Episode 141
Susan Blond
Thu, 2017-Sep-21 20:40 UTC
Length - 3:51
Direct Link
Welcome to random Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a random Wikipedia page every day.
Our random article today is Susan Blond.
Susan Blond, is a New York publicist and the owner of entertainment and lifestyle publicity agency Susan Blond, Inc.
Growing up in New York City, Blond attended the High School of Music and Art (now known as Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts) where she studied painting. She was given a one-person show at Harvard University (1971) while she attended school in Boston. She was later chosen to participate in the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program in New York.
Blond returned home after college and was immediately drawn into the New York art world and Andy Warhol’s Factory. She and Warhol developed a strong friendship, with Warhol proclaiming that he would make her a star. Blond indeed went on to star in a number of Warhol's movies (including an infamous scene in “Bad” where she drops a baby out of a high-rise window) as well as “Madam Wangs,” directed by filmmaker Paul Morrissey.
Soon after Warhol launched Interview magazine, he saw that he had tapped into a growing publishing niche under the editorial direction of writer Glenn O’Brien. Warhol appointed Blond to launch Interview’s advertising arm.
Blond’s first job in PR was with United Artists, where she represented artists such Electric Light Orchestra and Shirley Bassey, soundtracks for Blaxploitation films such as Shaft, and film scores by Ennio Morricone for the spaghetti westerns directed by Sergio Leone.
Soon thereafter, Blond moved on to Epic Records, which was owned by CBS at the time. Blond became Vice President of Media Relations, and worked on the press campaigns of popular artists including first albums from Ozzy Osbourne, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Sade, Meat Loaf and Boston. Tina Turner, Luther Vandross and The Clash (during their seminal London Calling album) also released albums on the label under her watch. She also worked with Michael Jackson during his Bad and Thriller years.
After 13 years at Epic, Blond formed her own company, Susan Blond, Inc. in late 1986, where some of her first clients included the Tunnel nightclub in New York, music industry figures such as Charles Koppelman and musicians such as Julio Iglesias and George Jones.
Susan Blond has been involved with a number of cause-related organizations, including DIFFA (where she serves as board secretary), and is a frequent speaker at many Jewish cultural events.
Susan Blond was also the publicist to Morrissey (singer/lyricist and former member of The Smiths).
In an interview with Boy George, Pete Burns of Dead or Alive identified Blonde as a record executive who instructed him to conceal his sexuality, warning him he would be "over" if he did otherwise.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 20:40 UTC on Thursday, 21 September 2017.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Blond.
This podcast is produced by Abulsme Productions based on Wikipedia content and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
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