Bebe Buell
SHE'S a legend in her own book. That Abba musical 'Mama Mia,' about a girl with three potential dads, due to open in October?
Bebe Buell already lived it, in 1977, when she had a baby girl with three potential dads: Todd Rundgren, the rocker she was living with; Steven Tyler, one of the rockers she had slept with; and Mick Jagger, who had not bedded her around the time she got pregnant but who teased her about being the real father. The baby grew up as Liv Rundgren but changed that to Liv Tyler on learning her true paternity and is now, of course, a movie star of 24. But this book, 'Rebel Heart: An American Rock 'n' Roll Journey' (St. Martin's Press), is about Bebe. 'The only thing I was certain about was that I could lure any man I wanted into my bed,' she writes. 'But I could not lure any man I wanted into a stable relationship.'
'I'm going to mingle-ingle,' Ms. Buell announced. As the sound system played 'Spill the wine and take that pearl,' a fan handed her a huge box of Bazooka bubble gum. (After years of indulgence, she found the one drug she really needed, Zoloft, and gave up everything except Champagne.) 'I'm going to get out of this dress soon, and get into multiple personalities,' Ms.
Buell promised a friend. She circled the room several times, asking Don Hill himself where the cool spots were. 'I'm on a perpetual quest for air-conditioning,' she said. Women of a certain age can sympathize. Jill Brooke, the editor of Avenue magazine, said, 'You almost expect Cameron Crowe to be here.' (His movie 'Almost Famous,' about a rock groupie, er, muse, is inspired in part by Ms. Advertisement Off Ms.
Bebe Buell Book
Buell went to shuck her gown and put on tight black pants, a leopard thong and a long-sleeved black crop top, 'so I can go crazy onstage,' she said. She grabbed the mike stand, and Mr. Wallerstein adopted the perfect question mark pose with his guitar.
Bebe Buell Biography
'I knew she could rock,' said one publishing executive, 'but I didn't know she could rock.' ' Well, yes, if your idea of a rock band is Stephen King and Amy Tan, then Bebe Buell rocks. Onstage, she suggests a mix of Debbie Harry and Mae West. She's a competent musician, competent in everything she has done. 'Bring it down, boys,' she said to her band, and then straddled the microphone stand and tore through her numbers, like 'Normal Girl,' 'Cool' and 'Money Machine,' a song she dedicated to her publishers. Later, under the dripping pipes in the basement, she assessed her performance: 'I think you get better at everything as you get older.'