In June of 1972, after suffering a decade of flops and failed attempts at fame, David Bowie released what would become a seminal step towards success.
Although his album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars failed to chart in America the year it was released, the fictional androgynous, bisexual rock star character he created for the project would forever associate Bowie in people’s minds with flamboyance and homosexuality.
The only problem is, David Bowie was not gay.
Twice married to two CIS women and father of two children, this predominantly heterosexual straight white male misrepresented himself in the 1970s, appropriating gay culture and reaping huge financial rewards while doing it.
Meanwhile, as Bowie’s Ziggy album floundered in the charts the following year, peaking at number 75 in the US, a young gay American man born Bruce Wayne Campbell released his first solo album. Calling himself Jobriath, he was openly ridiculed, laughed at, mocked and hated for actually being gay and having the courage to be open about it.
“Asking me if I’m homosexual is like asking James Brown if he’s black” – Jobriath
He was the first openly gay rock musician to be signed to a major record label.
“A lot of people are running around putting makeup on and stuff just because it’s chic. I just want to say that I’m no pretender” – Jobriath
His story began like this:
After one semester of music college, Campbell dropped out. Wanting to please his father who was irate over his son dropping out of school, Campbell took an officer training program at a military academy, eventually enlisting in the US Army during America’s controversial war in Viet Nam.
According to his younger half brother, Willie Fogle, Campbell found his predicament in the armed forces much worse than he imagined it would be, had a “meltdown” shortly after joining and escaped.
While Campbell was on the run from the military police, friends and family back home were questioned by the FBI about his whereabouts. Campbell went underground.
On the lam from the long arm of the law, he headed to the furthest corner of America he could run to, Los Angeles, California, where he assumed a new identity.
During this time Campbell claimed his name was Jobriath Salisbury, even after rumours began circulating that his real name was Bruce Campbell or possibly Bruce Salisbury. Always referring to himself as Jobriath, there was never any mention of the name Bruce. Quite possibly he had compartmentalized his life to such an extent that, as far as he was concerned, there was no more Bruce.
In need of money, the musically talented, newly christened Jobriath inquired about getting hired on to play piano in the band for the original Los Angeles production of the rock opera Hair, only to be cast as one of the principal characters.
While playing Neil “Woof” Donovan in Hair, Jobriath also found the time and energy to write songs for and front the short lived US psychedelic folk rock band Pidgeon. They unceremoniously disbanded in 1969 after releasing one album and a single on Decca Records.
During this period of his life, Jobriath was riding high enjoying a purely hedonistic existence, living with GTO Miss Mercy and completely instep with the burgeoning hippie youth culture of the “anything goes” swinging 60s Sunset Strip scene.
Jobriath in Los Angeles with Miss Mercy of the GTOs during his time in Hair
“So I go to see Hair. It was really big at the time. It was huge. I was sitting in the second row with Miss Christine. Bianca Jagger was there. At the close of the show, this kid is second lead, Woof, that’s Jobriath. He had actually gone to the audition, not to audition, but to play the piano. He was the greatest classical piano player that I ever heard. He was beautiful. He was AWOL from army. He gets up there and sings, so that’s how he got put in it. So I’m watching Hair. I don’t say a damn thing about it. By the way, he’s totally gay. At the end, they pulled you on stage. So here comes this blond boy from the stage and he’s coming straight at me. He hauls me on the stage and I ended up moving in with him. He’s gay, but we were in love. It was the most insane scene. I had no idea how big he had been with his records, because I didn’t like his records. I liked his first record that he did when I was with him. He was really great then. Then he got so influenced by the rock world and then I hated his music. He was as bizarre as Bowie on stage. He was just this bizarre person” – Miss Mercy of the GTOs
As time went on, Jobriath’s past eventually caught up with him. Due in no small part to his very public job in show business, appearing nightly on stage in Hair, he was soon tracked down and arrested by the military police.
Once detained, he shrewdly convinced his jailers he was quite crazy and, as a result, was transferred out of a military prison to the relative comfort of Valley Forge Military Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania for three weeks.
Upon his release, Jobriath steadfastly resumed his career in show business, joining the New York production of Hair. It was around this time he caught the eye of American entrepreneur, impresario, agent and promoter Jerry Brandt who had previously managed singer Carly Simon’s career. Brandt was also very well connected with Elektra Records at the time.
“There was a young beautiful German boy who worked at CBS who adored Jobriath, loved his music. And he says, “You gotta listen to this tape.” And I listened to it and I said, there’s something incredible here. I don’t know what it is but it’s pretty hot. I thought it was very smart and very sexy. What more could a manager want from a guy? He could write, he could sing, he could dance. I bought it” – Jerry Brandt
Desperate for fame and a life sustaining career in music, Jobriath signed a ten year partnership agreement management contract with Brandt in 1973, a deal that would come back to haunt him in the years to come.
Immediately after committing to Brandt, Jobriath began recording new music at Electric Lady in New York’s Greenwich Village. Brandt had Jac Hollzman of Elektra Records listen to the tapes who, in turn, signed Jobriath for a two album record deal.
