About A Girl

 …the Hollywood and true crime spinoff from the award winning music and true crime podcast, DISGRACELAND, and the newest expansion from the folks at Double Elvis. The most dramatic non-fiction stories ever heard come from the world of entertainment. Specifically the dark side of entertainment. The true crime stories from Hollywood; the mysterious death of Brittany Murphy. The vicious, real-life mu...

A heat-seeking young beauty rockets through Europe, ricocheting off Fellini, Warhol, & Nico, before landing with Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. But she falls for Keith Richards, and together they extricate her from Brian. Anita Pallenberg is with the Stones as they grow into world's premiere rock and roll band; she sings with them in the studio, makes films with Jane Fonda and Mick Jagger, her...

Mayte Garcia, a young dancer from Puerto Rico, meets Prince and slowly becomes immersed in his extraordinary world. Their collaboration becomes a romance and then a marriage, before tragedy pulls them apart. Sources for this episode can be found on our website. This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners. For more info on About a Girl and other great shows, visit the Doub...

Before she was a lightning rod television personality, Sharon Osbourne was a savvy music business operator under the tutelage of her maniacal father, the “Al Capone of Pop,” Don Arden. Together, Sharon and Ozzy just barely escaped his poisonous grasp, but that was only part of what she would have to survive. Sources: Extreme by Sharon Osbourne I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne Iron Man by Tony Iommi Mick...

With a guitar slung over her shoulder, Teena Marie walked into downtown LA and came out with a contract with Motown, where funk master Rick James was enticed to take her under his wing. She was soon shocked to find herself in love with him. But nothing is sweet and simple where Rick James was involved. Unsung: Teena Marie Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James (Showtime) Listen Again: A Moment...

The gospel-fed daughter of one of Ray Charles’s Raelettes had no idea who this Bob Dylan character was when she was called to audition for his band. Within a few years, she would be his wife and mother to his daughter—both of them hidden from the public, as Dylan converted to Christianity and tried to find his identity as a man and as an artist. Sources: A Look Back At Bob Dylan's First Album Caro...

America’s girl next door meets the leader of America’s wildest rock band. As Valerie Bertinelli struggles with her career as an actress, Eddie Van Halen and his band skyrocket to success, and he faces his own challenges by leaning into his drinking. Valerie moves to help him, but when the lifestyles they lead and the demands of work cause a rift, she finds she has her own demons to face. Sources:...

We've paired this Disgraceland episode on George Harrison with About A Girl's episode on Patti Boyd. To learn more about Disgraceland, visit disgracelandpod.com. George Harrison famously survived the dissolution of the Beatles, a bust by London’s drug squad, a potentially bloody visit from the Hell’s Angels, and a few rounds with cancer. But on the final day of the 20th century, his strength and f...

Pattie Boyd is one of the best known rock star partners, having married both Beatle George Harrison and then Harrison’s close friend Eric Clapton. She famously inspired the Beatles’ “Something” and Clapton’s “Layla.”. But less publicized is the infidelity and turmoil that infected both marriages. Find out how she responded and finally emerged from it all. Sources: Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd...

Marjorie was the right hand of dance icon Martha Graham when she met Woody Guthrie. She took loving care of both as they each moved toward self-destruction, and especially of Woody, even after their divorce, while he succumbed to Huntington’s Disease. Sources: Woody Guthrie: A Life by Joe Klein MarjorieGuthrie.com https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/14/obituaries/marjorie-guthrie-singer-s-widow-65.htm...

The mysterious woman on the cover of the breakthrough album ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ was a major influence on the legendary musician’s development, just as he was becoming “Bob Dylan.” He assimilated her art, influences, and politics into his persona and his songs, so many of which were written about or for her. They were intensely in love at a very young age in a time of social upheaval, all...

The daughter of a blues pioneer falls in love with two brilliant musicians. Sly Stone takes her out of her quiet life, but almost drags her into the dark world of his own demons. Then she meets Carlos Santana, a long partnership built on a mutual search for transcendence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Linda Keith was so determined to make Jimi Hendrix a star that she dumped Keith Richards. She got Hendrix a manager and a record deal, but then felt compelled to let him go, even if he was never able to really let go of her. Sources: 'How I helped to make Jimi Hendrix a rock'n'roll star' Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy by Harry Shapiro For behind the scenes info and news on this episode, follow: Inst...

