By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
December 13, 1996
It used to be that the primary link between rock stars and models was that they dated each other. These days, the line between the two factions is blurred at best.
Oh sure, they’re still dating each other. But check it out: Jon Bon Jovi and Madonna posing seductively for Versace ad campaigns while human clothes hangers Donovan Leitch and Milla sing their hearts out onstage.
It’s not difficult to understand why this is happening. We live in an age when looks count for more than they should. The importance of MTV in breaking acts has made a musician’s look instrumental in getting his or her group played on the network. This means that if you happen to be tall, thin and doe-eyed like Gavin Rossdale, your band Bush gets extra points. But if you’re short and round, like Blues Traveler’s John Popper, you can count on getting about five seconds of video time while a lithe boy pretends to be you.
Given this fact, it’s not so strange that models are having a go at crooning. They’ve already got the look down. And it’s not like it’s never been done before. For decades, TV producers have taken teen idols and created, however briefly, music careers for them (Ricky Nelson, the Brady Bunch, the Monkees, Leif Garrett, the
Partridge Family, Shelley Fabares, Scott Baio). But for every Whitney Houston or Paul Lekakis (the guy who sang that “Boom boom boom, let’s go back to my room” song) who emerges from the fashion world, the runway is littered with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Brooke Shields, who can walk it and talk it, but can’t sing it.
Then there’s the lovely but tone-deaf Cindy Crawford, who sang horribly off key in a Charlie perfume commercial. It’s called a note, Cindy. Here’s a hammer. Hit it.
Rockers seem to have made an easier transition, probably because they spend a good chunk of time onstage posing anyway. Garbage’s Shirley Manson looks strikingly like a cousin of Kate Moss’ in her fashion layouts. Likewise, James Iha appears as natural strutting down the runway for Anna Sui as he does playing guitar with the
Smashing Pumpkins. And gorgeous Toni Braxton could have a crossover career anytime she wants.
But there are still a few folks who want to keep rock and frock separate. Prior to Dishwalla’s performance last week at the Billboard Music Awards, Richard Tyler begged the band to wear his designer duds on the telecast. Vocalist J.R. Richards thought it might be fun, but guitarist Scot Alexander cast a “nay,” for fear their fans would think the band sold out.
Fashion may have lost out, but that doesn’t mean the musicians weren’t stylin’. When they performed “Counting Blue Cars,” they were garbed in their own duds. They looked great – and sounded great, too.
EYE CANDY: Sammy Llanas will be playing a solo show in Chicago later this month, but you can catch his band, the BoDeans, at 10:50 p.m. Saturday when WTTW-Channel 11 airs “BoDeans in Concert.” Taped at two shows in April in their hometown of Milwaukee, the concert features their hits “Closer to Free” and “Do I Do I.” … Helium-voiced gymnast Kerri Strug isn’t the only Olympian parlaying her gold medal into a TV career. Since deferring enrollment at Stanford to pursue acting, Strug’s teammate Dominique Dawes landed some major screen time in the video for Prince’s “Betcha by Golly Wow!” …
