Jobriath

Jobriath (born 1946 in King of Prussia , Pennsylvania , † 1983 in New York , NY , USA ) was an American musician .

His real name was Bruce Wayne Campbell. The stage name Jobriath is made up of "Job" and "Goliath".

Career

Jobriath received classical piano training and played the gay teenager "Woolf" in the Broadway production of " Hair ". During his time in the US Army , he suffered a nervous breakdown and then lived as a hustler in California . In the early 1970s he met his future agent Jerry Brandt there .

Jerry Brandt overheard a recording of him. He was enthusiastic and convinced that "... with Jobriath he found the archetype of the American David Bowie ...", "whom he could now build into the biggest star of the decade ...". Brandt managed to convince Elektra boss Jac Holzmann of his plan. An extremely complex marketing campaign was started because Jobriath was supposed to become a megastar according to his agent's plans.

During the campaign, buses with Jobriath's photo drove through New York and a huge billboard with his likeness was on the wall of an office building in Times Square , on the corner of Broadway . He was also arguably the first public figure to describe himself as "The true fairy!" denoted where others (David Bowie, Marc Bolan) only played with their sexual otherness. The campaign was very successful and the first album (1973 "Jobriath") was also a success. But it wasn't enough to cover the costs. The second album (1974 "Creatures of the Street") flopped so much that the record company Elektra and Jerry Brandt parted ways with "Jobriath" and his band "Creatures of the street" during the tour. After the end of his short pop career, Jobriath appeared again as a musical artist and sang in bars under the name "Cole Berlin". Meanwhile, he lived in a glass pyramid on the roof of the Chelsea Hotel in New York. There he died lonely of AIDS in 1983 .

Jobriath was largely forgotten. Not even in the company history of his record company Elektra you can find an entry today. Morrissey released the album "Lonely Planet Boy" in November 2004, 20 years after Jobriath's death, for which he compiled the best pieces from the two albums.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Label
1973	Jobriath	Elektra
1974	Creatures of The Street	Elektra

Compilations

year	title	Label
2004	Lonely Planet Boy	Sanctuary

Web links

• Jobriath's Allmusic biography