One of the most significant songwriters since the late 1950s, Jackie DeShannon was responsible for writing dozens of hit songs, but struggled to make her own mark as a performer. Her early singles attracted the attention of the Beatles, who brought her on their first North American tour, but it would be a few years before she broke through with a pair of epic songs and a brilliant album. Meanwhile...

A beautiful English girl drifts into pop stardom and the inner circle of the Rolling Stones in 1960s London. As the girlfriend of Stones frontman Mick Jagger, the glare of public attention and personal misadventures take their toll on her mental health. She withdraws from her life, descending into addiction and hitting bottom before returning with a new voice (figuratively and literally) and an ar...

One of the ‘IT’ girls of Swinging London reconnects with her high school classmate, a talented drummer, striving to succeed. But his all-consuming obsession with his band and inability to communicate with Jenny makes for a difficult and unhealthy relationship. Once Fleetwood Mac finally hits big and Mick slides into fame and drugs, Jenny has to confront her own patterns of codependency. Sources: J...

Linda Eastman was born a free spirit, but she was also the daughter of a strict and demanding father, a poor Jewish boy who became a wealthy lawyer and rebranded himself as a WASP. Linda fought her own nature to try and please him, and then her first husband, before finally breaking free to find success as a freelance photographer in Manhattan. Shooting and hobnobbing with ‘60s pop stars led her t...

Host Nikki Lynette returns with a new season of About A Girl, a show about women in music history. Stay tuned for a new episode on October 27, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before there was Queen Latifah the actress, there was Queen Latifah the hip-hop star. She ascended to royal status in rap at a time when the genre revolved around putting women down – and keeping them down. Thanks to her reign, a generation of hip-hop heads learned that women could rule just as well as any man. But Queen Latifah’s legacy as one of the loudest, proudest voices in the game often get...

Eudoxie thought she was escaping torment and horror when she emigrated from Gabon to the United States as a young girl. But even through her marriage to a huge star, even with her beautiful children, all of her joy, the dark shadow of her childhood continued to loom. Mother’s Day w/Angela Simmons, Nina Westbrook, and Eudoxie Bridges  Eudoxie Bridges speaks out to help abuse victims at event Saturd...

Few musicians are as inescapable as the Beyoncé. But even if you’ve kept up with her immeasurable press coverage and airplay over the decades, this story reveals the things you don’t know about Beyoncé Giselle Knowles. As it turns out, men aren’t the only thing that can overshadow a women’s story and success; sometimes, their own larger-than-life fame is just as much to blame.   Learn more about y...

Kelis’s musical light was undeniable from the start, but it was still a struggle to shine as brightly as knew she could. She did get there, but little did she know that the same people she thought were on her side were really just out for themselves. Between that and a messy first marriage she tried to keep private, it would only take one more straw to break her silence.   Nas: 5 Things You (Proba...

Tashera loved Earl Simmons from the moment she first saw him when they were kids. They reconnected as adults, but Earl’s transformation into DMX and, worse, his alter ego ‘X,’ pulled her back into the cycle of emotional abuse and neglect she’d endured while growing up. Sources: Tashera’s speech at DMX’s memorial People Magazine Podcast interview You Think You Know But You Have No Idea by Tashera S...

Shante Broadus steered her husband Snoop Dogg from hapless criminal to cultural icon long before she established herself as his official manager. The woman Snoop referred to as Boss Lady almost from day one truly ended up running the empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Los Angeles, the mid 1990s. Tupac Shakur is one of the biggest emcees in the world, a lyric poet of a rapper. Kidada Jones is the daughter of music legend Quincy Jones. With her mother acting again, her younger sister Rashida headed to Harvard, and her father as active as ever, twenty-one year old Kidada was left to search for her place in the world. She would find it in Tupac, ironically after he...