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Grace Jones making her Authenticity a Commodity

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Grace Jones making her Authenticity a Commodity

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"Authenticity is now yet another brand value to be baked into the commodity, and customers are happy to take this spectral performance of a presumed virtue as the truth."
Steven Poole (2013) ‘Why are we so obsessed with the pursuit of authenticity’, The New Statesman

Grace Jones has proven time and time again that she is authentic. This has been proven through other people talking about her, through her controversies and through her long very consistent and coherent career. Grace Jones has actively or inadvertently made it part of her star brand image. We know she is the same on and off screen. She has used this authentic star image as a commodity to sell herself.

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Grace Jones was a feminist before it was popular

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Grace Jones was a feminist before it was popular

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Grace Jones has been a feminist for many years, far before the so called 'celebrity feminism'. Jones has used her androgynous image to blend masculine and feminine roles. Where other woman would be quiet Grace has been outspoken and bold. From the start of her career till now. Her sexual performances are her way of being sexually liberated and she would talk about things no other woman would, such as her abortion and sex. This proves that Jones has been a trailblazer and throughout her career she has kept being outspoken, proving that she is authentic and she has a coherent brand image rather than coping 'celebrity feminism'.

"There has been a substantial amount of feminist critique of what we may call 'celebrity feminism' - a form of popular feminism made visible recently by young celebrity woman eager to publicly claim a feminist identity"

Keller, J., & Ringrose, J. (2015). ‘But then feminism goes out the window!’: Exploring teenage girls’ critical response to celebrity feminism. Celebrity Studies , 6(1), 132 -135.

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“Celebrities are brand names as well as cultural icons or identities; they operate as marketing tools as well as sites where the agency of the audience is clearly evident; and they represent the achievement of individualism – the triumph of the human and the familiar – as well as its commodification and commercialisation”

G. Turner, Bonner and Marshall (2000) Fame Games: The Production of Celebrity in Australia: p.13

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"The celebrity offers advertisers an entrée into an audience that has made a commitment to a certain entertainment product: the advertisers want to piggyback that loyalty so that their products are seen in a cluster around the particular celebrity and his/her identity with a definable audience.

Each celebrity who moves into marketing other products is selling his or her capital as a kind of brand loyalty to the advertising company. The advertising company then is searching for a resonating wave of brand loyalty that provides a liaison between celebrity and the advertised commodity”

P. David Marshall (1997) Celebrity and Power: p.194

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“The main value of stars and stories lay not in their ability to predict success, but in their services as giant ‘publicity machines’ that optimised advertising effectiveness by rapidly amassing high levels of brand awareness”

Gerben Bakker (2005) ‘Stars and stories: how films became branded products’: p. 76

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“All labour is commodified, but while most labour produces either things, or knowledge, or cultural works [etc], stars and celebrities produce themselves as commodities too. The image they construct and the persona they produce are central to their value as a commodity, that is, as a figure who can help to sell a film, or a perfume, or a television show.”

Milly Williamson (2016) Celebrity: Capitalism and the Making of Fame: p.13

Grace Jones turned herself into a commodity. Her brand is a modern androgynous sexually liberated woman. That brand and star power was used by Citroen to sell their cars because they wanted to use her modern asthetic. They could cross promote each other.

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“Stars are mediated identities, textual constructions…

…for audiences do not get the real person but rather a collection of images, words and sounds which are taken to stand for the person.”

McDonald, Paul. (2000).The Star System: Hollywood and the production of popular identities, London: Wallflower

This quote above is talking about how stars' public spheres and private spheres are very different. We do not know fully what goes on behind closed doors and often celebrities keep their personal lives hidden and make sure all that we see in their public sphere has been orientated around their star brand and it is not anything like their private persona. We have no way of definitively proving authenticity but throughout this padlet we have seen many times where Grace Jones has shown vulnerability and revealed parts of her personal life such as her abortion. This kind of raw vulnerability shows us that Jones is probably more authentic than other celebrities out there such as Madonna. The documentary on Grace Jones is also an indicator of authenticity as it has raw footage in and shows us Jones' private life. We also have many reports from people who came into contact with Jones that back up her star brand and authentic personality.

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Similarities between Grace Jones and David Bowie

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Similarities between Grace Jones and David Bowie

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Grace Jones and David Bowie share many similarities. They were both around at the same time and they appealed to both straight and gay audiences. When talking about Bowie, Larry Jaffe says that he believed Bowie instilled fear and confusion into the elders and thats why he appealed to so many people. The elder generation didn't and couldn't understand him. The same could be said of Grace Jones. She was new and had confusing forward thinking idea that would scare the elder generation and that's what made her so successful right up to the present day. The quote below talks about Bowie but I believe we could easily replace the name with Grace Jones.

"Why did Bowie connect to so many fans of both sexes and all sexual inclinations, including gay and straight?

I think it has something to do with younger Baby Boomers like myself who came of age in the early to mid-1970s and missed the Summer of Love, Woodstock, The Beatles, etc. We were rebels without a cause. Ziggy fit the brief because he subversively instilled fear and confusion in our elders.”

Larry Jaffe (2016) ‘The Gender Politics of David Bowie’
https://wafmag.org/2016/02/gender-politics-david-bowie/

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The Gender Politics of David Bowie - Women Across Frontiers Magazine

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While he might have not realized it at the time, Bowie, anticipated today’s continuing gender binary dialogue.

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Grace Jones and Madonna have similarities between their brand image. Both of them are seen as queer icons, they're both outspoken and they both have been seen as erratic at times. However, I want to compare the two popstars authenticity. Grace Jones has had the same star image since the beginning of her career and this reinforces the idea that she is authentic. She is seen as unpredictable and pushing boundaries. She has always been true to her sexual brand image. We know this because she is still at 70, performing topless on stage and flaunting her sexuality. Jones has also had reports from other people who have interacted with her who support the idea that she is the same off screen as she is on screen. Madonna however represents something slightly different. Her image is always changing. She is an ally to the queer community and she is as outspoken as she has always been, however her brand image is always changing. She works with lots of different people, especially young and current people instead of working with the people that shes known for years. For example, during her latest tour she would bring out popular celebrities to try and boost interest in her shows. Madonna only works with people who are current and that makes her look unauthentic and desperate for attention.

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It's not just that damn cape that's been plastering Madonna's recent live performance footage all over the headlines, the chart-topping icon has now polluted our newsfeeds with a full on lip-smacker with Drake! Pucker up as we take a look of some of the victims of THE Madonna snog featuring Drake, Britney and Nicki Minaj.

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Pucker Up! Here's 8 Victims Of The Madonna Snog #PrayForDrake

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It's not just that damn cape that's been plastering Madonna's recent live performance footage all over the headlines, the chart-topping icon has now polluted our newsfeeds with a full on lip-smacker with Drake! Pucker up as we take a look of some of the victims of THE Madonna snog featuring Drake, Britney and Nicki Minaj.

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Grace Jones is often labeled a 'diva' due to her behaviour and the amount of controversies she has caused. This is often a hindrance to some celebrities. However, this can often be a sign of authenticity. There are reports of her, on and off camera, that say she can be difficult to work with at times. These reports show that she has a coherent star image and she is as authentic on screen as well as off screen.

“Whether caught in the unmediated moment of the close up, uncovered by the biographer’s display of ruthless uncovering, or present in the star’s indubitable sincerity and authenticity, we have a privileged reality to hang on to, the reality of the star’s private self.”
Richard Dyer (1986) Heavenly Bodies: p.11

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Grace Jones - Diva and difficult to work with 

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Grace Jones - Diva and difficult to work with 

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Rodger Moore talks about Grace Jones' erratic behaviour, something Jones had been known for. She has often been branded a 'diva' by costars and press. In A View To Kill Moore said Jones always played her music really loudly and that he had to go in and take the plug out of her boombox.
The same was said by her costars in Conan The Destroyer. Apparenlty Wilt Chamberlain did not get on with Jones and she was particularly violent in her actions scenes. Putting two men in hospital and biting Wilt Chamberlains ear untill it started to bleed.
This type of behavior meant Jones was seen as difficult to work with and she was quite erratic. However this was her brand. She was seen as strange and unique so this behavior just added to her brand image

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Roger Moore talks about Grace Jones being difficult to work with on James Bond film A View To A Kill

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Grace Jones Celebrity Type - Achieved Celebrity 

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Grace Jones Celebrity Type - Achieved Celebrity 

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According to Chris Rojek (2001), Grace Jones would be an 'achieved celebrity' which "derives from the perceived accomplishments of the individual in open competition’ (18), and which would include film stars, pop stars, sports stars, leading artists, inventors, elite scientists, and grand philanthropists."

Redmond, S. (2013). Celebrity and the media. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from liverpool on 2019-03-18 09:52:51.

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Grace Jones walking the Runway at 70 years old

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Grace Jones walking the Runway at 70 years old

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Grace Jones walked the runway for the Zendaya X Tommy Hilfiger collaboration. She was the star model strutting down the runway at 70 years old. In typical Jones fashion she was slapping her bum, headbanging and being her sexual unpredictable self. Grace Jones got tweets from Ava Duvernay and Laverne Cox saying ""#GraceJones is 70 years old. I am taking copious notes. Always been obsessed with Grace."
These tweets show that even at 70, Jones is seen as an icon and is still working on her craft. The fact that she was hitting her bum and showing off her legs is typical for the Grace Jones' sexual crazy brand image.

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The spirit of Studio 54 and Soul Train was alive and well in Paris this weekend, as Zendaya debuted her Tommy Hilfiger collection in an electrifying show featuring none other than Grace Jones. The '70s-inspired pieces were modeled by a women rocking the hairstyles of the era, including Jones, who danced her way down the stage and slapped her butt to the music ("Pull Up To The Bumper," by Grace Jones, naturally).

In a gold bodysuit and metallic jacket, the iconic model/singer/songwriter looked like she was having a lot of fun. And keeping it fit for, like, middle age. Grace Jones is 70 years old and still looks like the Grace Jones of yore.

Jones wasn't the only boundary-breaking black model from the disco era in attendance. Pat Cleveland strutted her stuff in a shiny one-shouldered dress, twirling to the tune of Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover."

https://twitter.com/cybeldp/status/1101997585928151040?s=21

https://twitter.com/CybelDP/status/1102002184592404482

The show is already having something of a viral moment online, with celebrities like Ava Duvernay and Laverne Cox gushing over Jones. Cox tweeted, "#GraceJones is 70 years old. I am taking copious notes. Always been obsessed with Grace. Congrats @Zendaya." Jameela Jamil, too, officially stanned the collection (though we must point out that the curves in question were actually brought to Paris Fashion Week).

