Pattie Boyd

From Free net encyclopedia

Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd (born 17 March 1944 in Taunton, Somerset, England), model and photographer, is best known as the wife of two famous rock musicians and the inspiration for several memorable rock love songs. After meeting on the set of A Hard Day's Night, Pattie married George Harrison in 1966, during the heyday of his group, The Beatles. Harrison's friend Eric Clapton, first of The Yardbirds, then of Cream, also fell in love with her. Pattie went on to divorce Harrison in 1977, and later marry Clapton in 1979. She eventually divorced Clapton as well, in 1988.

Pattie was a successful model during the 1960s and early 1970s hanging out with such as designers like Mary Quant and Ossie Clark. She also appeared several times in the covers of the best-known British magazines, including the UK version of Vogue.

She sang background vocals in many Beatles songs such as Yellow Submarine, All You Need Is Love and Birthday with Yoko Ono.

Pattie was the inspiration for one of George Harrison's most famous tunes, Something, one of the few Beatles hits not written by fellow bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney; the song was called "the greatest love song ever written" by Frank Sinatra. However, Harrison himself later said he "had pictured Ray Charles singing it", and "did not really have anyone else in mind" when writing the song. Harrison also wrote For You Blue, I Need You, So Sad, and Think For Yourself — all said to be inspired by Boyd — but how many of these actually were is not known.

During Clapton's tenure in Derek and the Dominos, their only studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, was dedicated to his unrequited love for Pattie, which then consumed Clapton. Clapton's tortured passion for his best friend's wife produced one of his most famous songs, Layla, a rock song that became a pop hit in two different decades, with two different versions. Clapton's desire for Pattie drove him to a heroin addiction, that forced him to go on a music hiatus for several years in the early 1970s. Once the two were "finally together", Clapton released a more sentimental hit, Wonderful Tonight, for Pattie, as well as his tunes Never Make You Cry (from Behind the Sun) and Pretty Girl (from Money and Cigarettes.)

An exhibition of photographs taken by Boyd during her days with Harrison and Clapton opened at the San Francisco Art Exchange on Valentine's Day 2005, titled Through the Eyes of a Muse.

Pattie was not the only Boyd family member to inspire such fondness among musicians. Her younger sister Jenny Boyd (born Helen Mary Boyd, but nicknamed Jenny after one of Pattie's childhood dolls) caused her own rock-musician rivalry as the muse for Donovan's pop hit Jennifer Juniper, while marrying Mick Fleetwood, founder of Fleetwood Mac in 1970.

Her youngest sister Paula, was also a model and dated such rock stars as Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock from Derek and the Dominos. John Lennon and Mick Jagger were rumoured to have had crushes on her. She also dated Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood towards the end of 1973.

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Reference

Leopold T. Harrison, Clapton and their muse: Pattie Boyd's life and images put classic rock era in focus. CNN.com, February 3, 2005. Accessed on October 6 2005.

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External links

A Pattie Boyd site: detailed biography (with many errors), many images, and FAQ.
Dollyrocker: A site on Pattie Boyd with many Beatles/Clapton artifacts and article reprints. Includes dated fashion advice and "Letters from London" published in 16 Magazine from February to August 1965, as well as an interview from 1992.
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/thepattieboydgroup/

The Pattie Boyd Group: Yahoo group for Pattie with lots of photos.