Died On This Date (April 17, 2009) Sable Starr / 1970s Super Fan and Scenester
themusicsover Sable Starr (Born Sable Shields)
1958 – April 17, 2009
Following in the tradition of Miss Pamela, Sweet Sweet Connie and Cynthia Plaster Caster, Sable Starr loved rock music and at times the rock musicians that moved her. She ruled ’70s Los Angeles and no doubt left many a-broken heart in her wake. Some may refer to her as a “groupie” but Starr transcended that by being part of a select club who have been memorialized in song. Iggy Pop’s “Look Away,” written about Johnny Thunders’ relationship with Starr includes the lines, “I slept with Sable when she was 13 / Her parents were too rich to do anything / She rocked her way around L.A. / ‘Til a New York doll carried her away / Look away Look away.” By the time Sable was in her early teens, she was holding court in Hollywood’s hippest spots, from Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco to the Whiskey a Go-Go; from the Rainbow to the Sunset Hyatt. She befriended the likes of Iggy Pop, Marc Bolan, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, David Bowie and Johnny Thunders with whom she moved to New York around 1973. What she thought was to be a long life with Thunders quickly fell apart mostly due to his escalating drug use. Their relationship ended with her slitting her wrist and being brought to Bellevue. She was soon living back with her parents in Los Angeles. She eventually dropped out of the scene, went back to school and lived a mostly “normal” life. In later years, Starr moved to Las Vegas and worked as a dealer at a casino. She died of cancer on April 17, 2009 at the age of 51.