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1101999640205942784

https://twitter.com/Lavernecox/status/1102023828203425793

https://twitter.com/jameelajamil/status/1102026425278844929

Afterward, Zendaya tweeted, "I'm still in shock and so emotional and moved by this show...I'm speechless. Thank you a million times ✨ @TommyHilfiger #TommyxZendaya." We are, as the kids say, living for this. May your week be blessed with a thousand opportunities to do this exact hair-toss, and let the spirit of Grace Jones bless you forever and ever amen.

https://twitter.com/fionaleslie/status/1102201747320254466

https://twitter.com/Zendaya/status/1101959736470237184

See below for more looks from the show:

https://twitter.com/Zendaya/status/1101962598386487296

https://twitter.com/Zendaya/status/1101962109754200071

https://twitter.com/Zendaya/status/1101962081904013312

Related: Supermodel Pat Cleveland on How She's Survived Five Decades in Fashion, From Studio 54 to the Me Too Movement

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Zendaya Got Grace Jones to Walk the Runway at Her Tommy Hilfiger Show

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The spirit of Studio 54 and Soul Train was alive and well in Paris this weekend, as Zendaya debuted her Tommy Hilfiger collection in an electrifying show featuring none other than Grace Jones.

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Grace Jones starred in the Citroen CX advert directed by her partner Jean-Paul Goude. At first glance the idea for the advert might seem off brand for Jones' however the unique androgynous style and the weird confusing things happening within the video clearly have the Grace Jones flare. The advert is futuristic and Jones has a very futuristic/modern brand. Because Jones was odd and unique, people had this idea that she was the future. Citroen wanted Jones for this advert because they wanted the car to have the same brand identity as Jones. They wanted it to seem futuristic and above the rest. The car and Jones helped promote each other.

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Naomi Smalls and Milk are two famous Drag Queens from the television show RuPaul's Drag Race. They recreated the famous Grace Jones and Dolph Lundgren photographs.The recreation helps to show how Grace Jones is seen by queer audiences. She is a gay icon. The image is also sexual which is of course on brand with Jones' star image.

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Grace Jones and Dolph Lundgren by Helmut Newton, 1985

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Grace Jones and Dolph Lundgren by Helmut Newton, 1985

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Grace Jones and Dolph Lundgren stared in these iconic photographs taken by Helmut Newton. The photographs show both Jones and Lundgren completely nude. The images help to reinforce Jones' sexual star brand

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Grace Jones is known for being a little unconventional. when she was being interviewed by Russell Harty, he turned his back on her to talk to his other guest. Jones did not appreciate that and made her feelings known. She started hitting the interviewer. For a different celebrity this might have completely derailed their career but since Grace Jones was known for being a little unusual and controversial, this interview only worked with her star image.

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Grace Jones on Russell Harty Barmy diva throws legendary strop!!!!

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I’m Not Perfect: the role of Grace Jones and David Bowie in aiding the dissemination of queer subjectivities

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I’m Not Perfect: the role of Grace Jones and David Bowie in aiding the dissemination of queer subjectivities

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"Jones oscillates between these feminine and masculine states throughout her extended music video One Man Show. Jones’ post-colonial androgyny counteracted the black identity crisis which was threatening to return to pre-Diasporan stereotypes in a search for metaphors of empowerment."  -  Natasha Eves Online Reference

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Grace Jones Documentary - Bloodlight and Bami

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Grace Jones Documentary - Bloodlight and Bami

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Grace Jones spent over 12 years making the documentary about her life. The documentary allows viewers to see Jones' public and personal spheres. Although Jones has never been shy and has never hidden her life, she doesn't have social media so that means some people miss out. Some celebrities might be afraid to broadcast their private sphere but as Jones is authentic and real, she is not afraid.

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This electrifying journey through the public and private worlds of pop culture mega-icon Grace Jones contrasts musical sequences with intimate personal footage, all the while brimming with Jones's bold aesthetic. A larger-than-life entertainer, an androgynous glam-pop diva, an unpredictable media presence--Grace Jones is all these things and more.

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Grace Jones weighing in on today's beauty standar

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Grace Jones weighing in on today's beauty standar

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Grace Jones is outspoken and not afraid to say what she feels. She stated that today's beauty standards are so high that she probably wouldn't be able to forge a modelling career in the industry.

Jones also stated that she is working on making her own foundation to teach children how to sew and create. She would name it after her mother.

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Jamaica-born singer Grace Jones might have walked for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent and Kenzo as a model and become an 80s pop icon with hit singles including 'Pull Up to the Bumper' and 'Slave to the Rhythm', but the 69-year-old thinks she wouldn't have stood a chance of success if she'd been a fledgling model in today's world.

In an interview with the , the star says that despite regularly walking for the likes of Claude Montana and Azzedine Alaïa back in the 70s, she isn't so sure her androgynous and muscular physique that made her famous 'back in the day' would be appreciated in the face of today's beauty standards.

'I'm glad I'm not doing it now,' she told the publication. 'I'd probably be dead. Everybody's so skinny. Size zero is like the walking dead. Not sexy at all.'

She continued: 'When I modelled, I would normally be a model size six, eight, though my shoulders are wide, it's hard to make them fit into things. Now I can't get into model [sample] sizes, because they're really small.'

However, while the singer - who recently released her 11th album - doesn't think she'd fit into the world of fashion in 2017, that doesn't stop her appreciating the art form and celebrating up-and-coming designers.

'When it comes to fashion, I'm loyal,' she said.

'I love Issey Miyake, Alaïa, Kenzo, Philip Treacy. I'm going to open a foundation in my mom's name, teaching sewing and creating fashion,' she concluded.

A Grace Jones fashion school? Now you're talking.

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Grace Jones Says She Wouldn't Be A Model By Today's Unrealistic Standards

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Jamaica-born singer Grace Jones might have walked for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent and Kenzo as a model and become an 80s pop icon with hit singles including 'Pull Up to the Bumper' and 'Slave to the Rhythm', but the 69-year-old thinks she wouldn't have stood a chance of success if she'd been a fledgling model in today's world.

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In 2017 Grace Jones featured on the Gorillaz album Humanz which got to number 2 in the U.K and the US. The song was released 42 years since her very first single proving that Jones is still very culturally relevant.

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Grace Jones being interviewed about her sexuality and gender

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Grace Jones being interviewed about her sexuality and gender

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Grace Jones in 1985 standing up to an interviewer and talking about how she doesn't label her sexuality. She enjoys her femininity and her masculinity. She says she enjoys both men and women. She does not label herself bisexual, she says she ""does what [she] feels, when [she] feels like it, if [she] feels like it".

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Original badass Grace Jones schooling interviewers on gender & sexuality since 1985.

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Grace Jones wrote the song herself, revealing in a 2010 interview that it was written about Tyrone Downie who "Was with somebody else. He was a beautiful guy. He doesn't even know I wrote it about him." Jones' mother Marjorie sung the backing vocals but because she was a pastor's wife, she wasn't credited for fear of upsetting church elders. The song is heavily influenced by Jones' heritage. The song is largely written in Jamaican patois.

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Grace Jones is a sex icon. Her star image is based upon her sexually liberated look and publicity. From the start of her career Jones was noted for her chiseled cheek bones, statuesque figure and androgynous look. Her first music single was I Need A Man  and although not her most explicitly sexual song, it was a clear indication of what message Jones wanted to make within her star image.

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Grace Jones, Dolph Lundgren and her wild sex orgies

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Grace Jones, Dolph Lundgren and her wild sex orgies

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Grace Jones employed Dolph Lundgren as her bodygaurd before he became her partner. They were together in the 1980s. He also featured in the same James Bond film that she did, A View To Kill. This headline is very shocking and not many stars would be happy with their ex partner talking publicly about their sex life however Grace Jones wants to portray a sexual liberated woman and this article reinforces that star branding. This headline comes out nearly 40 years after the couple split. Jones herself is not portraying this image, her ex partner is. This is a sign of authenticity. Jones is clearly as sexually liberated away from the limelight as she is in front of it.

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Back in the raging 80s, Dolph, 60, dated the Pull Up To My Bumper singer at the height of her fame.

However, it seems the Creed 2 actor struggled to keep up with Grace's bedroom habits, admitting that he was often left exhausted by their sex orgies.

TMI?

Speaking to The Sun, Dolph revealed: 'That happened on occasions, with or without Grace.

'Sometimes she would bring a girlfriend home and then I'd have to get up for work the next day and that kind of thing.'

The Rocky IV actor added: 'I'd say at the most it was four or five girls, perhaps. It's great in theory but when you have to get up and fight Sylvester Stallone in the morning it's not such a good thing.'

Dolph claims he and Grace ended their whirlwind romance after his own career took off, with the British singer allegedly getting 'jealous' of his newfound fame following his star turn as villain Ivan Drago alongside Sylvester Stallone.

Recalling their short but sweet relationship, Dolph said: 'I literally walked in the theatre [for the movie premiere] as her boyfriend with people trying to shoo me out of the way to take pictures of her and, 90 minutes later, when I walked out, people were trying to take pictures of me, instead.'

He added: 'It was one of those things that happens once in a while in Hollywood, somebody totally unknown becomes famous overnight. Other women showed up, she got jealous and she couldn't handle it. People wanted me to go to openings.

'It was a lot of strain and, within six months, the relationship was over.'

Dolph will next be seen on-screen in Creed 2 next month, alongside Michael B Jordan, Sylvester and Tessa Thompson.

Got a showbiz story?

MORE: Dolph Lundgren to reprise role as Rocky foe Drago for Creed sequel

MORE: Aquaman fans can't even deal as Jason Momoa wears the classic costume in five-minute trailer

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Dolph Lundgren worn out by Grace Jones sex orgies

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Back in the raging 80s, Dolph, 60, dated the Pull Up To My Bumper singer at the height of her fame. However, it seems the Creed 2 actor struggled to keep up with Grace's bedroom habits, admitting that he was often left exhausted by their sex orgies. TMI?

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In this movie Grace Jones plays a woman who is seeking revenge after her lover is killed. The film contains quite explicit sex scenes, violence and Grace jones is seen as a tough strong woman.

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in 1984 Grace Jones played Zula opposite Arnold Schwarznegger. Zula is a tall statuesque woman fighter who has many fight scenes throughout the film.
Jones wears clothes that are very revealing which highlights her sexual image. She is also playing a masculine role which helps to reinforce the modern androgynous look that Jones wants to portray.

