Grace Jones Model Actress Singer, From Fashion to Music, Full Artist, Producer and Bond Girl. Many were inspired by it, but few can rival the fierce grandeur of this icon. Raised in Jamaica in Spanish Town in the 1950s in a Pentecostal home, it makes this nothing short of surprising. Jones' early years were her revolt, but it was the formation of an intrepid and defiant spirit. Her parents sought their fortune in America, leaving their children in the care of their maternal grandparents. All pastors, grandfather, father and brother. The grandparents ruled the offspring with an "iron fist" and a lot of conservatism. Grace refused to be intimidated. Years later, when she played the character May Day in the James Bond film A View to a Kill, she channeled the merciless gaze of the Grandparents. Parents took their children to Syracuse, New York, Grace already 13 years old. In his late teens, Jones embraced the 1960s American counterculture, moved to New York, immersing himself in a world fueled by music and drugs. She studied Theater at the State University of New York. At 18, she caught the eye of a Model scout, signing a contract with an Agency in New York. In the 70s, after being told that she would only succeed as a Model in America, if Europe first adopted her striking looks, she flew to Paris. She shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange, frequenting the trendy Le Club Sept nightclub, became the center of attention. She has become part of the fashion elite, with friends like Karl Lagerfeld and model Pat Cleveland. At this time she appeared naked, except for a necklace of bones, at a party given to French politicians. The first time she tried ecstasy was under the tutelage of Dr. Timothy Leary. She danced and sang with Cleveland at the clubs she frequented. Cleaveland insisted that she sing. She finally got a producer. Jerry Hall said, it was obvious her talent was outside the fashion world. "You can't be famous for long unless you keep changing," Andy Warhol wrote in his diary. 'Grace Jones is an example of this'. She signed to British label Island. Albums, 'Portfolio', Nightclubbing, three albums, disco evolution to a fusion of funk, reaggae and Rock New Wave. Her appearance underwent a surprising transformation under the direction of her then lover, Jean-Paul Goude. Born in Paris, Goude trained as an illustrator and worked in advertising. He moved to New York to be the Art Director for American Esquire. It was there that the reticent Frenchman met Jones. They frequented Studio 54. She became an obsession for him, and they did everything together. 'At a time when everyone loved to dress up, Jones and Goude took it to the extreme,' said Paula Reed, author of the Design Museum's Fifty Fashion Looks That Changed, in which the duo appear. Goude as an art director and photographer, was the handler of the bow. Jones' appearance was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Her skin was darker and brighter... Her physique was more toned. She had that catwalk haughtiness but the growl of a street fighter. She was a spectacular contradiction: unique. For the cover of Nightclubbing, her body and face were coated in brown paint and she wore only an Armani jacket. Renowned stylist Christiaan Houtenbos, who lived in the same apartment block in New York, created her flat-tipped haircut using a men's razor. Under Goude's direction, Jones became a star. "It could equally be said that he could not have achieved status without her," Read said. 'Individually they were awesome...together they were atomic'. Jones appeared on Russell Harty's chat show. Feeling offended when she turned her back on him to interview another guest, she slapped him. Jones' reputation for being scary, but that was just her public posture, to close friends she had a soft side. Fashion designer and collaborator Philip Treacy said, "Her name was synonymous with danger, but she's really sweet." Jones described Goude as the Only Man who ever "made me bend my knees." She became pregnant by him but they split up, their son Paulo was born in November 1979. The baby shower was held by Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry at Garage, an exclusive club for Soho members. She took her baby to all the jobs she did. He played a role in "Conan the Destroyer", "A View to a Kill". Had a relationship with Dolph Lundgren, a six-foot-high Swede she met at a concert in Sydney, whom she hired as a bodyguard. A physical and intellectual ideal, majored in chemistry and chemical engineering, IQ 160 and speaks seven languages. After Jones landed him a role in 'A View to a Kill', they became in-demand celebrities in New York. Warhol described them as 'fabulous' and Helmut Newton filmed them nude as a modern Adam and Eve for playboy. As Lundgren's fame grew, the relationship ended. Jones continued making movies. She married Chris Stanley, producer of Bulletproof Heart, divorced within two years. She fell in love with another bodyguard, this time a Belgian named Atila Altaunbay. They got married in Rio, he was 21 and she was 48. The New York Times reported that, after the ceremony, they went straight to the Academy. The marriage lasted eight years. She has performed at unique shows around the world and appeared at red carpet events. In 2008, she returned with the acclaimed album "Hurricane". Produced by her then-fiancé Ivor Guest, the 4th Viscount Wimborne and relative of Princess Diana. They parted amicably a year later and she has remained single lately. In 2012, she was invited to perform the classic Slave to the Rhythm for the Queen at the Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace. The performance brought her back into the public eye - she is currently recording new songs - and stars like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and Lorde cited her as inspiration. 'There's no one I love more than Grace Jones,' said Gaga. Jones declined a request for collaboration. 'I prefer to work with someone who is more Original and who is not copying me.' She is living in southwest London. She is Athena's grandmother, daughter of her son Paulo. For the past four decades, Jones has been a beacon for designers who need a muse to channel fearlessness, androgyny and sheer sex appeal. Jones is not just a fashion icon - she is also Cultural. Jones' beauty look codes; the flat geometric top, intensely contoured cheekbones and Keith Haring's body paint were mentioned by makeup artists and designers. Every now and then Jones will even lend his presence to a designer and take the journey full circle, stepping onto the catwalk with his bombastic signature and reminding the world that she's not just a point of reference to be listed in the collection's notes, but one of the most important performers and one of fashion's most timeless muses. Stylist Azzedine Alaia said, "She has something inside you that draws you," a close friend Jones met in his Paris days. 'She has a lot of energy and vitality''. Jones said, "I'm not a normal woman, that's for sure." And to me the admirable, beautiful and strong-willed woman Grace Jones is Josephine Baker Moderna. (To read + Articles 2020, 2021 Click Article Archives above, Click the month, scroll down, just read!)

Cover of "Grace Jones: I'll Never Write My Memoirs"

    

"island Life" Grace Jones

Grace Jones Andy Warhol Keith Haring