Amanda Lear at the Diaghilev fashion show

Who is she, this amazing woman? Italian? Frenchwoman? During her life, she traveled, it seems, all over the world. She posed for Salvador Dali himself! She was the girlfriend of David Bowie himself! She also sang, and wrote the lyrics for all her songs with her own hands.
Amanda Lear was born in Hong Kong in 1946, her father was half-English and half-French, her mother was half-Russian and half-Indo-Chinese. Amanda spent her childhood in the south of France and Switzerland and by the age of 18 she already knew five languages ​​(English, French, German, Spanish and Italian). From the age of 16 she studied painting in Paris, then entered the famous St. Martin's School in London. There she became the girlfriend of Brian Jones from the rock group "Rolling Stones". Soon, her bright Euro-Asian appearance drew the attention of Katerina Harl, the head of the most famous European modeling agency, and in 1965 Amanda returned to Paris and began working for Paco Rabanne and Yves St Laurent. She soon met the Spanish avant-garde artist Salvador Dali, who wanted her as a model, and she remained his muse and close friend for more than 15 years.
In 1973, at the height of her career, her longtime fan Bryan Ferry asked her to pose for the cover of one of his CDs, and that cover became more famous than the records themselves! David Bowie, then the leader of British rock music, fell in love with her and they were together for about a year. He wanted her to sing, and she took part in his composition "Midnight special" (1974). And in 1975, Amanda released her first single on the famous British label Creole Records. The A-side of the single contained a cover of Elvis Presley's "Trouble". And on side “B” there was a dance composition, the lyrics for which were written by Amanda herself, and the music by La Bionda, the future famous producer of the disco groups “One for you” and “Vamos a la playa”. The single was a resounding success in the disco category, although its title had nothing to do with disco. German producer Anthony Monn from Munich from the Ariola label immediately invited Amanda to write a real disco single for her. The lyrics were again written by Amanda herself. Released in 1976 at Christmas, the single topped the disco chart and was No. 12 on the sales chart and No. 4 on the Italian hit parade. As a result, Ariola signed a contract with Amanda for 7 years and 6 albums for an astronomical sum. It just so happened that Amanda thought of becoming a rock singer, but it was disco that gave her great wealth.Her first album, “I Am A Photograph,” hung on the German charts for 33 weeks and gave the public two mega-hits, “Tomorrow” and “Queen of Chinatown,” which became No. 1 and gold in Japan. But three countries (Britain, USA and France) did not notice the newly-minted singer at all. However, not for long: her next single "Follow Me" from her second album "Sweet Revenge" caused an outbreak of Amanda's popularity throughout continental Europe, including France. In September 1978 she gave a concert in Paris for 5,000 people inside and 15,000 outside the royal palace. The album sold 4 million copies and charted in 41 countries, including even Chile, South Africa, India and Thailand, where it remained No. 1 for 16 weeks. The tracks "Gold", "Run Baby Run" and "Enigma" were also released as singles. But Lear's recordings continued to sell poorly in the United States, despite a noisy promotional campaign.
Amanda's third album, "Never Trust A Pretty Face", was released in March 1979 and eclipsed the previous ones in the quality of its arrangement. The best hits were "Fashion Pack" and "The Sphinx". Most Lear fans still consider this album the best in her work. That year, Amanda became the “incarnation” of disco throughout Europe and tirelessly traveled around different countries. In April of the same year, she married French producer Alain Philippe Malagnac, son of the famous gay writer Roger Peyrefitte. In 1980, her fourth album, Diamonds for Breakfast, opened the doors to the Scandinavian markets, where Amanda immediately became a huge star. Two hits released as singles - "Fabulous" and "Diamonds" - helped her in this, although in other countries the songs "When" and "Japan" hit the charts. The album was only #43 in Germany and sold best in Scandinavia (#4) and Italy. It felt like Monn's production formula was becoming outdated. Amanda toured Europe again from Greece to Finland, and in Italy this album was released with three songs in Italian.
In 1991, the Ariola label released a remix of her songs "Follow Me" and "Gold". In the same year, Amanda began taking part in the most popular French TV show “The Big Heads” (a talk show with small games and jokes), and then became the host of the famous sex show “Beware of the Blondes” / “Peep” (in Germany), which was watched by about 50% of TV viewers on Sunday evenings. In 1993 she recorded "Cadavrexquis" - the album that began her return to dance music. The single "Fantasy", produced by the German Bass Bumpers, became a major hit and was reminiscent of her previous best work. In 1995, she recorded the album "Alter Ego" for the first time in 12 years in Munich on the dance label Zyx. And in June 1995, she participated in a joint disco concert in Paris along with Boney'M, Grace Jones and Gloria Gaynor.
Who doesn’t know her famous songs like “Fashion pack”, “Blood and honey” and “Sphinx” now?! However, when going to listen to Amanda Lear for the first time, do not forget to take into account that she has the deepest voice of all pop singers. Otherwise, her voice and manner of singing, similar to otherworldly muttering, may shock you as much as everything else about Amanda Lear!
November 25, Saturday, Diaghilev club, Imperia Party presents Amanda Lear, Jc de Castelbajac: fashion show “yesterday – today – tomorrow”