Paul Stanley Defends Kiss’ Groupies: ‘Nobody Got Hurt’
· Ultimate Classic RockPaul Stanley has defended Kiss’ well-chronicled history with groupies, describing the relationships as “wholesome” flings in which “nobody got hurt.”
“I don't think we promoted ourselves for what was going on backstage or at hotels,” the singer explained during an appearance on the Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast. “It just was common knowledge. I mean, people were just seeing what was going on. And it was terrific. What a great, great life. It's everything that people imagine it to be and more.”
Stanley went on to note that Kiss’ connection with their groupies went beyond sex.
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“The interesting thing was for all the girls, groupies, young women, whatever they were, it was really kind of, no pun intended, wholesome,” he declared. “They were there because they loved music. And they would travel with you. They would do your laundry. You'd go to the movies with them. There was nothing tawdry about it. It was companionship. And they loved music. And I loved them. So it was a good tradeoff.”
Kiss' Groupies 'Never Walked Away Feeling Disrespected'
During the conversation on groupies, Stanley was asked who “takes the cake” between he and his bandmate, Gene Simmons. “It depends on what you consider cake,” the frontman replied, eliciting howls of laughter from Steve-O and his co-host (Stanley declined a chance to elaborate on who slept with more women).
When the Jackass star suggested that is was more honest to have a one-night stand than pretend a relationship could ever become something more, Stanley noted that “different circumstances call for different behavior.”
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“The women who would come to shows weren't coming there to be courted,” the frontman explained. “You have tonight and we all know that. You know that and I know that. And it was very simple. And nobody got hurt. Nobody ever walked away feeling disrespected or diminished.”
According to the singer, Kiss and their groupies had an unspoken understanding that kept everything carefree and fun.
“We were very upfront and they were very upfront. They were there for a certain reason. So I don't think anybody was deceiving anybody,” the rocker remarked. “And that's why it was so much fun because it was uncomplicated. You know, whatever your relationship is with anybody, hopefully it's uncomplicated, whether it's somebody you're involved with for a night or for a lifetime.”
Pamela Des Barres
Dave Navarro called her “rock’s premier groupie and sexual muse.” It’s a title that’s hard to argue with. The list of musicians who Pamela Des Barres (born Pamela Ann Miller) is associated with reads like a laundry list of rock’s biggest stars. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, Keith Moon and Jim Morrison are just some of the many men she spent time with. In many cases, the affairs were long, rather than one-night-stands. “I was Keith’s L.A. girl,” Des Barres recalled of her relationship with Moon, noting that “whenever he came to town he’d call no one but me.” Her runs with Page and Jagger spanned years, and she eventually wed Power Station singer Michael Des Barres (they divorced in 1991 after 14 years of marriage). “I was the muse,” Pamela once said of her place in music history, “and I don’t care what people say about that. Groupies enhanced these people’s lives in a huge way. And if it weren’t for us, they would not be who they are.”
Cynthia "Plaster Caster" Albritton
There’s an old showbiz cliche that says “Everybody needs a gimmick.” In the world of groupies, nobody had a better gimmick than Cynthia Albritton aka Cynthia Plaster Caster. “I was a shy, fledgling, virginal goofy girl that wanted to get laid by cute British boys with long hair and tight pants,” she recalled to Rock Scene magazine in 2012. “But I wasn’t experienced or seductive, and the only way I could go about getting the zippers down was it had to be in a goofy, funny way.” Inspiration soon struck while Albritton was in her college art class. The young rock fan decided she would meet musicians by offering to make molds of their erect penises. Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders was her first subject, and while the plaster mix didn’t end up working, she did lose her virginity to the singer. Eventually, Cynthia found the right formula for her plaster mix and her groupie life. Jimi Hendrix, MC5's Wayne Kramer, Gene Simmons of Kiss and Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley were among her most famous casts. Her legend was also cemented in Kiss’ 1977 song “Plaster Caster” and Jim Croce’s 1973 track “Five Short Minutes.”
Sable Starr
Sable Starr began her groupie career while still in high school, going to class by day and getting close with famous musicians by night. Her young age placed her among the “baby groupies,” an assortment of underage girls known to frequent the Sunset Strip in the ‘70s. “It’s more like an ego thing,” she explained to Star magazine in 1973. “Just to be able to call up girlfriends the next day and say who I was with last night.” The list of those Starr was reported with included David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, Mick Jagger, Marc Bolan and members of Led Zeppelin. Starr would later become involved with Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls. She moved to New York to live with him, but the relationship quickly turned toxic. Drug addiction plagued the couple, while Thunders became increasingly violent and prone to fits of rage toward Sable. “He tried to destroy my personality,” she later recalled. “After I was with him, I just wasn’t Sable Starr anymore. He really destroyed the Sable Starr thing.” Starr was immortalized in Iggy Pop’s 1996 song “Look Away.” In the lyrics, the Stooges frontman chronicled the chaotic relationship between Thunders and Starr, while also admitting his own affair with the groupie in the song’s opening verse: “I slept with Sable when she was 13 / Her parents were too rich to do anything / She rocked her way around L.A. / 'Til a New York Doll carried her away.”
