Rock Wives: The Hard Lives and Good Times of the Wives, Girlfriends, and Groupies of Rock and Roll

by Victoria Balfour

What is life like for women who live with rock stars? How does a woman contend with a frenzied life-style that has spawned groupies, grueling tours, and excessive amounts of drugs? What does it feel like to have your relationship under constant public scrutiny? Why do some women survive in the rock world with their marriages intact while others become drug addicts and divorcees?

In Rock Wives, seventeen women (and one man) who live with rock stars open up and talk candidly about their private lives with these very public people.

Included are:
*Myra Lewis (Jerry Lee Lewis)
*Lee Angel (Little Richard)
*Susan Rotolo (Bob Dylan)
*Claudette Robinson (Smokey Robinson)
*Linda Lawrence Leitch (Brian Jones, Donovan Leitch)
*Marilyn Wilson (Brian Wilson)
*Anita Pallenberg (Brian Jones, Keith Richards)
*Gail Zappa (Frank Zappa)
*Patricia Keneally (Jim Morrison)
*Monika Dannemann (Jimi Hendrix)
*Angie Bowie (David Bowie)
*Ingrid Croce (Jim Croce)
*Bebe Buell (Todd Rundgren, Rod Stewart, Elvis Costello, Stiv Bators)
*Leslie Meat Loaf (Meat Loaf)
*Jo Howard (Ron Wood)
*Carlene Carter (Nick Lowe)
*Vera Ramone (Dee Dee Ramone)
*David Wolff (Cyndi Lauper)

Here are fabulous, revealing, exclusive interviews with the women closest to the stars of rock and roll. And no one gets closer than a rock wife!

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was young and stupid, I thought I wanted to be a groupie and marry a rock star.
When I got older, I wanted to be a rockstar.

Now I just want to stay home and read.

This book is silly. Most of the men in the book have found new women to shack up with like Ron Wood, a few of the rockers are dead Dee Dee Ramone and Frank Zappa.

[Gato Negro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty much a book for poolside on a day when you have nothing better to read. There are better books out there on this topic.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-opening, funny, fearless, and honest accounts from remarkable women who make it clear that they're not just wives... everything Popbitch wished it was.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awesome! Interviews with wives/girlfriends/groupies from 1987 - way back when Liv Tyler still thought her dad was Todd Rundgren. No, but really did everyone get with Brian Jones? Seriously!

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty cool to read the stories of the female counterparts of some of my idols.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun reading--gossipy.