Dana Gillespie

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Dana Gillespie

| image = Dana Gillespie.jpg

| caption = Dana Gillespie

| birth_name = Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1949|3|30}}

| birth_place = Woking, Surrey, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}}

| instrument = Vocalist

| genre = {{hlist|Folk|teen pop|rock|blues}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Musician|songwriter|actress}}

| years_active = 1965–present

| label = {{hlist|Rev-Ola|Decca|RCA|Bellaphon|Ace}}

| associated_acts = Dana Gillespie and the London Blues Band

| website = {{website|http://www.dana-gillespie.com/}}

}}

Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/18/Dana-Gillespie.html |title=Dana Gillespie Biography (1949–) |publisher=Filmreference.com |date=30 March 1949 |access-date=1 March 2013}} (born 30 March 1949), known professionally as Dana Gillespie, is an English actress, singer and songwriter.{{cite web|last=Jurek |first=Thom |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/staying-power-mw0000596993 |title=Staying Power – Dana Gillespie : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |date=13 May 2003 |access-date=1 March 2013}} Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over 70 albums, and appeared in stage productions, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, and several films. Her musical output has progressed from teen pop and folk in the early part of her career, to rock in the 1970s and, more recently, the blues.

Early life

Gillespie was born in Woking, Surrey, the second daughter of Anne Francis Roden ({{née|Buxton}}; 1920–2007) and Hans Henry Winterstein Gillespie (1910–1994), a London-based radiologist of Austrian nobility. Her older sister, Nicola Henrietta St. John Gillespie, was born in 1946. Dana Gillespie was the British Junior Water Skiing Champion in 1962.{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Craig |title=Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret |date=7 August 2018 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0374906047 |pages=432}}

Career

Gillespie began a personal and professional relationship with the singer David Bowie in 1964 when he was 17 and she was 14.{{cite book |last=Cann |first=Kevin |year=2010 |title=Any Day Now – David Bowie: The London Years: 1947–1974 |location=Croydon, Surrey |publisher=Adelita |isbn=978-0-9552017-7-6 |page=43}}{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Dylan |author-link=Dylan Jones |year=2017 |title=David Bowie: A Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpAODgAAQBAJ |location=New York City |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-451-49783-3 |pages=22, 28}} Their relationship lasted a decade; Bowie wrote the song "Andy Warhol" for her, Gillespie sang backing vocals on Ziggy Stardust (1972), and Bowie and Mick Ronson produced her 1973 album Weren't Born a Man. Bowie ended contact with Gillespie following his split from his first wife Angie Bowie. Gillespie looked back on her time with David Bowie fondly.{{cite web |last=Cartright |first=Garth |title=Bowie, bed-hopping and the blues: the wild times of Dana Gillespie |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/12/bowie-bed-hopping-and-the-blues-the-wild-times-of-dana-gillespie |website=The Guardian |access-date=27 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812120651/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/12/bowie-bed-hopping-and-the-blues-the-wild-times-of-dana-gillespie |archive-date=12 August 2021 |date=12 August 2021 |url-status=live}}

Gillespie recorded initially in the folk genre in the mid-1960s. Some of her recordings as a teenager fell into the teen pop category, such as her 1965 single "Thank You Boy", written by John Carter and Ken Lewis and produced by Jimmy Page.{{cn|date=May 2024}} Page also played, uncredited, on Gillespie's 1968 debut LP, Foolish Seasons.{{Cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/131207/entertainment-tvmusic/article/gillespie-full-blues|title = Gillespie full of Blues|date = 7 December 2013}}

She performed backing vocals on the track "It Ain't Easy" from Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-rise-and-fall-of-ziggy-stardust-and-the-spiders-from-mars-mw0000626129/credits |title=The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie : Credits |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=1 March 2013}} Her version of "Andy Warhol" was not released until 1973, on her album Weren't Born a Man, which was produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson. Her version also featured Ronson on guitar. Subsequent recordings have been in the blues genre, appearing with the London Blues Band. She is also notable for being the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar, which opened at the Palace Theatre in 1972. She also appeared on the Original London Cast album of the show. During the 1980s, Gillespie was a member of the Austrian Mojo Blues Band.