Connie Hamzy
Known as “Sweet Connie,” Connie Hamzy began groupie life at the age of 15. Her mother dropped her off early at a Steppenwolf concert, she wandered around the backstage area and one thing led to another. Hamzy quickly took a liking to the scene and became a regular at concerts in her native Little Rock, Ark., and neighboring areas. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, Keith Moon, John Bonham, David Lee Roth, Huey Lewis, Frank Zappa, Geddy Lee, Peter Frampton, Don Henley, Eddie Money, Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond and all three members of ZZ Top were all among the rockers Sweet Connie claimed to have had relations with. Hamzy’s sexual escapades made her a celebrity: Grand Funk Railroad mentioned her in the lyrics to “We’re an American Band”; Cheap Trick also referenced the groupie in their 1985 track “Standing on the Edge.” During an appearance on The Joan Rivers Show, Sweet Connie admitted her record was 24 men in one night but that her average was around 15.
Lori Mattix
Another of the Sunset Strip’s “baby groupies,” Lori Mattix (sometimes spelled Maddox) often ran in the same circles as Sable Starr. In a 2015 conversation with Thrillist, Mattix looked back at her teenage groupie days, even going into detail about losing her virginity to David Bowie. “The way it happened was so beautiful. I remember him looking like God and having me over a table. Who wouldn’t want to lose their virginity to David Bowie?” she said. Mattix later had a relationship with Jimmy Page that lasted more than two years, admitting that she was “totally in love” with the Led Zeppelin guitarist. She also claims to have had sex with Mick Jagger while his wife Bianca was preparing for surgery. Some have questioned Mattix’s recollection of these events, noting conflicts in her various stories and inconsistencies in the timelines. Still, there’s no doubt she was part of the ‘70s scene, and her relationship with Page is well-documented. “I saw the greatest music ever,” she recalled. “I got to hang out with some of the most amazing, most beautiful, most charismatic men in the world. I went to concerts in limos with police escorts. Am I going to regret this? No.”
Bebe Buell
Based on her own words, Bebe Buell would be disappointed to see her name on any list of rock 'n' roll groupies. “I consider ‘groupie’ a sexist term, and I think it’s misused,” she explained to New York Magazine in 2011. “I was a free agent. I was a very independent, successful girl. I made my own money, I bought my own airline tickets. When I got a paycheck, I went to Bergdorf and I bought my own clothes. There were no rock stars buying me my clothes.” While Buell was clearly financially independent - thanks to a modeling career - she nonetheless ranks among rock’s most famous muses. Her list of famous boyfriends includes Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Todd Rundgren, Jimmy Page and Steven Tyler (actress Liv Tyler is a product of her relationship with the Aerosmith singer). In some cases, she dated multiple rockers at the same time. “I think every little girl would like exclusivity, but that wasn’t how it was. If you had a jealous streak, the '70s wasn’t your era,” she explained. “And I figured if he was going to date, I would date, too. I had lovely boyfriends. For your first three boyfriends to be Mick Jagger, Todd Rundgren and David Bowie, I don’t think anyone would have a problem with that.”
Anita Pallenberg
As a popular model and budding actress, Anita Pallenberg was already hobnobbing with the social elite when she became entangled in the world of the Rolling Stones. In 1965, she went backstage after the band’s show in Munich and met guitarist Brian Jones. The two immediately hit it off and quickly began a relationship. They had a volatile dynamic, regularly using drugs and becoming physically abusive toward one another. After two years together, Pallenberg decided she needed to move on to another man: Jones’ bandmate Keith Richards. “My first impression was of a woman who was very strong,” Richards later recalled. “Also an extremely bright woman, that’s one of the reasons she sparked me. Let alone that she was so entertaining and such a great beauty to look at.” The couple stayed together until 1980 and had three children. Jones, meanwhile, sank further into drugs following his breakup with Pallenberg. He was kicked out of the Stones in June 1969 and died just a month later. Musically, Pallenberg had a notable influence on the Stones. Mick Jagger remixed several tracks on Beggars Banquet at her suggestion, while Pallenberg also contributed backing vocals on “Sympathy for the Devil.”
Tawny Kitaen
When she was just 14, Tawny Kitaen went backstage at a Peter Frampton concert. The experience proved to be life-changing, as she witnessed firsthand the way things operated behind the scenes. “Certain passes had certain areas of access, and I remember this girl named Penny, she had access to every area,” she recalled in 2011. “I was like, ‘Who is she?’ They’re like, ‘Well, that’s Peter’s girlfriend.’ And I thought, ‘Being the lead singer’s girlfriend is what gets you everywhere? I aspire to that!” In high school, Kitaen would date Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby, appearing on the cover of the band’s 1983 debut EP. She’d later become a “video vixen” of the ‘80s, appearing in several Whitesnake music videos, including the famous “Here I Go Again” clip. Not so coincidentally, Kitaen dated and eventually married Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale (the two divorced in 1991). Tommy Lee and John Taylor were among the other rockers Kitaen was connected with.