To stir some hype and promote the album, a gigantic billboard of Jobriath was erected on Times Square as well as side panel ads on every bus in New York City. At the time, Brandt was of the opinion that if he could break Jobriath in New York the rest of the country would follow and the whole world after that.
“He put that picture of me, the nude picture of me, on the side of about 750 buses!” – Jobriath
The True Fairy Of Rock?
Absent from a print interview with the headline grabbing Brandt, Jobriath is said to have made the following statement:
Jobriath, the artist, says; “I’m a true fairy.”
The columnist, insinuating that they were not given the opportunity to interview Jobriath directly, goes on to write:
It is a much easier task to get an interview from the world’s greatest promoter than from a “true fairy.”
Earlier in the article Brandt is quoted as saying:
“Presenting Jobriath in the way he must be presented means you have to break all the rules. That requires the greatest promoter in the world. And I’m it.”
The bold headline accompanying the newspaper article on Jobriath dated November 10, 1973 reads:
FAIRY TALES?
The article goes on to say,
“SO YOU turn up to interview this geezer, turn on the tape, and the first words are: “It’s a gay time, is what I think, and I think I have the truest fairy of them all. I think the world is ready for a true fairy – and you interpret that: a 12-year old has his interpretation of what a fairy is, and a 35-year old has his.”
The point being, although Jobriath is famously quoted as saying that he is “a true fairy”, “the true fairy of rock” or words to that affect, nowhere in our research were we able to find either video, audio or written evidence that he ever made such a statement to a journalist.
Rather, as it has been shown above, it was most likely Brandt himself, cognizant of a hooky, sellable sound bite, who injected the words, “fairy” and “true fairy” in a print interview that Jobriath himself was not present for.
The self titled Jobriath debut album dropped June 15, 1973. In spite of many encouraging reviews
Jobriath has “talent to burn” – Rolling Stone
“truly one of the most interesting albums of the year” – Cashbox
Jobriath is “brilliantly incisive”, “a true Renaissance man who will gain a tremendous following” – Record World
the album was an instant flop.
Even with the most bloated, unprecedented, promotional budget ever committed to a debut album, the record failed to chart. Meaning, at any given time after its release, there were a minimum of 200 other albums the record buying public wanted to hear over Jobriath’s newly minted gay glam rock opus.
Within six months of the commercial catastrophe that was the Jobriath debut album, his contractually obligated 2nd album, Creatures Of The Street, was quietly released by Elektra Records with zero promotion, as if its very existence was an embarrassment to the company.
A year later, in January 1975, after reverting back to his birth name, Bruce Campbell came out of hiding just long enough to announce Jobriath’s retirement from the music industry.
After relocating to the most fabulously prestigious New York City residence ever, the famed pyramid shaped rooftop apartment atop the Chelsea Hotel, Campbell rechristened himself Cole Berlin and began working as a cabaret singer at The Covent Garden in Manhattan.
And, much like Candy Darling before him, Andy Warhol’s “discovery” from the previous decade, Campbell was allegedly forced to augment his income with prostitution in order to pay his bills.
In a 1979 interview, Campbell remarked that his Jobriath character had “committed suicide in a drug, alcohol and publicity overdose”. Which begs the question:
Who was the REAL Ziggy Stardust after all?
Who bore the brunt of abuse for being the first to out themselves as gay in the straight man’s game of Rock N Roll?
(Editor’s note: Perhaps our CIS male leaders in professional sports today can draw some courage from Jobriath’s actions from 50 years ago. Statistically speaking there are many hundreds of professional baseball, football, basketball and hockey players who are still too frightened to come out as gay).
Despite the fact that Jobriath’s own personal rise and fall fable makes for a deliciously satisfying end to the Ziggy saga, our story is not over yet.
When close to celebrating his freedom from absent manager Jerry Brandt and the expiration of the ten year contract he signed with him in 1973, Campbell became sick with AIDS at just 34 years of age.
Although feeling the ill effects of the dreadful disease, he still managed to follow through with his commitment to perform at the 100th anniversary birthday celebrations for his home at the Chelsea Hotel in the fall of 1982.
Autumn in New York.
Undeterred, Campbell bravely continued to perform his cabaret act right up until his death. He died alone at home, sitting at his beloved white piano in The Chelsea Hotel, August 3rd, 1983.
Following Campbell’s death, his father cleared the Chelsea Hotel apartment of all Campbell’s music, art, lyrics, instruments, costumes, press clippings and personal memorabilia only to have them destroyed.
If it weren’t for his surviving recordings, videos and photographs, all that would remain of Jobriath to say he ever existed is a tiny grave marker highlighting his military service while misrepresenting his chosen identity.
Jobriath’s untimely passing marked a tragic milestone in popular music, as he was among the first musicians to succumb to the devastating effects of AIDS. His lasting legacy will forever resonate with fans and aspiring artists alike. His pioneering spirit and talent will continue to inspire generations for ages to come. Rest in peace sweet prince, your music and courage will never be forgotten.
“I want to someday be the person who looks more gay than anybody else. So that somebody can point to me and say, “that’s what somebody who is gay looks like.” – Jobriath.
Both Jobriath albums have been reissued and are available on iTunes and most streaming platforms.
As of this writing, the documentary Jobriath A.D. is available to stream for free on Tubi.