The Backstory: The Women Behind Rock & Roll Legends

The term muse seems pretty straight forward when it comes to rock & roll. Some of the most enduring love songs like Layla, Something, and Woman . . have been inspired by these women. But each had very complicated and very different kinds of relationships with stars like Eric Clapton, George Harrison, John Lennon, and Freddie Mercury.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, rock and roll star. What do you see in
your mind's eye when you hear those words, Well, you
might see a life lived out loud, maybe too loud,
but filled with whatever those people want, whenever they want it.
We mostly envisioned the men who created that world in
the nineteen sixties and beyond the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Metallica,

(00:20):
Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, later on, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam.
But a lot of those guys were inspired to create
their music by women behind the scenes. I'm Patty Steele,
some of the most influential muses in rock history. Next
on the backstory. The backstory is back. So when we

(00:43):
talk about rock and roll icons, the legends that sold
millions of records and lived that insane lifestyle, right off
the bat, we pretty much think of the men. Yeah,
there were some amazing women as well. Janis Joplin, Gray Slick,
Tina Turner, Debbie Harry Jones, Pat Benattar, Stevie Nix To
named just a handful from the twentieth century. But when

(01:05):
we talk about the craziness of rock and roll in
the heyday of the recording industry, we picture the guitar
heroes the singers, the drummers, the songwriters, the wild men
in leather jackets with wild hair, sunglasses and scarves. They're
lost in their own world, moving across the stage while
tens of thousands of people scream their names. But behind

(01:29):
so many of the most iconic songs, it was a muse,
an individual who gives an artist creative inspiration. Okay, I
know it sounds romantic, but if you think about it,
sometimes it can also be a way of marginalizing a
pretty fascinating woman, remembering her simply because of her relationship
with the famous guy. The thing is a lot of

(01:52):
these women weren't just sitting around inspiring rock stars. They
were artists, models, actresses, musicians, fashion ike's rebels, socialites, and journalists.
In fact, in some cases, they were the reason the
rock star became famous in the first place. One of
the most legendary rock and roll muses also inspired one

(02:12):
of the greatest love songs ever written. Her name is
Patty Boyd. She was a teenage model when she met
George Harrison while appearing in the Beatles flick Hard Day's Night.
George was crazy about her and wrote the hit Beatles
song I Need You about her. The two got married
in nineteen sixty six, when she was twenty one. For

(02:32):
a while, it was the ultimate rock and roll fairy tale,
a beautiful model marries a beatle and travels the world.
In nineteen seventy they moved into a one hundred and
twenty room Victorian Gothic mansion in England called Friar Park,
and in nineteen sixty nine, George's love for Patty inspired
him to write one of the most perfect love songs

(02:54):
ever Something. But then along came another rock star, Eric Clapton.
Clapton and George became super close friends. The problem is,
over a number of years, Clapton fell deeply in love
with Patty, and then it was Clapton's turn to write
a song about Patty the Muse. He called it Leyla.

(03:17):
The song tells a story of impossible love. It is
an iconic song and eventually Clapton's feelings became impossible for
him to ignore. When he finally shared with her how
he felt, it turned into one of the most famous
love triangles in rock history. Patty eventually divorced George Harrison

(03:37):
in nineteen seventy seven and two years later married Eric Clapton. Sadly,
unlike the amazing music she inspired, that relationship didn't last
forever either. Patty and Eric divorced in nineteen eighty nine.
Then there's a different kind of mus Yoko Ono, the
woman who changed John Lennon's life, and pretty much call

(04:00):
shots in fairness, few women in pop culture have been
as misunderstood as Yoko. Before she became known primarily as
John Lennon's partner, Ona was already an avant garde artist herself.
She was independent, provocative, totally unlike anyone John Head known.
When he met her, he was married to Cynthia Lennin,

(04:22):
but his relationship with Yoko eventually became one of the
most controversial romances in music history. A lot of Beatles
fans blamed Yoko for the breakup of the band, but
it was more complicated. The Beatles were already dealing with
enormous tension as the four guys and their musical relationship
was changing, their business was becoming more and more complicated.

(04:46):
Yoko became a symbol of the Beatles breakup, but for
John she became something else. Entirely. She was his creative partner,
his romantic partner, and eventually his wife. She was his music.
Songs like Woman and Jealous Guy were all about his
deeply personal relationship with her. Their relationship wasn't always easy,

(05:08):
but it completely changed. John the Guy was one of
the most famous rock stars on Earth, but he became
increasingly interested in peace, family and home life. Yoko Ono
was not simply John Lennon's muse. She was one of
the few people in the world who seemed completely unafraid
of him, and that may have been exactly what attracted

(05:30):
him to her. Finally, a much quieter, but equally important muse,
she was Mary Austin, the woman who knew Freddie Mercury best,
even before his band Queen became one of the biggest
bands in the world. She knew him before Queen, before
the costumes, the stadium shows, before he became Freddie Mercury
to the world. She knew the private person behind the

(05:53):
public legend. Freddie and Mary were romantically involved and lived
together for several years, but when he admitted to having
an affair with a man, the pair broke up but
remained devoted friends. Freddie famously described Mary as the love
of his life. Their relationship became one of the most
unusual and most enduring friendships in rock history, and when

(06:16):
Freddie Mercury died, Mary Austin inherited much of his stake,
So the term muse is a lot more complicated than
it sounds. Patty Boyd became known as the woman behind
two of rock's most famous love stories and some of
the most famous songs in music history. Yoko Ono became
a convenient target for the world's disappointment over the breakup

(06:38):
of the Beatles, And finally, the relationship between Freddie Mercury
and Mary Austin tells us that not every musical muse
necessarily inspires a song. Sometimes the most influential person in
an artist's life is the person who knew them before
anybody else did. I hope you're enjoying The Backstory with

(07:00):
Patty Steele. Please leave a review and follow or subscribe
for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also feel
free to DM me if you have a story you'd
like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and
on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory

(07:26):
is a production of iHeartMedia Premiere Networks. The Elvis Duran
Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Mike Paeseglia.
Our writer is Jake Kushner. New episodes are out every
Tuesday and Friday, and feel free to reach out to
me with comments and story suggestions on Instagram at reel
Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for

(07:48):
listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of
history you didn't know you needed to know.