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Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

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Grace Jones - James Bond: A View To Kill

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Grace Jones - James Bond: A View To Kill

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Grace Jones famously portrayed May Day in the James Bond film, A View To Kill in 1985. Grace Jones was reportedly difficult to work with because she always played loud music and would sometimes be quite erratic.
Her character showed blends of femininity and masculinity. She wore sleek feminine dresses but she also did some action work, most notably when she helps Bond move the bomb and as a result, she gets blown up. This blend of femininity and masculinity is Jones' trademark. By playing women like this in films it helps to maintain her brand identity.

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In the 1980s, Grace Jones ventured into the world of Hollywood and started acting in movies. She would often play masculine roles but sometimes she would also play hyper feminine roles. The main correlation being that she was either one extreme or the other. Jones wants to be seen as someone who blends gender and is androgynous. It is what her star image is based upon. By playing these extremes of gender it reinforces this brand identity.

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Grace Jones Performing topless at Hyde Park in 2015 at the age of 67

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Grace Jones Performing topless at Hyde Park in 2015 at the age of 67

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Grace Jones is a vibrant performer, often donning a strap on whilst performing. At age 67 she was seen still being unapologetically her sexually liberated self by performing topless at the Hyde Park festival. Jones has kept the same brand image of a sexual androgynous woman from the very start of her career. Jones has always been unconventional and broken the ideology of what a typical woman is, so it is no surpise that shes not letting age stop her and she is now breaking the ideology of what a woman in her late 60s would be doing,

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Grace Jones being coy about what the song is about

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Grace Jones being coy about what the song is about

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Jones, 60, told Q: "I don't think it's necessarily about [sex]. I think it means whatever you want it to. I kind of like the doggy position myself."

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Grace Jones reveals that her song 'Pull Up To The Bumper' is not necessarily about sex.

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Grace Jones's song "Pull Up To The Bumper" is filled with sexual innuendo. Although Jones has stated that it is innocent song about cars, it is common knowledge that this song is about Jones wanting anal sex.

"It was, and still is, subversive for a woman to be singing about anal sex. But back then, when the AIDs crisis was on the brink of devastating whole communities, and when women rarely sang about sex, it was considered taboo. And not only was Jones singing about it, she was singing about wanting it." (Daisy Jones, 2017 - https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/z4npvj/grace-jones-and-the-power-of-sex )

Jones pushed boundaries and was unapologetic about her want and desire for sex. These kind of actions helped cement her sexually liberated star brand. This song was also a nod to the gay community at a time when much of the world had turned their back. This is one of the many reasons why Jones is seen as an influential character within the queer community.

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Slave to the Rhythm was the first single from Jones' 1985 album of the same name. The music video consists of old footage from her previous videos and her iconic advert for Citroen CX. The Music Video was directed by Jean-Paul Goude who was her boyfriend at the time and was a very prominent figure in her life.

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Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm (official video)

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Grace Jones' album first album cover for Living My Life was her face. She had short hair and masculine features. This shows that she was blending gender roles right from the start of her music career and she is still doing the same thing today. This is a sign of authenticity  as she has kept the same brand identity right from the very start.

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Grace Jones - "Living My Life" (Island, 1982)

Pop music is all about the look and Grace Jones has one that can't be forgotten.

One of the most striking stars in pop history, Grace Jones came onto the music scene in the late 1970′s, working with visual artist Jean-Paul Goude to create a dynamic look that was powerfully primitive. For the cover of her 1982 release, Living My Life, Goude (along with designer Rob O'Connor) portrayed Jones muscular look to pure perfection.

Highlighting Jones trademark flat-top haircut by pasting a cutout of the photograph on a blank background, the angular look of his photo was the ideal description of her music. Just to make sure no one took it all too seriously, a piece of tape - part of the cover's "doctored" look - was left on emphasis.

Oh my Jamaican guy, my Jamaican guy
My Jamaican guy, oh my Jamaican guy
Take a toke from the smoke
Never standin' by the door
Just stretchin' out pan de floor

Every picture tells a story ... find more Awesome Album Cover stories here ...

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Awesome Album Covers: Grace Jones' "Living My Life"

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Grace Jones - "Living My Life" (Island, 1982) Pop music is all about the look and Grace Jones has one that can't be forgotten. One of the most striking stars in pop history, Grace Jones came onto the music scene in the late 1970′s, working with visual artist Jean-Paul Goude to create a dynamic look that was powerfully primitive.

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"Grace Jones strides into our agreed restaurant exactly as expected: towering over the waiters, in sunglasses and a flowing Issey Miyake coat, an hour late and full of apologies because of it."

The extract above is from the first few lines of this long interview and it perfectly encapsules Jones' star image. she showed up to an interwiew that wasnt going to be filmed or photographed, still in typical over dressed Grace Jones Fashion. In the Interview she talks about the fact that she had an abortion. This is a very personal thing to be discussing with the public but Grace Jones is known for blending her personal and public spheres. This shows how authentic she is.

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Grace Jones strides into our agreed restaurant exactly as expected: towering over the waiters, in sunglasses and a flowing Issey Miyake coat, an hour late and full of apologies because of it.

"I'm exhausted," the singer, actress, model and all-around boundary pusher repeats, the first of many times she seems to speaks in actual italics. Unable to sleep the previous night, at 8am Jones found a shop that would sell her a bottle of wine to help, but it's put her off-kilter all day.

She was recently in Dublin for two extraordinary shows, and now she is coming back for a headline appearance at the Metropolis festival in the RDS.

"It's going to be quite different, because the Dublin shows were a one-time only thing, specifically for the documentary," she says, referring to the anticipated biopic about her, directed by Sophie Fiennes and produced by Dublin-based Blinder Films. "It was an idea that Sophie had, to have a performance where we had complete control of the cameras, so we knew if we had to stop and start, we'd have time to do that."

Indeed, the stage design was unique - imagined by the late designer Eiko Ishioka years ago, and resurrected by Fiennes specifically for the documentary.

The aim is to premiere it at Cannes this May, a natural move a year after the release of Jones's autobiography I'll Never Write My Memoirs, in which she chronicled her 40 years as a pioneering artiste, drawing together music, art and fashion, rethinking gender norms, and partying with celebrities from Jerry Hall to Timothy Leary.

Time has been Jones's friend. She belies her 68 years, still hula hooping topless in body paint during her shows, while the importance of the trail she blazed becomes ever more apparent. Without her, Lady Gaga's Haus of Gaga may never have been assembled. Had she not helped create the similar aesthetic with her former partner Jean-Paul Goude, then Kim Kardashian wouldn't have (hashtag) broken the internet. The growing reverence means the documentary will come at an optimal time.

My version of reality TV
"I guess [the documentary] is my version of reality TV in a sense. Sophie has been following me for 11 years, so there's a lot of material," she says, removing her sunglasses to reveal her youthful eyes - once again, defying the laws that apply to the rest of us. "The concert was the final part: after 11 years there's no more filming, so afterwards was like a wrap party."

Indeed, post-show, Jones hit the town at the nearby Workman's Club, much to the surprise of its regulars.

"I don't even remember how I got home," she says, accompanied by a generous laugh. "It was great. There was a really good DJ and great music. I hardly go out because when I do my concerts, it's like my party. I have some red wine on stage, and if it's really cold and I'm playing outside in the cold like a festival in Scandinavia, I have some whisky. I got that from Pavarotti, actually."

While in Ireland, she became aware of the Repeal movement, for which she's promised to lend her support. It's an issue that has affected her; in her biography, she discussed her own abortion, shortly before she and Goude had their only son Paulo in 1979.

Needing antibiotics for a seriously infected wound, she was told by doctors that the medicine meant her baby would be born without limbs if she didn't abort. So if anyone understands the importance of choice, it's her.

"It's all based on religion, it's all based on control," she says, considering Ireland's stance. "Religion controls the women more than men, which is very unfair."

The anti-choicers would argue it's more to do with protecting the rights of the foetus, I suggest. "We know that's bullshit," she says. "We know that is bullshit. No, because if I didn't have an abortion, I would have had a child with no arms and legs. It's got to be your choice, it has to be your choice. I think men are just afraid of women being in control of their bodies."

Does she have any regrets over her decision? "Absolutely not. No way," she says, shaking her head emphatically. "That's what the doctors advised me. I wanted a healthy baby. I knew that it was 90 per cent possible to have a child with no arms and no legs. That's ridiculous."

She opens an arm towards Paulo, dining in close distance. "And here, that's my result."

The personal has become political
With a mind unconcerned with daily life, it's unusual for Jones to become involved in political issues. But now more than ever, the personal has become political, proved again when conversations turn towards Donald Trump.

"I can't believe he actually, possibly, could become president. That is insane," she says. "I've met Donald Trump a few times and I just know when I look into somebody's eyes, this guy is a really, really bad guy. I got that from Trump."

In case his reputation has preceded him, nothing untoward happened; merely a few photo opportunities when they shared the same publicist, John Carmen. "He was rich but not famous, so we were photographed together a few times because he wanted to be seen with famous people," she explains. "So he's smart in that way, but to listen to his rhetoric is just scary. And the people who are voting for him are senseless. It's like things are going backwards.

"I don't spend much time in the States even though I have a place in New York and am a US citizen, but if Donald Trump becomes president, I'm going to change my citizenship. I know that's extreme, but yes."

Her marbled accent, which also hints of her Parisienne past, is proof that she divides her time between the US, London and Jamaica, where she was raised and now has a partner. Given the high profile of some of her relationships - Jean-Paul, Dolph Lundgren, Sven-Ole Thorsen - she's chosen to keep this one out of the limelight, and keep Jamaica as a private place in which to recharge and find inspiration.

"I try to go for four months every year, the winter months, but probably I'll try spending half my time there soon," she says. "It's one of the richest places: the standard of living, the outdoors, the food, the art. It keeps me sane. There's lots of music there, a lot of original-thinking people there, so it's a life force."

When it comes to popular culture elsewhere, she's spoken out about artists who've borrowed her ideas, but has she listened to anyone recently who she admires? "I don't have the time!" she says, so melodramatically we both end up laughing.

"I like Adele, she has an amazing voice, but at the same time, there's no visuals there. It's just about the voice, which is fine.

"It's in this period when everyone is copying that it's refreshing to have somebody fresh. Because with me, there was Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry, Talking Heads, who were all a bit weird. It was a period of complete uniqueness in one's expression, and I was lucky to have people like that around me."

