When you think of the word androgynous, perhaps your mind harks back to
Amber Rose, or even
Omahyra Mota, but Grace Jones was the originator.
A musical pioneer in the New Wave/disco genre, Grace Jones was a force to be reckoned with in the 1970s, creating three albums -- Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978), and Muse (1979) --- that singularly defined gay culture in the era of bell bottom pants, huge collars and leather pants.
Grace's style? A splash of glow-in-the-dark colors with a boy haircut sharper than a razor's edge. She created the high-top fade before hip-hop had even cut its embellical cord.
Grace Mendoza was born in Jamaica, the daughter of an Apostolic preacher. She moved to New York and hooked up with avant-garde visual artist wizard
Andy Warhol. The crew rolled deep, with coke-snorting celebrities, aristocrats, bohemians and all sorts of pretty hangers-on.
Grace fit in. But then she didn't.
There was no one, nor is there anyone who had style like Grace Jones. Her stylistic and musical kindreds are yet to exist.
So, where is she today? Actually, she's working on new music. Not only does she have two full albums that have yet to see the light of day, despite being recorded in the mid- and late 1990s, but she's still touring in Europe.
You may get to hear digitally remastered mixes of her most famous album's "Portfolio", "Muse", and "Fame" as the trio is set to be released this year.
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