She's a Rainbow: The Extraordinary Life of Anita Pallenberg: The Black Queen

by Simon Wells

"How Anita came to be with Brian is really the story of how the Stones became the Stones. She almost single-handedly engineered a cultural revolution in London by bringing together the Stones and the jeunesse dorée…The Stones came away with a patina of aristocratic decadence that served as a perfect counterfoil to the raw roots blues of their music. This…transformed the Stones from pop stars into cultural icons." —Marianne Faithfull. Pallenberg epitomised the hedonistic counter-culture world of sex, drugs and rock ‘n' roll during the sixties and seventies; muse to the Rolling Stones and star of enduring cult movies like Barbarella and Performance, this is Anita's incredible story of excess, art, motherhood and her often unknown influence on one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Genres: Music, Biography, Biography Memoir, Pop Culture, Nonfiction, History, Film

306 pages, Hardcover

Published January 30, 2020

Reviews

[L.V. Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally! If there was a figure from the sixties more deserving of a biography than Anita Pallenberg, I surely don't know who it would be, so I was thrilled to find out about this long-overdue book. While it gave some interesting facts and information regarding her family and her early life in Rome among the La Dolce Vita crowd, most of the rest of the story was a rehash of what most fans already knew. I did find the chapter on the cult film, Performance, interesting because it has long been a favorite film of mine and I love Nicholas Roeg's work. However, that being said, there were some elements to this book that I disliked.
The writer's style is a bit over the top. He is fond of using French phrases that while aren't obscure, they were repeated often enough to become inefficient. Likewise was he overuse of certain words to describe either a person's character or a scene or mood of the time. He also liberally mentioned some photographs that would have been exciting to see, but they weren't included in the two photo sections in the book. In fact, most of the photos weren't ones that I would choose, but I'm not the author, right? There may have been some issues with copyright, but several of the mentioned photos can be found on the Internet.
Lastly, the author chose to sort of gloss over or excuse Anita's out of control behavior, drug and alcohol abuse and mental breakdown(s). I am not a prude or a stranger to drugs or alcohol use, but it's a small miracle that her two children, Marlon and Angela, turned out so healthy and well-adjusted.
To be fair, there is much to admire about Anita Pallenberg. She was stunningly gorgeous, possessed a fierce, independent spirit and uncommon intelligence and had talent as an actress if she had chosen (or been able ) to continue in that profession. Her influence of the Rolling Stones themselves, those who came in contact with her and on the fashion world cannot be underestimated. However, she was also a very troubled woman and that was made very clear through her behavior and drug and alcohol abuse. I'm not sure that she was ever wholly satisfied with her life or was ever truly happy and that is something that I wish the author would have emphasized instead of glorifying her for the most part.
Overall, I good read if a bit muddied. I am hoping that another, more thorough biography is written because this one seems to only scratch the surface of this very complex woman.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Jane Green's novel, "Sister Stardust," set in the time period of the swinging 60s, which focused on Talitha Getty's life in Morocco with cameos from rock royalty of the times, I was led to the excellently produced and shocking podcast, "Rainbow Girl" also by Jane Green. After learning Lissy (featured in Sister Stardust) was loosely based on Anita Pallenberg, I wanted to read more about the charismatic woman I've heard about for years who cast a spell on two (or three, if the rumors are true about Mick) of the Rolling Stones. Unfortunately, while parts of this biography were interesting, some events were too detailed and I ended up skimming to the more interesting parts. She was definitely a force of nature and beautiful but her messy life reminded me of the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote from The Great Gatsby, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

Readers may want to read other memoirs/biographies by rock celebrities and those who hobnobbed with them, including Keith Richards' "Life," followed by Pattie Harrison's "Wonderful Tonight," and her sister's memoir, "Jennifer Juniper" by Jenny Boyd. There is also a new book due to be published in July 2023, "Parachute Women" by Elizabeth Winder, that promises to be an interesting take on the women behind the Stones.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn’t really extraordinary as promised by the title. Anita lead a very colorful life and kept company with several members of The Rolling Stones so the nature of the subject matter automatically makes this book interesting right out the starting gates. Yet the way the author chose to write about her felt like a procedural research report, making the book kinda dull.

There is no complexity, no critical thinking into why she did what she did, no real tie in to all the events swirling around her. All of these things merely got an acknowledgement type nod, even Brian Jones’s death only took up a paragraph or so. We get to hear over and over and OVER again how charismatic she was, and intelligent. This is a very superficial book at its heart. Anita deserves a better book than this.

[Liz Estrada · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have garnered 4 stars if the writing had been better and a more adept author had written this bio of the great Anita Pallenberg. The book started great, but lagged at the end.
Nonetheless, the reader will become enamored with this iconic figure who not only "made" but changed The Stones for the better.
I, for what it's worth (both good and bad), have always identified with her since we have quite similar personalities. Having a privileged upbringing, being a polyglot, along with brains, beauty and wit, she was much more than just a muse, model, actress and jet-setter. SHE set the trends and others followed. Always her own woman, she was strong, stubborn and quite opinionated. A true original who could give as good as she got.
For those not too familiar with her remarkable life, this would be a good read. For those, like me, who knows everything about her, it's still a fun read. 3.5 stars. Also kismet that I finished reading this at 1:00am, December 18th, Keith's birthday.

