feature: marsha hunt – the model, singer & inspiration behind the rolling stones’ iconic song, ‘brown sugar’

Throwback to the 60s and 70s with the music of Marsha Hunt – the model, singer, and actress, who rose to fame in the 60s after moving to London. Dangerous Minds recently profiled the rock muse (the inspiration behind The Rolling Stones’ ‘Brown Sugar’, and mother of Mick Jagger’s eldest child). Dangerous Minds writes, “Although a famous Vogue magazine cover shot by Patrick Lichfield of Marsha Hunt, naked, with a huge Afro, as a London cast member of Hair is an indisputably and quintessentially iconic image of the 1960s, Hunt remains under the radar of most music fans. For one (quite good) reason, there are exactly zero CDs of her music on the market currently and there is nothing on iTunes or Spotify either. This is too bad, because she made some worthwhile music during her career.” They add, “Hunt, an insanely gorgeous, highly-intellectual 19-year-old model, originally from Philly, went to UC Berkeley, smoked pot, dropped acid and marched alongside Jerry Rubin protesting the Vietnam war. She moved to swinging London in 1966 and married Mike Ratledge of the Soft Machine so she could stay in the country (and is still married to him to this day, although they have not been together for decades). She sang backup vocals for blues great Alexis Korner and became a cast member of Hair, playing “Dionne” in the West End production. A photo of Hunt by Justin de Villeneuve was used on the poster and Playbill of the London production.” Explore below.

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor

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