Self-effacing
It's surprising to hear her speak so self-effacingly, given the diva tag that's followed her around since her infamous scuffle with chat show host Russell Harty in 1980. Even when discussing her pioneering mix of art and music, she simply puts it down a result of company she kept: Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Keith Haring. And far from a selling-ice-to-Eskimos situation by releasing a cover of Edith Piaf's La Vie en Rose to the French market back in 1977, it transpires that was done without mischief.

"I was ignorant to Edith Piaf, I'd never listened to her or heard La Vie en Rose before," she says. "When I told people that I recorded it, they said 'oh my god, aren't you scared that people are going to throw tomatoes at you?' And then I did my homework. I think in a way it was a good thing, because I didn't know she's god to French people."

With no plans to step away from the spotlight ("I think retirement means death, I'd be so bored," she says) Jones is coming to the end of the album she's been recording for the past four years, with ideas for one after that too. She also promises to follow up her biography with a second instalment, detailing some of the stories that remain unexplored.

And topless hula-hooping in body paint? Don't expect that to stop anytime soon.

"I don't attach any stigma to nudity, I see myself as an African woman in that sense," she says. "I think it's fine as long as you carry yourself with class."

No one can accuse her otherwise.

- Grace Jones plays the Metropolis Festival in Dublin's RDS on November 5th. See metropolis.ie for full details.

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Grace Jones: 'Carry yourself with class'

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Grace Jones strides into our agreed restaurant exactly as expected: towering over the waiters, in sunglasses and a flowing Issey Miyake coat, an hour late and full of apologies because of it. "I'm exhausted," the singer, actress, model and all-around boundary pusher repeats, the first of many times she seems to speaks in actual italics.

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"Her collaborations with Goude, particularly, led to some of her most iconic snapshots, in which her oiled limbs appear to stretch on forever, rendering her hypersexualized; her blackness emphasized; her androgyny amplified. Writers have since pointed to Goude's work as exploitative, but Jones has always said that Goude merely captured and celebrated the energy she exuded, and she was proud of their collaborations. "This brutal, animalistic energy that was part disco, part theatre of cruelty, two lucid ways of presenting an appetite for life," she later wrote. "It was a visual description of an impossible original beast, only possible from this planet, a voracious she-centaur emerging from an unknown abyss and confronting people's fears. Perhaps you can see Jean-Paul falling for me, and turning it into a visual love letter." Grace Jones never wanted to hold back, and Goude encouraged her not to."

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The musical legacy of Grace Jones is defined by sonic innovation, provocative lyrics, and fearless experimentation. However, it was a series of consistently stellar album artwork that helped propel Jones from musician to icon -- from the elongated snarl of Slave to the Rhythm to the elegant aerobics of Island Life, Jones' visual impact is etched into the landscape of modern pop culture. This visual impact would not have been possible without Jean-Paul Goude, a French artist, illustrator, and graphic designer that met Jones one fateful night in New York in the late 70s. The resulting collaborative relationship is one of the most influential in the history of music, and has earned Goude his own exhibition entitled So Far So Goude, which recently opened in Milan's Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea. Naturally, a large segment is dedicated to Jones, his most famous muse -- but what was it that drew the duo together, and how did their collaborative work go on to define the visual landscape of the 70s and 80s?

It's well-known that much of Goude's work centers around artistic depictions of race, ethnicity, and global culture -- a fascination explored most famously in an image originally published in his book Jungle Fever, which spawned a Kim Kardashian recreation that 'broke the Internet' last year. His enchantment was with the far-away and the exotic, which led to his renderings of black women being branded as controversial and exploitative, although never by his subjects. He explored these themes frequently throughout his work with Jones, creating images which saw her hypersexualized, her blackness emphasized. Through the eyes of an artist, Jones became more than human -- she became a strong, black powerhouse with an androgynous sex appeal and a ferocious glint in her eyes.

In her biography I'll Never Write My Memoirs, Jones talks openly about the unrealistic expectations that Goude had of her in their daily life and how that eventually led to the collapse of their personal relationship. In a 2015 interview with SHOWStudio, Goude is similarly candid, admitting that he was initially underwhelmed by the star and dismissed her as a "partygoer with relative talents" -- that was, at least, until he saw her live. Even then he admits that the music wasn't to his taste, but he soon fell in love with the idea of her as a muse. "I became jealous and possessive of the character that, through her, I was able to create, much more than the real person." Essentially, Goude treated Jones as an artistic vehicle first and foremost -- a hyperbole which, despite destroying their personal relationship, allowed Goude to translate his grandiose vision of Jones the phenomenon into a series of imagery which painted her as a surreal, impossible muse. By playing up her Jamaican heritage and striking features, the vision of the artist and the exotic muse were united and Grace Jones became a reified translation of herself.

In fact, Jones transcended definition in almost every realm of her life. She is often referred to as a queer icon, largely due to early hits such as "I Need A Man," which landed her an enormous gay following. She rejects all labels of sexuality, and her musical output is similarly fluid, switching from pop and disco to dub and reggae without hesitation. It was precisely this approach to music that resulted in some of her most progressive hits such as "Warm Leatherette" and "Slave to the Rhythm" being largely ignored by mainstream radio.

Her appearance was equally divisive -- although her striking visuals led to her becoming a muse for the likes of Issey Miyake and Thierry Mugler, it provoked a bemused mainstream reaction, exemplified brilliantly in a 1985 interview which sees a confused journalist asking her to label her gender and sexuality (she pointedly responds by asking if he would eat a cockroach if he were starved on a desert island -- he nervously admits that he would). This ambiguity was explored in extreme forms by Goude, who communicated this resistance to definition through the realm of post-production. "Slave to the Rhythm" opens with a brief sequence that sees a pair of hands chop, distort and elongate a Polaroid photo of Jones until her face becomes something more than human. In many ways, this is Goude's translation of her outsider status -- she's not man, she's not woman, she's not even human.

However, it was Jones' One Man Show that still reigns supreme as the purest incarnation of the duo's creative vision. Nominated in 1984 for the first Best Long Form Music Video Grammy, the show is a combination of concert footage, photography and video clips, directed by Goude. The duo created other equally famous sequences, such as one that shows Jones sat, her face in profile view decorated with three geometric shapes attached by elastic bands.

An anonymous hand pulls the shapes slowly away from the face and cuts them away, while Jones barely flinches. This short clip more closely resembles performance art than a traditional music video, and encompasses the way that Goude's involvement made Jones 'more than' a pop star. Her links with Pop Art were well-documented -- she was famously close with Andy Warhol and renowned within the art world. Her visual credentials were more impressive than any of her musical contemporaries, and it was this element of high culture that made her contribution to the music industry so pivotal. She wasn't a mere singer, and she wasn't stereotyped because she resisted definition so fervently. There was always a sense that the music industry never quite understood Jones, a fact proven by the career complications that plagued her early work. Instead, she was a cultural phenomenon, and Goude's work exaggerated and exemplified this.

By manipulating her image, he created the view that Jones was iconography in her own right -- together, they built a legend that was instantly recognizable but drenched in mystery, whereas her personality and provocative soundbites helped fuel public interest not only in the singer herself, but in her relationship with Goude. Post-production, self-mythicization, and the exaggeration of her 'exotic' qualities were defined Goude's work with Jones but also his career more generally -- by electing and reifying a 'muse,' the artist helped create one of the most intriguing legends in musical history.
So Far So Goude is at Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea in Milan, now until June 19.
Credits

Text Jake Hall

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exploring the complicated relationship between jean-paul goude and grace jones

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The musical legacy of Grace Jones is defined by sonic innovation, provocative lyrics, and fearless experimentation. However, it was a series of consistently stellar album artwork that helped propel Jones from musician to icon -- from the elongated snarl of Slave to the Rhythm to the elegant aerobics of Island Life, Jones' visual impact is etched into the landscape of modern pop culture.

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Grace Jones - Personal Sphere and Controversies 

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Grace Jones - Personal Sphere and Controversies 

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Jones has always been surrounded in controversy due to the way she acts and dresses. However, some may argue that this shows she is authentic  as she is always the same on and off camera

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Grace Jones was signed to the prestigious Wilhemina Modelling agency when she was just 18 years old. She moved to Paris in 1970 and lived with two fellow models, Jessica Lange and Jerry Hall. Jones and Hall often went to the very popular gay club of the 1970s and 1980s called La Sept. They were both big icons for the queer community. Jones was highly sought after due to her androgynous, dark-skin and bold appearance. She walked for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana and Kenzo Takada. She has also appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle and Stern. Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was often photographed promoting his line. Jones was good friends with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld. In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

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Grace Jones has always brought her heritage into her projects, most notably her song My Jamaican Guy. She talks very highly of where she is from. This kind of dedication to her heritage could be seen as authentic as she is talking about something very personal. It has also been part of her brand since she first started out in the spotlight.

This award she is receiving from her home country is a recognition that she is helping celebrate the country and her own heritage. It also helps her brand image of being a woman from Jamaica.

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Fashion icon, singer, actress, author and film producer Grace Jones will tomorrow add member of the Order of Jamaica (OJ) to her list of stellar accomplishments.

The nation's fifth-highest honour will be conferred upon the Jamaican international superstar at the annual ceremony of investiture and presentation of national honours and awards on the lawns of King's House in St Andrew.

Jones, who is being recognised for her exceptional contribution to the field of entertainment internationally, is among four Jamaicans to be conferred with the OJ. The others are Godfrey Dyer, for contribution in the field of tourism; Earl Jarrett, for exceptional contribution to the banking and financial sectors, public service and volunteerism; and Giuseppe Maffesanti, for exceptional contribution to the construction industry, social development, welfare, and philanthropy.

During a recent interview with the Jamaica Information Service, Jones expressed gratitude to the Government and people.

"I am excited. It is a great honour. I love Jamaica so much, which makes it even better... This award is very special," she said.

Jones's look captured the fashion world, where she is known for her work with prominent fashion houses such as Yves St Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She has also recorded popular albums including Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing and Slave to the Rhythm. She starred in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill as the villainess, May Day, and appeared alongside Eddie Murphy in Boomerang.

Jones was raised by her very strict Pentecostal grandparents before leaving Jamaica at the age of 12 to join her parents in the United States. She remembers attending school and church and participating in sports during her formative years on the island.

She would also visit her father's side of the family on a Sunday and spend some holidays with her aunt, Sybil Jones, in Kingston, who would "open up a lot of opportunities for her".

Jones said her love for Jamaica has had a significant influence on her career paths, especially her singing.