[Gerdien · Rating 1 out of 5]

Being a hedonist may be exciting but it is not exciting to read about. People who drink a lot, do a lot of drugs are boring, in Anita's Pallenbergs own words. Reading about them is even more boring.
She was by all accounts a charismatic person, but the book does not transfer this to the reader. Just describing her as "fun loving, charismatic, independent, etc" does nothing. Show, don't tell.
Her influence on the Stones' music is not described well. Her influence on their fashion a little bit more, but all I remember is that Mick would start wearing het scarves and Keith would wear her clothes. Other Stones such ad Watts are barely mentioned.
And finally, the book is not well written, with long indirect sentences and sometimes nonsensical language:
"Anita tending to her pregnancy and other internal needs..." other internal needs?!
"Keith’s more than alert senses detected that Jones was fast honing in on his increasing friendship with Anita" more than alert senses?!
"The energies Keith and Anita had transmitted through the ether would begin to take hold, the pair keen to fully explore each other’s troubled and complex psyches" I don't know where to begin...

I will stop here. The one star is for a lot of detailes research

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTIC

Amazingly insightful, this comprehensive work tells the true story of Anita’s gloriously messy and courageous journey through five decades. Tragic and inspiring in equal measure, this is a must read - especially for those who admire strong women and raw honesty.

[Raquel]

Read this for an assignment. The most interesting parts of the book were her beginning years as a young bohemian in Rome (she was part of La Dolce Vita crowd), her early years modeling in NYC and her film career. Found much of the stuff about her and the Stones incredibly boring (drugs, drugs, drugs, depravation, drugs, drugs, drugs) — except for the stuff about her filming “Performance” with Mick Jagger, a crazy movie that sounded absolutely mad behind-the-scenes. She seemed like an absolutely enthralling charismatic presence who was dulled by drugs and alcohol and proximity to fame. Though she seemed to get some of her creative spark and wit back when she got clean in the 90s, got into fashion design and even waded back into film. The book made me want to watch her movies — she has a magnetic presence — and read Marianne Faithfull’s memoir, whose passages quoted here are beautiful and perceptive.

[Larry Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. It's all here. Mick, Keith and Anita Pallenberg. This takes me back to Carnaby Street, mod clothes, and swinging London.

[Nia · Rating 2 out of 5]

i love anita, she is so intriguing for me however this book oddly i could not get into whether that be because of the writing or the fact i knew a lot of this i do not know

[Giulia Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disapponting

I was expecting more,this book attempts something but nothing seen to develop ,it feels like every time the r is an attempt to analyse in depth this complex woman the content fades as if the author didn't want to go there or didn 't know where to go.This lack of knowing how to approach the subject is evident all through the book ,the author then periodically slide into gushing amorous statements,with very little substance or support.Wells criticises what he calls the mythology or untruths about Anita without considering that not only Sanchez had recounted certain episodes,but others close to her.In any case i think an opportunity was lost to delve deeper into the ,I admit,difficult to penetrate Anita to give us a better connected story of her life and her soul.
The book is also to expensive

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed She's A Rainbow. Since 1984, I've been fascinated by The Stones and collect books on them. Think I have 75 or so. There has never before been a book about Anita Pallenberg and I was like a kid at Xmas getting it. I've only known bits about her from other books and I was excited to read about her early life in particular.
It was a great read and took me quite long... but I think I was reading it slowly to take it all in. Lots of detail in it and well written. I'd recommend.

[Lynette Robb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last of the Rockchicks

Fascinating for me to read about her life - I remember her way of dressing in the 60s - this book captured her spirit completely.

[Paperback Polly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing woman , amazing life the original rock chick

[Holly Gleason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anita Pallenberg lived life as the sixth Stone, shaping the taste and at times thrust of the world's leanest rock & roll band. She is an insider's beacon, but Pallenberg was truly so much more. A model, an actress and a bon vivant, she was riding the emerging cultural waves of Italian cinema, NYC's downtown/Warhol crowd and Britain's hip/cool/chic youth quake long before she took up with the Brit rock twin soon-to-be-tossed from the Stones Brian Jones.

Wells' book is a cultural document that offers better texture to the relationships and converging alliances than most scandal-driven, who-slept-with-whom bios. Just as importantly, the author plays to Pallenberg's reality as a strong woman who was as much an anchor and standard-setter as she was a woman who chose her beds and liked her drugs, which she also did.

