Jobriath

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Jobriath, 1974 Album Creatures of the Street

Jobriath^[1] (born Bruce Wayne Campbell, December 14, 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - August 3, 1983), was a rock singer from 1973 to 1974.

Biography

Jobriath Boone was an early-seventies Glam Rock sensation. He was signed to Elektra Records for a reported $500,000, which was the biggest recording contract of its time. His manager, Jerry Brandt, organized a huge marketing campaign, which included full-length posters on buses, full-page ads in magazines and a 43’ by 41’ billboard in Times Square, featuring a nude Jobriath, made to resemble the remains of a ancient, Roman statue. Jobriath has been credited as the first openly gay rock singer to be signed to a major record label and become famous internationally. Despite extensive marketing, his first, self-titled album sold poorly. The record-buying public simply wasn’t ready for an openly gay performer who sang of sexual themes, posed as an alien, and combined rock with such divergent styles as jazz, show tunes, cabaret and reggae. He became the subject of a smear campaign, much of which was fueled by homophobia. He was also constantly compared with David Bowie, who was relatively new and used similar themes in much of his publicity. Bowie was enormously popular at the time, so it was only natural that the two would be compared so frequently. Jobriath’s tour, which had been hyped more than any other in rock history, was canceled.

His second LP, Creatures of the Street, garnered even less attention. The Glam Rock period was in decline, soon to be succeeded by a new generation of musicians that came to be known, collectively, as “Punk”. After a brief tour of America, Jobriath lost his recording contract and dissolved his relationship with his manager. Over the next decade, his reputation suffered, not only because of his failure to reach a wide audience, but due to being ridiculed repeatedly in the press by his then ex-manager, with whom he had a ten year contract that prevented him from continuing to publish music under the name Jobriath.

At this time, Jobriath sought to distance himself from his solo career. He moved to the Chelsea Hotel, in New York, where he lived in a small, pyramidal penthouse, atop the roof of the building. After a period of rest, he took on a pseudonym, Cole Berlin (a parody, based on the names of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin), and played cabaret music in local cabarets, clubs and at parties. He also wrote musicals, one of which was to be produced by Joseph Papp, founder of the Public Theatre, called “Pop Star”, but it was never completed.

By the late seventies/early eighties, he became known to a wider audience than he had while he was still performing as Jobriath, especially among musicians. Morrissey, Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie and the Banshees), Gary Numan, Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys), Joe Elliot (Def Leppard) and Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols) were all fans. Def Leppard did a cover of “Heartbeat” on their 2006 release, “Yeah”. Jobriath’s two, out-of-print records became hot collectors items before being re-released on CD.

By the time his contract with Brandt was up, Jobriath was sick with AIDS, which took his life on August 3rd 1983. In November 2004, Morrissey^[2] oversaw Jobriath's first CD re-issue, a compilation called "Lonely Planet Boy".

Both studio albums were officially re-released on CD in Japan in late 2007, after being remastered in mini-vinyl replicas. They were issued in the U.S. in standard jewel-box packaging in 2008.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

References

• I'maman by Jobriath at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
• Rock of Ages by Jobriath at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
• Sunday Brunch by Cole Berlin at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
• Videos of Jobriath on Babelsound
• Jobriath Resurrection
• Jobriath's Allmusic biography
• Bruce Campbell Remembered
• Jobriath at Find-A-Grave