"I have a hit song or a classic one called My Jamaican Guy, and I still record. I am making one now with Sly and Robbie. I did some of that recording in Port Antonio at a place called Alligator Head. There is also a song called Shenanigans, which is about growing up in Jamaica," she said.

Producer Lowell "Sly" Dunbar of the legendary duo Sly and Robbie said they made sure that the music in My Jamaican Guy matched her image and carried the message she wanted to convey.

"If you listen to the song, it is infused with mento and funk. We try to make her music original... Grace has had a huge impact both locally and abroad," he said.

In an interview with JIS News, Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the international icon has "always been a strong advocate for Jamaica".

"She has never forgotten her Jamaican roots. Indeed, she has embellished her international profile using Jamaica, and it is only appropriate that we recognise her for the contribution she has made to Brand Jamaica, as well as for her own work as an actress and international icon," he noted.
Now you can read the Jamaica Observer ePaper anytime, anywhere. The Jamaica Observer ePaper is available to you at home or at work, and is the same edition as the printed copy available at http://bit.ly/epaperlive

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Fashion icon, singer, actress, author and film producer Grace Jones will tomorrow add member of the Order of Jamaica (OJ) to her list of stellar accomplishments. The nation's fifth-highest honour will be conferred upon the Jamaican international superstar at the annual ceremony of investiture and presentation of national honours and awards on the lawns of King's House in St Andrew.

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Grace Jones was born in Jamaica and then moved to New York when she was 12 years old. Although she left her home country when she was very young she has always brought in her heritage to her work and that is a sign of authenticity.

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Grace Jones has been an influential figure in music for many years. She has influenced pop icons such as Lady Gaga and Lorde. It shows she is a trailblazer and an icon

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Lady Gaga has embarked on her fourth concert tour, the Artrave. The concert is yet another expansion of her project. As usual, in the tradition of other Lady Gaga events, the social media frenzy surrounding her creative endeavors has been stifling. The traditional Gaga fodder is in play: the impossible outfits, the fabulous spectacle, the enthralled fans. Though her show is certainly at the forefront of Internet culture, it'd be useful think about the notions behind Artpop. Specifically, what was art-pop before Lady Gaga claimed it for her own purposes?

I started thinking about this earlier this week, when Island Records re-released Grace Jones' Nightclubbing. The album, as Pitchfork tells, was one of the early convergences of "fashion, art, and music." Take a look at some of the artists Pitchfork traps under the scepter of Jones' influence: Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, FKA Twigs, Grimes, and, of course, Lady Gaga. I'd add to the list some more names: Roisin Murphy, Janelle Monae, M.I.A., Azealia Banks, Adam Lambert.

Her influence has certainly been felt across the pop world, though often not recognized. Her performances, which are arguably her career's most important aspect, mixed a variety of iconographies with disco aesthetics, tied together by a knack for intellectual play. She also developed performance skills at Syracuse University's theatre department and while modeling for the greats of the 70s-Yves Saint Laurent and Helmut Newton, chief among them. Her performances were a source of rich critiques on race, gender, and blackness. The idea that a pop performance could be more than a music show was solidified by Jones' performance in her Roseland show and her infamous One Man Show, both of which were choreographed in collaboration with artist Jean-Paul Goude. This puts in relief the concert extravaganzas we now know so well. Madonna's Confessions tour, for example, attempted to make you "forget your life, problems, administration, bills, and loans" and to bring you closer to a religious experience "in the evidence of its brilliance." Lady Gaga's dream that "pop culture was in art, now art's in pop culture, in me" is an offshoot of these more-than-the-music promises.

Art-pop, before Artpop, was home to wild performers. In her Roseland performance, Grace Jones danced in a tiger costume, shuffled towards a live Bengal tiger on stage, and opened the cage. The lights went black, and when they turned on, spectators saw none other than Jones herself in the tigers place. The performance is wild and risky, and I can only imagine that it was better in real life than video documentation suggests. Wildness is certainly part of Gaga's current allure, as well. To boot, one of her costumes is a crazy, knitted rave ensemble, meant to shock, revile, and inspire. Where Gaga is ostensibly just reviling and just inspiring, Jones performance takes on a deeper point. What's most interesting about her performance is the equation between animal and human that is completed once Jones enter the cage, though it is hinted at by her costume. This plays on multiple traditions, of which urban European ethnographic zoos are most important. The zoos, which continued well into the interwar period in France and Germany, displayed cultivated exotic people; the Hottentot Venus, for example, was one of these spectacles. Rather than become the spectacle, Jones continues to perform, staring back at the audience, threatening the danger that the tiger originally embodied.

I'd argue that Grace Jones was making art through pop music, in the Roseland performance and elsewhere in her oeuvre. In her wake, though, it seems as though Lady Gaga makes pop music through art. By that, I don't mean that Gaga looks at a Picasso and develops a series of cubist lyrical experiments. I mean that Gaga uses high-art's elite prestige to add gravitas to her work. Critic Jon Pareles of The New York Times observes, "Pop's newer fine-art infatuation has more to do with stars meeting stars and luxury brands doing co-promotions." Through the most cynical lens, then, Jeff Koons and Marina Abramovic are Lady Gaga's promotional tactics. Her current show deploys again her "reverse Warholian experiment" to expansive effect, and one of her costumes even recapitulates her iconic blue Koons ball for a bit of art-world glamour.

My cynicism towards Gaga's project shouldn't be used to reify the shady separation of art and commerce, to rephrase one of Sontag's old meditations. The very intrigue of Grace Jones career was the way the two came together and enabled each other. This shouldn't be washed away by a historical view that praises Jones' work as only art. The problem with Gaga's current work, however, is that the art does seem to be washed away; for all its talk, the project seems to be only music. There's no evidence of an attempt to make her Warholian (or perhaps Jonesian) dreams a reality.

Tags: grace jones, lady gaga

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FollowShare Lady Gaga has embarked on her fourth concert tour, the Artrave. The concert is yet another expansion of her Artpop project. As usual, in the tradition of other Lady Gaga events, the social media frenzy surrounding her creative endeavors has been stifling. The traditional Gaga fodder is in play: the impossible outfits, the fabulous ...

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In 1981, Grace Jones' album Nightclubbing topped the NME chart as the album of the year thus proving that Jones had many musical fans and she was clearly an icon back in the 1980s.

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Rocklist.net...NME End Of Year Lists 1981...

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Comprehensive Index To All The Important Lists Published In the NME since 1954

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in 1975 Grace Jones moved away from her modelling career and into her music career. Her first single was I Need a Man from her debut album Portfolio. Jones has continued her music career up to the present day, having released a song with the Gorillaz in 2017 and she is headlining New York City Pride in 2019. Altogether, Jones has released 10 studio albums, 8 compilation albums and 53 singles.

Her music often has plenty of sexual innuendo and sexual themes, most notably Pull Up To The Bumper. The sexual nature of her music helps her portray this sexual liberated queer star brand.

Jones notable ex partner Jean-Paul Goude had a huge part of her musical career. Goude consulted on her image, choreographed her live stage performances, directed her music videos, and created many of her album covers.

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"If Cher wrote volume one of the "How To Be a Modern Pop Star" handbook, Grace Jones wrote volume two. And everyone from Madonna to Björk to Beyoncé to Lady Gaga has taken more than a few pages from her playbook over the year."

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If Cher wrote volume one of the "How To Be a Modern Pop Star" handbook, Grace Jones wrote volume two. And everyone from Madonna to Björk to Beyoncé to Lady Gaga has taken more than a few pages from her playbook over the year.

Amongst Jones's many innovations? Her bold fashion sense, which doesn't stop at show-stopping costumes and includes the subversive, the artsy, the unsettling or sometimes the just downright weird. Yet, she always makes it look good.

On Wednesday night, at the British premiere of her new, critically adored documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, Jones hit the red carpet wearing a veil that resembled a shrub (a nod to her 1978 recording of "Autumn Leaves," perhaps?). Jones paired the statement piece with a long black gown, black gloves, black heels, and, occasionally, black sunglasses. The look actually proved versatile as, at one point, she flipped the black shrubbery back and the veil pulled double duty as something of a headpiece.

Jones's veil also served a very poignant reason. The 69-year-old superstar's mother Marjorie passed away earlier this month, and Jones is only now returning to the public spotlight to promote her documentary after having stayed at her mother's bed side.

"I need a sort of mourning, but not mourning outfit, so I didn't have to show my eyes because I've been crying a lot," she told the Associated Press. "And my mom loved to dress up, so I'm doing this for her."

So legendary milliner and Jones' close friend Philip Treacy, who was also on hand for the premiere last night, whipped up the one-of-a-kind creation for the artist's big, but difficult night.

https://twitter.com/NickDixonITV/status/923253040915808256

https://twitter.com/TrafalgarRel/status/923261780654247937

https://twitter.com/Miss_GraceJones/status/923276616440172544

https://twitter.com/APEntertainment/status/923549137248796673

Related: Grace Jones: How a Diva Does a Book Signing
Bradley Cooper Thought Grace Jones Was Hot in James Bond:

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See Grace Jones Wearing a Shrub-like Hat on the Red Carpet

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If Cher wrote volume one of the "How To Be a Modern Pop Star" handbook, Grace Jones wrote volume two. And everyone from Madonna to Björk to Beyoncé to Lady Gaga has taken more than a few pages from her playbook over the year. Amongst Jones's many innovations?

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Grace Jones is hugely popular all over the world with fans from all walks of life however, there's one group of people that Grace Jones has a particular special place with and that is the LGBTQIA+ community. Jones is seen as an idol for gay men, gay women, and for many people under the queer umbrella. Jones has always been outspoken when it comes to the queer community.

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In 2019 Grace Jones will headline New York City Pride, one of the biggest queer events in the world. This is 44 years after her debut single and still proves that Jones is relevant in queer pop culture. It also shows Jones dedication to the queer community which has been part of her brand from the very beginning of her long career.

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Grace Jones Will Headline NYC Pride

Is it June yet? Not only are most of us ready for summer, but Heritage of Pride just unveiled the lineup for their Pride Island festivities and it's pretty sickening. Grace Jones will headline the Saturday night festivities at Pride Island 2019, the multi-day event taking place all throughout Pride weekend at Pier 97. Jones will be joined by rapper Teyana Taylor, Brazilian drag sensation Pabllo Vittar, and more.

"We're thrilled to be able to create this multi-day experience, which speaks to an inclusive set of Pride- goers, during one of the biggest Pride events in the world," Chris Frederick, Managing Director, NYC Pride, said via a press release. "With the iconic Grace Jones headlining on Saturday and the incredible list of curated talent, this musical experience is definitely not to be missed."