Cleo Odzer
Working as a music journalist for a small local New York newspaper, Cleo Odzer was given access to artists. Among them, are Keith Emerson, frontman of the Nice and future Emerson, Lake & Palmer member. She and Emerson were reportedly engaged in late 1968, but things changed in 1969 when Odzer was described as a “super groupie” in a Time magazine article. Emerson broke things off, while Odzer continued familiarizing herself with other musicians. She claimed to have slept with singer Terry Reid, members of Deep Purple, Cream and others. In 1969, Odzer released The Groupies, a spoken-word album in which she and her fellow groupies discussed the ins and outs of their world. It remains one of the first true first-person accounts of life as a rock groupie.
Nancy Spungen
The whirlwind life and tragic death of Nancy Spungen have been well-documented over the years. But while many tend to focus on her wild relationship with Sid Vicious, they often forget about her life before meeting the Sex Pistols bassist. Spungen had a troubled childhood and was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 15, but she found a sense of belonging in the world of music. After getting kicked out of the University of Colorado Boulder, she moved to New York when she became a groupie. Aerosmith, Bad Company, the New York Dolls and the Ramones were just some of the acts Spungen frequently spent time with. She met Vicious in 1977, sparking a toxic romance fueled by drug addiction. On Oct. 12, 1978, Spungen was found dead, the result of a single stab wound to the abdomen. Vicious was arrested and charged with her murder but died of a heroin overdose while out on bail awaiting trial.
Chris O'Dell
Is it possible to be both a music industry professional and a groupie? If so, Chris O’Dell (pictured here in 2009) is an example. The Oklahoma-born blonde worked for the Beatles at the height of Beatlemania, serving as an office assistant at Apple Records. She soon found herself in the group’s inner circle, even living at George Harrison’s mansion for a while. O’Dell was so close with the group that she was one of the few people on the roof of Apple Records’ headquarters during the band’s famous final performance in 1969. She eventually had an affair with Ringo Starr around the same time Harrison was sleeping with Starr’s wife Maureen, and Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, was being courted by Eric Clapton (keeping track?). O’Dell went on to work for the Rolling Stones in 1972, becoming one of Mick Jagger’s lovers in the process. A couple of years later, she became Bob Dylan’s tour manager. After initially keeping things completely professional, the two had an affair after Dylan and his wife, Sara, broke up. While O’Dell never slept with Harrison, she did inspire his 1973 song “Miss O’Dell.”
Cathy Smith
When she was 16, Cathy Smith met Levon Helm, then in a group called the Hawks. The two became involved, though Smith was also intimate with Helm’s bandmate Rick Danko. Both men became members of the Band, with Smith following them in their next step toward fame. She went on tour and partied with the group, regularly sleeping with Helm, Danko and Richard Manuel. Things continued this way for years until Smith began a relationship with Gordon Lightfoot in the mid-’70s. Years later, Smith would go down in Hollywood infamy. The groupie's drug use had gotten out of control; in addition to using, she was dealing. At a 1982 party with John Belushi - whom she met when the Band were guests on Saturday Night Live in 1976 - she injected the comedian with 11 speedballs (a combination of heroin and cocaine). It proved deadly, and Smith would spend 15 months in prison for Belushi’s involuntary manslaughter.
Roxana Shirazi
Born in Iran and raised in a traditional Muslim family, Roxana Shirazi was an unlikely candidate to become a groupie. Still, the rock world called to her, and after moving to the U.K. she quickly familiarized herself with some of the ‘80s' biggest acts. She was especially drawn to Guns N’ Roses, sleeping with Steven Adler, Dizzy Reed and Matt Sorum. Also on her list: Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, Tracii Guns from L.A. Guns and members of newer bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Buckcherry.
Audrey Hamilton
Unlike many of the other women on this list who purposely dove headfirst into the world of rock 'n' roll, Audrey Hamilton seemed to become a groupie by accident. After striking up a conversation with a Led Zeppelin roadie at a bar, she was invited to meet the band. She then came face to face with Robert Plant and sparks immediately flew. The singer invited Hamilton to join the band on the road, which she happily agreed to. For months, Hamilton traveled with the band and enjoyed the world ride of rock-star life - even though she and Plant had spouses at home. The romance and tour were both cut short when Plant’s 5-year-old son, Karac, died of a stomach illness. The singer immediately went home and withdrew from the limelight. Though he and Hamilton kept in touch for a while, their relationship never started up again. The song "Hot Dog" on Led Zeppelin's 1979 album In Through the Out Door is rumored to have been inspired by the groupie. She would go on to have a few more rock-star relationships, most notably having a baby with Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley.
Morgana Welch
When she was still in high school, Morgana Welch caught the band Spirit performing at Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go. She immediately fell for frontman Randy California and the two became lovers. By the time she was 18, Welch was a regular at all of the Sunset Strip’s hottest clubs. Members of T. Rex, Pretty Things and New York Dolls were reportedly among her conquests, as was Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Interestingly, Welch also kept regular diaries chronicling the highs and lows of her groupie adventures. In 2007 she published them in the book Hollywood Diaries.