Amanda Lear

Amanda Lear
Lear in France, 2010
Lear in France, 2010
Background information
Birth nameAmanda Tap(p)[1][2]
Born18 June or 18 November, 1939–1950
Saigon, French Indochina[3][4][5][6][7] (present-day Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • lyricist
  • painter
  • television personality
  • actress
  • model
InstrumentVocals
Years active1965–present
Labels
Websiteamandalear.com

Amanda Lear (née Tap or Tapp;[1][2] born 18 June or 18 November 1939 or 1941[8] or 1946[9][10] or 1950[11] in Saigon[12] or Hong Kong[8] or Hanoi[13][14]) is a French singer, songwriter, painter, television presenter, actress, and former model.[15]

She began her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s, and went on to model for Paco Rabanne, Ossie Clark, and others. She met Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, and remained his closest friend and muse for the next 18.5 years. Lear first came into the public eye as the cover model for Roxy Music's album For Your Pleasure in 1973. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, she was a million-album-selling disco star signed to Ariola Records, primarily impacting continental Europe and Scandinavia. Lear's first four albums earned her mainstream popularity, charting in the top 10 of European charts, including the best-selling Sweet Revenge (1978). Her bigger hits included "Blood and Honey", "Tomorrow", "Queen of Chinatown", "Follow Me", "Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)", "The Sphinx", and "Fashion Pack".

By the mid-1980s, Lear had become a leading media personality in Italy, hosting many popular TV shows. Although television took priority over musical activity,[16] she continued to record, experimenting with different genres and trying to revive her career by re-recording and remixing earlier hits to various levels of success. Lear has also developed a successful career in painting,[17] which she has long described as her biggest passion,[18] and regularly exhibited her works in galleries across Europe and beyond since the early 1980s.[19][20] She has also written a number of autobiographies, including My Life with Dalí.

Since the 1990s, her time has been divided among music, television, movies, and painting. Despite regular album releases, she failed to achieve major success in the charts with her music, but her television career has remained stellar, and she has hosted numerous primetime TV shows, mostly in Italy and France, occasionally making guest appearances in TV series. She has performed acting and dubbing roles in independent, as well as major, film productions. In the late 2000s, Lear reinvented herself as a theatrical actress, performing in long-running stage plays in France. To date, she allegedly has sold over 27 million records worldwide.[21] Lear is also a widely recognized gay icon.[22][23]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference culture.gouv.fr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference FamilySearch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Suigo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Federica Rosato (11 April 2020). "Amanda Lear: chi è, età, carriera, curiosità e vita privata". ilcorrieredellacitta.com (in Italian). Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  5. ^ Guilbert, Georges-Claude (2018). Gay Icons : The (Mostly) Female Entertainers Gay Men Love. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 101. LCCN 2018019336.
  6. ^ Duchamp, Marcel (2003). Marcel Duchamp & [et] Salvador Dalí (in French). Paris (Baby), Bordeaux: association pour l'étude de Marcel Duchamp. p. 18. OCLC 718104990.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jukebox magazine was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AllMusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Discographie Amanda Lear" (in French). lescharts.com. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference skug was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Biography — Amanda Lear". amandalear.com. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference drole was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference www.guardian.co.uk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Oliver de Weert (2022). "Sphinx mit Sex-Appeal" (in German). arte-magazin.de. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Amanda Lear". YouTube.
  16. ^ Monica Romanò (2002). "Le trasformazioni di Amanda" (in Italian). gqonline.it. Archived from the original on 2 April 2003. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  17. ^ Carsten Weidemann (15 February 2007). "Amanda Lear zeigt ihre Malerei" (in German). queer.de. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  18. ^ Pantella, Marco (22 October 2014). "An Interview with Amanda Lear". The Ground. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  19. ^ "Eventi Mostre. Sogni Miti Colori 07/06/2008-30/06/2008 Pietrasanta (LU), Toscana". Eventi e sagre.it (in Italian). Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  20. ^ "A Londra le esclusive opere di Amanda Lear in mostra con artisti talentuosi". Spoleto Arte.it (in Italian). 10 May 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  21. ^ Finos, Arianna (28 July 2016). "La regina Lear: "Che orrore la disco music, quanta robaccia ho fatto ma non-ho più rimpianti"". la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  22. ^ "Amanda Lear : l'icône disco en 10 infos croustillantes". Puretrend.com (in French). 27 June 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  23. ^ "Amanda Lear is back!" (in Polish). innastrona.pl. 2003. Archived from the original on 2 September 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2018.