Perhaps there could've been a bit more of the music included. The Stones' songs were so very much a timestamp for different moments in our cultural history, but at the same time, Wells includes the house parties, the drop-in guests and "issues" with the couple in a way that provides a broad sense of how integrated the famous musicians of this era were with each others' camps.

An easy read, this was consumed in two long spring break afternoons at a pool. Light enough to retain even in the hazy afternoons, yet engaging enough that it keeps you reading. Truly a pleasurable escape, as well as a history lesson for the all denizens of "Boho chic," which have no idea where the look truly began,

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this a pretty thorough and interesting book. I give credit to the writer…great job.

Separately…the author includes quotes and information from her friends. She is described as SO charming, SO influential, SO extraordinary. But I didn’t see any examples of that. She was constantly drunk or high. Constantly. Even while pregnant. This leads me to believe that the praise she received was from other drunks and druggies who love their tribe. But what depth or substance was there? I can’t tell. I didn’t see any examples of substantial or cool things she did.

It’s often hard to get the sense of someone in writing. I then watched the recent documentary made about her (with the participation of her children.) I still don’t get it.

I do think the author should have included interviews with people who didn’t like her, to create a balance and add to an understanding of how her behavior was received by non-“in-group” people. I am sure there were plenty of people who couldn’t stand her behavior and may have had a different kind of insight.

[Spad53 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever so interesting this one. It started my odyssey of Rolling stones biographies, Anita Pallenberg was girlfriend to Brian Jones and Keith Richards, and very influential in the early years. She's also famous for starring with Jane Fonda in the cult film Barbarella, which I actually went to in England at the time. I rank Marianne Faithfull's biography higher than this one, but they are both well worth reading. Did you know that Anita had an allotment in Chiswick; I find it lovely that she liked gardening as much as I do.

[Sean Sadler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Borrowed from Stirling Library
Latest book I have read around the life and times of The Rolling Stones and those that entered the orbit of the Group
As a Biography it is a fairly standard, chronological run through Pallenberg’s life , once she had fallen out of the Stones orbit her final forty years are covered in less than fifty pages.
A book to borrow rather than buy as I am unconvinced that apart from her time with the Rolling Stones little else in her life came close to warranting a 300 page biography.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always been captivated by the life of Anita Pallenberg, she truly was the fifth member of the Rolling Stones. So it was inevitable that I would enjoy reading this book. However, large parts of her life are a complete mystery so this book is mainly just a compilation of what we do know. At the end the author lists all the books they’ve referenced within and may I add it was a lengthy list. More of a detailed plot line that an anecdotal book.

[All Tomorrow’s Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

She was an icon, she was a legend. RIP

I LOVED this book, there's literally no other books that go in depth about Anita (apart from Keith's book Life I suppose).

It's written in such a loving way by the author as you get taken on the rollercoaster ride that was Anita's life.

I only marked it down a star because of the random bits about Anita's Nazi obsession? I feel like the author should've said something on how problematic that all is rather than gloss over it.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Keith Richards autobiography last year I was curious to know more about Anita. This book is easy to read and full of details about the life and woman. What does seem to be glossed over in the last 50 pages is her battle with addiction. I appreciate that no one is a summary of their struggles, but this book made them seem almost trivial.

[Dawn Piburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and written, but I just could not bring myself to like Anita. While she was truly a trend-setter and muse, to me she was all 'take take take' without a thought of returning the favor.

[Tamara Drove · Rating 5 out of 5]

A M A Z I N G read! I truly enjoyed this. It takes you up into Swinging London and down to heroin abuse and mayhem .. but never losing sight of Anita’s remarkable light and presence. I teared up at the end and that’s always a sign of a great, great book.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A captivating presence and muse in the circle of the Rolling Stones, Anita Pallenberg was a bright and difficult character. A life lived that is worth reading about, especially for fans of the Stones. The author does seem to be a bit of an apologist for Anita, but this biography is a good read.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great biography on such an influential woman. Smart, beautiful, stylish. Interesting to learn more about her and life from her perspective. I've read so much about her through other Stones bios but never about her own accomplishments.
Could not put down!!

[Ian Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the subject, 4 for the book. The Stones were no longer dealing with girls who looked up to them. Here was a lady that was playing in a higher league than even them. This is about power dynamics and the ultimate alpha female good girl gone bad.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Anita deserved better than this book but perhaps the author just did the best with what he had. She was a fascinating woman. Pet peeve: overuse of the words phlegmatic and peripatetic.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

my forever style inspiration luv u queen

[Denise Trevino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well deserved for such a fascinating woman. Given she lived such an exciting, vibrant and outlandish life, the book read a little dry for me. Also, and I say this with mixed feelings, the book did not touch much on underlying issues that caused her addictions. Granted, that’s highly personal and perhaps none of our business. It just causes me to speculate what the causes were, and wonder if her life was sadly cut short because she hadn’t gotten control of her demons earlier. Nevertheless, I’m pleased she is getting recognition for her contributions to the swinging sixties in London, as well as the Stones in their early days.