"I couldn't be more excited to perform in front of my LGBTQIA+ friends and the community that's supported me for so many years during WorldPride 2019 | Stonewall 50," says Jones. "Saturday's Pride Island lineup will be a celebration of everything that the community stands for and will go down in illustrious history."

Joining Jones, Taylor, and Vittar are Afro-Latina pop star Amara La Negra and legendary New York City DJ Johnny Dynell, with DJs Abel and Morabito on decks as well. A headliner for Sunday night will be announced soon.

"We're planning an action-packed weekend of live performances, that will build upon the excitement of what Pride attendees know as Pride Island, for our biggest and most inclusive year yet," says Pride Island Director Jose Ramos. "We're turning up the heat this year, in honor of WorldPride 2019 | Stonewall 50. It's slated to be a truly unforgettable celebration."

While Pride Sunday tickets have sold out, you can get tickets for Pride Island Saturday now.

RELATED | If You Ever Wanted To Go To NYC For Pride, This Is the Year

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Grace Jones Will Headline NYC Pride Is it June yet? Not only are most of us ready for summer, but Heritage of Pride just unveiled the lineup for their Pride Island festivities and it's pretty sickening. Grace Jones will headline the Saturday night festivities at Pride Island 2019, the multi-day event taking place all throughout Pride weekend at Pier 97.

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Singer, model and actress Grace Jones was born in Jamaica in 1948. She was raised there and in Syracuse, New York. When Jones was 17 she started to pursue her career in the modeling industry. She eventually ended up living in Paris, France, where her strong statuesque figure made her a success. She lived with fellow models Jessica Lange and Jerry Hall. Jones moved on from the modelling industry and transitioned into the music world in 1977. She was signed to Island Records. Over the years Jones has had moderately high success with her music. She released several albums, including 1981's Nightclubbing. During the 1980's and 1990s, Jones change direction again and stated to appear in several feature films, including the James Bond picture A View to a Kill and the comedy Boomerang. Since then, Jones has continued to act, record and perform.

Jones has quite a cult following, most notably from her queer audience. Her shows are very sexual, she is often seen with her breasts out and sometimes sporting a strap on. Grace Jones has an androgynous look. she keeps her hair short and she has a strong physique. In her movies she is often cast as the strong warrior woman. Jones is very outspoken and eccentric. Sex is often a big part of her star brand and she is very open about her sexuality, stating in an interview in 1985 that she "does what [she] feels when [she] feels like it if [she] feels like it".

In this Padlet I want to explore Grace Jones sexual, androgynous and outspoken star brand. I will do this by looking into different aspects of her life.

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Grace Jones and her strangeness and Queerness

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Grace Jones and her strangeness and Queerness

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"Grace Jones is a figure of desire, she is also a figure of sexual disorientation and wonder. Sociologist and Sylvester biographer Joshua Gamson describes Grace Jones’s appeal as “sexy genderfuck,” a heady cocktail of glitter, camp, androgyny, and fear."

Royster, F. (2013). Sounding Like a No-No. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

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This article explores Grace Jones Performance art in the 1970s and 1980s. The main bulk of the article is to look at how her stage presence destabilizes historical relations of power enacted through male/female, black/white interaction. What we also learn is how Jones brings in sexuality and androgyny into her art. Below is an extract from the article that reinforces Jones star image of a Masculine/feminine woman.

"As the next song begins, Jones reappears in a man- tailored suit and reflective sunglasses. Jones sings "Warm Leatherette" with a look full of contradictions. Her crew cut makes reference to male-dominated military discipline while highlighting the striking geometry of her face. Her makeup and stiletto heels suggest fetishization associated with female dress, while her trim gray suit offsets a bare chest of hard, flat muscle. The result is her signature unstable androgynous look referred to in the title of the show, both seductive and dominating."

Kershaw, M. (1997). Postcolonialism and Androgyny: The Performance Art of Grace Jones. Art Journal, 56(4), p.19.

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Post colonialism and androgyny - Grace Jones

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"She was a woman who was not just singing to them, but also for them, as them. She was as queer as a relatively straight person could get. Her image celebrated blackness and subverted gender norms; she presented something we had never seen before in pop performance—a woman who was lithe, sexy, and hyperfeminine while also exuding a ribald, butch swagger."

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This article also appears in the current issue of our print quarterly, , which is on stands now. Subscribe to the magazine .

Grace Jones is perched on a ledge above the dancefloor of New York's 12 West, the state-of-the-art, members-only gay disco, about to take the stage for one of her first performances. The year is 1977, and no one is prepared for what's about to hit them.

, father of the dance mix and Jones' early producer, describes the scene: "All of a sudden the spotlight hits her. She starts singing 'I Need a Man', and the place goes crazy. After she finishes, she goes, 'I don't know about you, honey, but Tom Moulton I need a fucking man!' Talk about a room-worker. Whatever it takes. She was so determined."

To understand the impact of this moment, one must understand a bit of history. Just a few years earlier, it had been illegal for two men to so much as dance together in New York City. With the exception of maybe hairdressers and artists, queer people risked unemployment if they merely hinted at their orientation outside the confines of gay bars and clubs, and it was in these discos that the seeds of liberation were sown. At 12 West, gay people could grasp the power of their collectivity and understand what it meant to be free.

That night, Grace Jones sang "I Need a Man" just like a man might-tough and lusty, she was a woman who was not just singing to them, but also for them, as them. She was as queer as a relatively straight person could get. Her image celebrated blackness and subverted gender norms; she presented something we had never seen before in pop performance-a woman who was lithe, sexy, and hyperfeminine while also exuding a ribald, butch swagger. In '79, Ebony got her je ne sais quoi exactly right: "Grace Jones is a question mark followed by an exclamation point."

Even now, her transgressive charisma remains bold. She still feels outré.

In 1960, a 12-year-old Beverly Grace Jones moved from Spanish Town, Jamaica, to Syracuse, New York, with her family. She didn't have many friends; a high school report card described her as "socially sick." Halfway through her studies at Syracuse University, she impulsively abandoned school to work on a play in Philadelphia. The Pentecostal preacher's daughter realized there was no going home after that, and she moved to New York City in 1975 to fulfill her dream of becoming a star.

At first, Jones modeled for the Wilhelmina Agency while doubling as a go-go dancer under the pseudonym Grace Mendoza. "Even though the agency kept me pretty busy, I auditioned for every play and film I could find," she told The Baltimore Afro American in 1985. "But they all wanted a black American sound, and I just didn't have it. Finally, I got tired of trotting around and took myself to Paris."

In France, her blackness set her apart from other models, and Jones landed covers of Stern, Pravda, and Vogue. Within a few months, she recorded a few singles; one was sent to Cy and Eileen Berlin, an enterprising husband-and-wife team who later managed Tom Cruise. Jones flew back to NYC with her roommate, actress Jessica Lange, and met with the Berlins. Impressed by her exuberance, star quality, and willingness, they signed on to manage her. "I thought of her as family," says Eileen Berlin. "My son had gone to college, so I gave her his room."

At the time, Tom Moulton's pioneering club-specific mixes were blowing up both discos and R&B radio, and the Berlins begged him to produce their new client. Moulton and Jones' partnership began with the double-sided '76 single, "Sorry" / "That's the Trouble", and their next collaboration, "I Need a Man", quickly rose to the top of Billboard 's disco chart the following year. Hoping to capitalize on Jones' burgeoning fame, the Berlins approached Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who signed her in short order. Given the combination of Blackwell's status as an international reggae ambassador and Jones' Jamaican roots, Cy Berlin anticipated a good fit. He didn't know how right he would be.

Although Moulton and Jones made three albums together in three years-'77's Portfolio, '78's Fame, and '79's Muse -the two former-models often clashed: "I always teased her about sounding like Bela Lugosi," recalls the disco godfather. "I stood next to her while she was singing because I got so sick of hitting the talkback button [in the control room]. The moment she'd go off, I'd stop her. I was hard on her, but no matter how much I pushed her, she would take it and push herself."

Portfolio 's continuous first side featured Broadway tunes set to string-intensive bluster arranged by the Salsoul Orchestra's Vince Montana and performed by members of MFSB, a cohesive pool of studio musicians who played on nearly every Philadelphia-originated soul hit of the '70s. But against the plush effortlessness, Jones sounded strained; the weight of Moulton's hand was audible and uncomfortable to hear.

However, the LP's second side dished out a masterstroke in Jones' take on Édith Piaf's "La Vie En Rose", a version of which Moulton previously recorded with forgotten '70s singer Teresa Wiater. Jones had gotten her hands on an acetate pressing of Waiter's unreleased recording , which was wowing the 12 West crowd, and she lobbied Moulton to let her have it, baiting him that it would be a sure hit for the two: "I'm big in France." The same rawness and struggle that worked against Jones on Portfolio 's Broadway arias conveyed the absolute heartbreak of "La Vie En Rose".

I grew up in Rochester, New York, 90 miles from where a teenaged Grace Jones daydreamed about her grand ambitions in Syracuse. I was a fan of a local band called New Math, whose frontman did promo for Island and passed me a copy of Fame -the first piece of my disco vinyl collection. Later that week, I watched Jones on "The Midnight Special", where she performed "Below the Belt". She took the stage clad in a satin boxing robe, her hands taped for a fight. Halfway through, she pulled a brawny muscleman from the crowd, pretended to knock him out, and then stood with a foot planted on his chest, all while crooning, "Gotta take my chance/ Gotta go the distance." She then did a victory dance as fake snow fell in celebration of Christmas (and perhaps-this being 1979-cocaine). I was hooked.

That jaw-dropping TV appearance prompted a discussion with my high school drama teacher. He bragged that his brother had once met Jones at a Manhattan roller rink, where, instead of offering him a business card, she gave him a plastic whip with her name emblazoned on it. I knew at that moment that I belonged in Grace Jones' New York, that suburban life would kill me the same way it had killed my alcoholic father. A year later, I arrived.

Jones' "On Your Knees" was the last single I bought before leaving Rochester and it was one of the first songs I heard on the local disco station in New York City. Subway cars plastered with graffiti bore nearly inscrutable codes I was hungry to crack, for danger preyed upon the ignorant: Each weekend brought stories of fellow students who had been mugged. I remember protesters disrupting the filming of William Friedkin's Cruising, which retold the real-life story of a fugitive who had lured men out of gay bars to bed and then killed them. In that anything-goes, pre-AIDS era at the tail end of the '70s, pleasure and danger were quite literally bedfellows.

