Numan.

Jobriath himself sought to distance himself from his solo career, taking a new name, Cole Berlin, and adopting a new style - cabaret. He played the rest of his life in local diners and at parties. Under contract to Brandt for 10 years, he could not record music, but worked privately on a series of musicals, including the fabled "Popstar." By the time the contract was up, Jobriath was dying of AIDS, which eventually took his life in August 1983. In November 2004, Morrissey oversaw Jobriath's first CD re-issue. Morrissey had previously tried to hire Jobriath as his supporting act for the Your Arsenal tour, not realising that the singer had died.

Year Title Label
1973 Jobriath Elektra
1974 Creatures of The Street Elektra

Year Title Label
2004 Lonely Planet Boy Sanctuary

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