Macho, close-cropped clones ruled the city's mega-discos, but I hadn't escaped my small suburb just to conform, so I sought out unconventional spaces like Hurrah's, the Mudd Club, and Danceteria, where dub, reggae and post-punk alternated with chilly synth pop and radical funk. All those genres would mingle and mutate in Jones' next incarnation.

When Muse fizzled in the clubs and on the charts, Chris Blackwell took over as Jones' producer. "I wanted to treat her not as a model, but to involve her as a musician," he recalls. "Tom Moulton had been recording the instrumentation and then having Grace come in later, but I wanted her to feel as though she were a member of a band, and record her the way bands used to make albums, with the singer and the players doing their thing all at once."

Blackwell's approach united two things he knew well: Caribbean ease and British audacity. "I wanted a rhythmic reggae bottom, aggressive rock guitar, atmospheric keyboards in the middle, and Grace on top," he says. To get all that, he assembled a sextet of studio ringers at his Nassau studio, Compass Point. The soon-to-be signature sound of the Compass Point All-Stars went on to animate hits by the Tom Tom Club, Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker, Gwen Guthrie, and others.

The sessions began with an unlikely remake of the Normal's "Warm Leatherette". Jones' version preserved the original's deadpan vocal delivery and minimal melody but dropped the tempo to a saunter, twisted the rhythm into a sharp funk, and sashayed with offhand earnestness, as if sexual intercourse while dying from vehicular collision was just another kink worth trying. The sessions moved with disarming speed and ease: "If Grace or the group hadn't nailed a song by the third take," Blackwell recounts, "it was dropped and they'd move to the next number."

Keyboardist Wally Badarou attests to Jones' active role in the recordings: "Grace was there even during most instrumental overdubbing sessions. She was a part of the sound and the spirit that came out almost from nowhere. We all knew we were in for something quite experimental."

Soon they had amassed enough material for 1980's Warm Leatherette and the beginnings of a follow-up LP that would become 1981's Nightclubbing. Upon its release, Leatherette failed to charm either radio audiences or most dance clubs; it was too authentically reggae for the New Wave crowd, too slow for disco. But by the following year, both New York radio and the club scene had grown eclectic. Primed by kindred punk-funk blasts like Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" as well as Taana Gardner's "Heartbeat", a far more open-minded dance music world was ready to re-embrace Jones and her new sound.

Nightclubbing provided Jones with newfound popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. European audiences appreciated "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)", a vocal reimagining of Argentine tango master Ástor Piazzolla's 1974 instrumental "Libertango". For that track, co-writer Barry Reynolds penned lyrics about a Parisian stalker, and Badarou provided a haunting introductory riff. Jones' lyrics were a rebuttal, en francais, penned with the help of Blackwell's girlfriend, actor Nathalie Delon: "What are you looking for? Hoping to find love? Who do you think you are? You hate your life."

Her ultimate hit in much of the world, "Slave" underscored how Jones' incandescence and charisma made her bigger than her sales figures might indicate. MTV virtually ignored the track's Goude-directed video; even when framed by Horn's familiar transatlantic brilliance, Jones was, for them, still too black, too strong. Nevertheless, she got over elsewhere on the sheer magnitude of her presence. With the help of Hollywood and some crazy commercials for Citroën, Honda Scooters, and Sun Country Wine Coolers, she became more massive than ever.

"I like conflicts," she told Playboy in 1985. "I love competition. I like discovering things for myself. It's a childlike characteristic, actually. But that gives you a certain amount of power, and people are intimidated by that."

By the following year, with Goude and Blackwell out of the picture, Jones wanted more involvement in her debut album for EMI subsidiary Manhattan Records, 1986's Inside Story. Taking EMI A&R head Bruce Garfield's direction to "imagine a leaf being blown through the streets of New York, twisting and turning in the sunshine" as a starting point, Jones and Woolley wrote every song together, then joined multi-platinum Svengali Nile Rodgers in New York to transform their demos. This mutually flattering union yielded her last R&B radio victory, "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)". Indicting white-collar criminals and Hollywood liars, Inside Story revealed the singer's observant, socially conscious side, while the jagged arrangements meshed Rodgers' ricocheting, jazz-schooled guitar with Woolley's smart pop. It is a singer/songwriter record you can dance to.

She followed it with 1989's Bulletproof Heart, which yielded one resplendent club triumph, "Love on Top of Love", courtesy of David Cole & Robert Clivillés, a house remix/production duo who later scored with C+C Music Factory. Jones co-wrote and co-produced most of the album with her new husband, Chris Stanley, whose output fell far below her avant standards; the two soon divorced. Having tried harder, thought broader, and crossed more boundaries than most of her contemporaries, this dance-floor renegade closed out the decade boxed in and coasting.

By the late '80s, I had moved to San Francisco; AIDS was decimating the gay community. One night in 1993, I finally got my chance to see Jones perform at a local gay nightclub and took my friend Brian, whose partner Mark was too sick to join us. Jones' lived up to her reputation for diva behavior and didn't take the stage until well after midnight. At first she stuck to her hits, including that year's house excursion "Sex Drive". But it soon became apparent that she didn't need the spectacular filigree of her Goude years. The special effect was her smile: It just wouldn't stop, and soon it became contagious. She didn't back away from the elephant in the room: She dedicated one song to artist and AIDS casualty Keith Haring, who had used her body for a canvas on the occasion of her legendary 1985 Paradise Garage performance.

That night's show was remarkable for the simple fact that Jones just kept on going, granting one encore request after another, waiting patiently while the sound man scoured backing tapes to find the fans' offbeat choices. When Jones got to such minor numbers as "Crush", it became clear that she didn't want to leave. She was giving as much of herself as she could to the beleaguered troops, knowing full well that many wouldn't live long enough to see her again. A few months after that show, I inherited Mark's cherished copy of Goude and Jones' art book Jungle Fever after he and Brian died within weeks of each other.

Jones' lust for life that night represented not just resilience to repression, but also a way of fighting back that sent a message: We, who are thought less than, shall burn brighter than our oppressors. That was why she was so beloved-because she led the way, even when we couldn't proceed. Along with the lesbians and lucky survivors who nursed our fallen, Jones had borne witness to what Reagan, Bush, and most of the country willfully ignored; she knew the toll of it all.

Throughout the '90s, rumors of new albums surfaced; Blackwell recorded several sessions, so did Tricky. Even Moulton buried the hatchet for a 1997 house remake of Candi Staton's "Victim", but Island nixed its release on conceptual grounds: They thought Grace Jones couldn't be a victim of anything.

Photo courtesy of Daily Mail / Rex / Alamy

In 2008, Jones unexpectedly reemerged with Hurricane, her first record in 19 years. She brought back Woolley and the Compass Point All-Stars while adding contributors like Emmy-winning composers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, who worked with her for a month in their home on the the gospel-shaded canticle "Williams' Blood". "Prince has a presence and everybody in the room goes, 'Whoa,'" Melvoin attests from first-hand knowledge-she and Coleman were key members of his Purple Rain -era backing band, the Revolution. "When Grace walks into the room, it's more subtle, but it has the same effect. You just go, 'My God, she's taken up all of the space with that personality.'"

Hurricane mirrored that kaleidoscope. Unlike commonplace pop and rock luminaries who took extended vacations, Jones came back more polished and unpredictable than ever. With her trenchant track "Corporate Cannibal", she even protested capitalist dehumanization by embodying it via grinding, insidious metal. But while her image as a constantly morphing, couture-clad hellion persists, the 67-year-old iconoclast stays true to herself. After all these years and so many disciples, there's still no one like her.

While gathering up my Grace Jones memories, I was reminded of what Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon once said about entertainers. This was 25 years ago, so my memory may have altered her words, but it went something like this: We pay to bask in the confidence of our most beloved performers so that we may learn to similarly love ourselves. Grace did that for me, for her audience, for anyone who has ever been too queer, too black, too female, or too freaky for the world around them. Grace Jones is liberation.

As a companion to Barry Walters' Grace Jones piece, various Pitchfork contributors highlight some of the artist's finest moments in music, film, and talk-show badassery:

The "Russell Harty" Incident

In 1981, Grace Jones pummelled British talk show host Russell Harty on his own BBC show. Harty always sat among the guests on his early evening gabfest, and on this particular night he chose to focus his attention on the men to his right, leaving Jones, seated alone to his left, out of much of the conversation. The scene plays out with a frustrated Jones admonishing Harty: "If you turn your back to me one more minute." Harty dismisses her, wagging a finger before turning away. Jones then clips him on the neck and lands one, two, three more hits in quick succession before slapping him on the head. The confused audience applauds-was this planned? Is this funny? Is it art?

This was my introduction to Grace Jones: elegantly beating the hell out of a man who won't take her seriously, her black body and everything it knows asserting itself for the good of fed up women everywhere. -Sara Bivigou

Back to home

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As Much As I Can, As Black As I Am: The Queer History of Grace Jones

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This article also appears in the current issue of our print quarterly, , which is on stands now. Subscribe to the magazine . Grace Jones is perched on a ledge above the dancefloor of New York's 12 West, the state-of-the-art, members-only gay disco, about to take the stage for one of her first performances.

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Grace Jones has been doing the same overtly sexual and erratic behaviour since she first stepped foot into stardom. She has been working in the limelight for 5 decades and she has had the same coherent star brand throughout. This serves as evidence that Jones is authentic and the person we see on camera is more than likely the person we see off camera.

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Topless Grace Jones, 67, hits the stage in just tribal bodypaint and a basque as she headlines Afropunk festival

Grace Jones is known for putting on a show-stopping appearances.

But the 67-year-old delivered a performance to remember on Friday night when she hit the stage in just bodypaint and a basque with knickers.

The musician was headlining Brooklyn's Afropunk festival when she decided to show off her tribal stripes in an extremely bold fashion.

Grace wore a chainmail headpiece that concealed her shorter hairstyle but went topless to expose her breasts.

She maintained her modesty elsewhere with flesh-coloured lingerie that was decorated with white tribal designs.

Her form was particularly impressive at 67 and she looked confident with her super-toned limbs on show.

The 1970s pop act seemed to leave her armpits unshaven as she raised her athletic arms to perform with passion.

She expressed her excitement for the performance on Facebook ahead of the event, saying: 'I'm coming for you Brooklyn, this Friday at the AFROPUNK Fancy Dress Ball. You better dress to impress me.

Grace was accompanied on stage at the fancy dress ball by similarly scantily clad dancers and after arriving on stage in a cape and mask, the brunette became increasingly more undressed as the performance went on.

Though rarely seen on stage these days, it's been a summer of festivals for the starlet, who similarly took the stage at Hyde Park's British Summer Time festival and even ParkLife.

The ageless Pull Up To The Bumper singer has been taking her topless stage show all over the world, appearing in Sydney, Australia earlier this year.

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Grace Jones hits the stage in just bodypaint and a basque

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Grace Jones is known for putting on a show-stopping appearances. But the 67-year-old delivered a performance to remember on Friday night when she hit the stage in just bodypaint and a basque with knickers. The musician was headlining Brooklyn's Afropunk festival when she decided to show off her tribal stripes in an extremely bold fashion.

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"Jones didn't just use sex to seduce or pander to the male gaze – she exercised and weaponised what she recognised was rightfully hers. From the very beginning, she chose to opt out of a society that subjugated women to the role of passive sexual objects, fetishised black women, and expected women to suppress their appetite."

Jones, Daisy (2017) Grace Jones and the Power of Sex [online] accessed at https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/z4npvj/grace-jones-and-the-power-of-sex (accessed 20/03/2019)

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Grace Jones was nine years old when she was found hiding inside a barrel. She was with a boy from her hometown in Jamaica, and they were both discovered by someone from her grandfather's puritanical Pentecostal church. It took the church community two weeks to decide how they would punish her. In her words: "A little natural, tingling curiosity about how I was really feeling - not how I was ordered to feel - led to a trial that implied I had broken the law and infuriated their malicious God. The blows came thick and fast. Punishment was their way of keeping us in line."

It's no wonder she escaped to New York as soon as she hit eighteen, growing her hair into an afro, dropping a shit ton of acid, and having as much casual sex as she wanted. But that's not to say her newfound existence in the US equated to total freedom. While her deeply religious upbringing overbeared her in more extreme ways, the society around her contained subtle, but nonetheless very real, sexual oppressions as well. Needless to say, to be a woman - particularly a black woman in the 60s - was (and is) to be expected to contain yourself. Because to express sexual desire without shame isn't just uncomfortable for certain people - it's scary; an adjective that has been used to describe Grace Jones more than once.

In a recent article for Hazlitt, writer Jess Zimmerman commented that: "The low-maintenance woman, the ideal woman, has no appetite." She continued: "A man's appetite can be hearty, but a woman with an appetite is always voracious: her hunger always overreaches, because it is not supposed to exist. If she wants food, she is a glutton. If she wants sex, she is a slut. If she wants emotional care-taking, she is a high-maintenance bitch or, worse, an 'attention whore': an amalgam of sex-hunger and care-hunger, greedy not only to be fucked and paid but, most unforgivably of all, to be noticed." And now, four decades after Jones first arrived in the city, and as the BBC are releasing a documentary to celebrate her life and career, these ideas have become more relevant than ever.

Jones has never suppressed her appetite and has always been noticed for it. In fact, over the years, her name has become so synonymous with sexual freedom that the sheer sight of a flattop and razor-sharp cheekbones should be enough to make anyone blush. From her deep, growling voice that always sounds as if she's on the brink of suggesting something shocking, to the way she switches between super butch and hyper-feminine roles so that they become one and the same, Jones has a way of injecting sex into everything she does. But most importantly, from the very beginning of her career, she wrote about sex as if she simply could not, and would not, live without it.

It makes sense that Jones would first announce herself to the world in 1975 with "I Need a Man", a track which arrived alongside a video where she slowly gyrates to disco rhythms in a silver rubber breastplate while singing "He'll understand, oh what I'm feelin' deep inside me" like a strange and sexy alien visiting from the planet Venus. The song didn't top the pop charts, but it swiftly became a cult fixture in New York's underground gay clubs, as synonymous with queer desire as her own desire; an anthem for a suppressed sexual appetite unleashing itself during a time when gay sex had barely become legal.

Talking to Pitchfork, Tom Moulton, Jones' early producer, describes seeing her perform the track live at a gay disco: "All of a sudden the spotlight hits her. She starts singing 'I Need a Man', and the place goes crazy. After she finishes, she goes, 'I don't know about you, honey, but I need a fucking man!' Talk about a room-worker. Whatever it takes. She was so determined." In other words, Jones didn't just express her own raw sexuality, but she invited other people to express theirs, in whatever package it came in.

Of course, "I Need a Man" was hardly x-rated. Most of Jones' releases around this era were softer, less direct, than what we would come to expect later, when she ditched disco in favour of a more androgynous new wave style and provocative lyrics in the 1980s. "Pull Up to the Bumper", for instance, is definitely about anal sex (although Jones still insists it's just about parking cars). "Pull up to my bumper baby, in your long black limousine," she purrs, her voice rising over the reggae-tinged percussive rhythms, "Race it, straighten it, let me lubricate, pull up to my bumper baby."

Aside from the fact Jones is the only person on earth who could make these lyrics sound even vaguely hot, it was subversive for a woman to be singing about anal sex. Hell, it would be subversive even now. But back then, when the AIDs crisis was on the brink of devastating whole communities, and when women rarely sang about sex, it was considered taboo. And not only was Jones singing about it, she was singing about wanting it, and she was demanding that someone give it to her and giving them detailed instructions. To hear her sing the words "pull up to my bumper baby, and drive it in between" without a shadow of coyness was bold as hell - it was promptly banned from most mainstream radio stations.

Her sex positivity isn't just confined to her lyrics, though - it permeates everything she does. The first and only time I ever met Jones, she exclaimed that music and sex must always go together because they are the same thing. "There is no way you can separate music or sex!" she shrieked at me, her eyes widening across the table. We were in a restaurant in South London, and she had ordered herself a huge plate of lamb chops and sauce, a large glass of red wine, and a line of Sambucas for dessert. She polished off the whole meal quickly, swishing the red wine around in her glass, and only taking breaks to animatedly tell a story or erupt with laughter. If you spend just one evening with Jones, whether in a restaurant, or watching her hula hoop topless on stage at a festival, it quickly becomes clear that she is a lust for life personified.

Even if you're not an avid Grace Jones fan, chances are you've come across her most famous photographs shot by Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Jean-Paul Goude. Her collaborations with Goude, particularly, led to some of her most iconic snapshots, in which her oiled limbs appear to stretch on forever, rendering her hypersexualized; her blackness emphasized; her androgyny amplified. Writers have since pointed to Goude's work as exploitative, but Jones has always said that Goude merely captured and celebrated the energy she exuded, and she was proud of their collaborations. "This brutal, animalistic energy that was part disco, part theatre of cruelty, two lucid ways of presenting an appetite for life," she later wrote. "It was a visual description of an impossible original beast, only possible from this planet, a voracious she-centaur emerging from an unknown abyss and confronting people's fears. Perhaps you can see Jean-Paul falling for me, and turning it into a visual love letter." Grace Jones never wanted to hold back, and Goude encouraged her not to.

It's hard to quantify what the pop landscape would look like without Jones. Would FKA twigs be dangling, bondage-style in her "Pendulum" video had Jones not been shot by Goude in the same way? Would Rihanna have appeared in head-to-toe monochrome patterns for "Rude Boy" had Jones not been naked and painted by Keith Haring all those years ago? Would Janelle Monae be donning a button-up suit in "Tightrope" had Jones not already pioneered the fierce, androgynous aesthetic? Would Kim Kardashian have broken the internet on the cover of Paper magazine if Jones had not posed the same way decades prior? Would Nicki Minaj be seen writhing around in a cage for her "Stupid Hoe" video had Jones not been immortalised in an identical position for Goude's controversial 1982 book Jungle Fever? Would we be filling our Instagram feeds with #freethenipple hashtags to protest against sexual objectification if Jones' "Nipple to the Bottle" had not been banned from the radio in 1982 for the same reason? Would Lady Gaga even exist?

Celebrating how Jones wholly embraced her sexual prowess over the years is more than just that; it's about celebrating everything that came after her; everything that wouldn't exist had she not broken so many boundaries. Because Jones didn't just use sex to seduce or pander to the male gaze - she exercised and weaponised what she recognised was rightfully hers. From the very beginning, she chose to opt out of a society that subjugated women to the role of passive sexual objects, fetishised black women, and expected women to suppress their appetite. But most importantly, she decided that if any of that was going to happen, it would be entirely on her terms, with her rules, larger and fiercer and bolder than anybody could have ever expected.
You can follow Daisy on Twitter. (Lead illustration by John Garrison)

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Grace Jones was nine years old when she was found hiding inside a barrel. She was with a boy from her hometown in Jamaica, and they were both discovered by someone from her grandfather's puritanical Pentecostal church. It took the church community two weeks to decide how they would punish her.

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Grace Jones Gets lifetime Ban from Disneyland for flashing her breasts.

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Grace Jones Gets lifetime Ban from Disneyland for flashing her breasts.

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Grace Jones has always been outspoken and unapologetic in the way she holds herself and her star Image. This article about how she may have stepped a bit far by showing her breasts at a children's park shows how committed she is to her sexual brand identity even when it might cause some backlash.

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Grace Jones, most commonly known for her risque, over-the-top performances, managed to earn herself on Walt Disney World's (Florida) 'Banned-for-life' list in 1998.

Grace was 50 years old when she got banned and now at the age of 67 she still might very likely do the exact same thing that got her banned in the first place- flashing her breasts to the general public (in front of the kiddies too) while performing on stage. One question: When Walt Disney World welcomed Grace Jones into their home, did they not know who she was?!! Moving on...

Her sex-driven concerts have calmed down a tad bit though because at least she's not showing up at public events butt-naked, wearing just a string of bones around her neck, as she did in the late 70's when she attended an uppity French Parliament party with a couple of her supermodel friends, Jessica Lange and Jerry Hall.

Grace said that her rebelliousness developed after she witnessed how her family treated one of her her brothers, Christian, because he "walked too swishy." When Christian fell out with their parents because of social differences (they were very religious and disagreed with him "walking swishy," as well as him wanting a career in music as a DJ), she took her...

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Wow! Grace Jones Banned For Life From Walt Disney World Over THIS...

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Grace Jones, most commonly known for her risque, over-the-top performances, managed to earn herself on Walt Disney World's (Florida) 'Banned-for-life' list in 1998. Grace was 50 years old when she got banned and now at the age of 67 she still might very likely do the exact same thing that got her banned in the first place- flashing her breasts to the general public (in front of the kiddies too) while performing on stage.