File:TonyDanaBowie 1971 LoRes.jpg and David Bowie at Andy Warhol's Pork at London's Roundhouse in 1971]]

She is a follower of the late Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba.{{cite web|url=http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_09/01DEC11/DanaGillespie_1.htm |title=H2H Special: Conversation with Dana Gillespie, British singer, actress and song writer (part 2)- Dec 2011 |publisher=Media.radiosai.org |date=12 December 2011 |access-date=1 March 2013}} She performed at his Indian ashram on various occasions and has also recorded thirteen bhajan-based albums in Sanskrit.{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/12/11/stories/2002121100250100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030901002211/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/12/11/stories/2002121100250100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 September 2003 |title=The diva of blues |date=11 December 2002 |work=The Hindu |access-date=1 March 2013}}

Gillespie is the organiser of the annual blues festival at Basil's Bar on Mustique in the Caribbean, for 15 days at the end of January and it is now in its 18th year.

From March 2021 on, she had an interview and music podcast series, Globetrotting with Gillespie.

In 2024, Gillespie was one of four artists competing in a special selection for the final of Una voce per San Marino 2024, the Sammarinese national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, with the song "The Last Polar Bear".{{cite web|last=Stephenson|first=James|title=San Marino: Four AI Written Songs to Compete to Reach UVPSM Final|url=https://eurovoix.com/2024/02/12/san-marino-four-ai-written-songs-to-compete-to-reach-uvpsm-final/|work=Eurovoix|date=2024-02-12|access-date=2024-02-12}} She was ultimately selected for the final.{{Cite web |date=19 February 2024 |title=San Marino 2024: 'Una Voce Per San Marino' names released |url=https://eurovision.tv/story/una-voce-san-marino-names |access-date=19 February 2024 |website=Eurovision.tv |publisher=EBU}}

In August 2024 she was interviewed by The Times where she described her life, her relationship with David Bowie and her South Kensington home, where she has lived all her life.{{Cite web |last=Membery |first=York |date=2024-08-11 |title=Dana Gillespie: I never felt wealthy. Not even swanning around with Bowie |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/money/article/dana-gillespie-singer-interview-age-david-bowie-net-worth-2rxdgkkjf |access-date=2024-08-11 |website=The Times}}

Selected discography

Foolish Seasons (London, PS 540, October 1968)
Box of Surprises (Decca, SKL 5012, 1969)
Jesus Christ Superstar (Original London Cast Recording) (MCA, 1973)
Weren't Born a Man (RCA, 1973)
Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle (RCA, 1974)
Mojo Blues Band and the Rockin' Boogie Flu (Bellaphon, 1981)
Blue Job (Ace, 1982)
Solid Romance (Bellaphon, 1984)
Below the Belt (Ace, 1984)
It Belongs to Me (Bellaphon, 1985)
I'm a Woman (The Blues Line) (Bellaphon, 1986)
Move Your Body Close to Me (Bellaphon, 1986)
Hot News (Gig, 1987)
Sweet Meat (Blue Horizons, 1989)
Amor (Gig, 1989)
Blues It Up (Ace, 1990)
Left Hand Roller with Pewny Michael, (Bellaphon Records and Susy Records, 1990)
Where Blue Begins (Ariola, 1991)
Boogie Woogie Nights (with Joachim Palden) (Wolf, 1991)
Big Boy (with Joachim Palden) (Wolf, 1992)
Methods of Release (Bellaphon, 1993)

Andy Warhol (Trident, 1994)
Blue One (Wolf, 1994)
Hot Stuff (Ace, 1995)
Have I Got Blues For You (Wolf, 1996)
Mustique Blues Festival (yearly since 1996)
Cherry Pie (with Big Jay McNeely) (Big Jay Records, 1997)
One to One, Inner View, Dream On (under the pseudonym of Third Man) (1998)
Back to the Blues (Wolf, 1998)
Experienced (Ace, 2000)
Staying Power (Ace, 2003)
Sing Out (with Shanthi Sisters) (2004)
Sacred Space (2005)
Live (with the London Blues Band) (Ace, 2007)
Eternally Yours (2009)
Mata Mata (2011)
I Rest My Case (Ace, 2013)
Cats Meow (Ace, 2014){{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Dana+Gillespie |title=Dana Gillespie Discography at Discogs |publisher=Discogs.com |date=30 March 1949 |access-date=1 March 2013}}
Dana Gillespie meets Al Cook – Take It Off Slowly (Wolf, 2018)
Under My Bed (Ace, 2019)
Deep Pockets (Ace, 2021)
First Love (Fretsore Records, 2024)

Filmography

Image:Dana Gillespie and her London Blues Band.jpg]]

Fumo di Londra (1966)
Secrets of a Windmill Girl (1966) - Singer
The Vengeance of She (1968) - Girl at Party (uncredited)
The Lost Continent (1968) - Sarah
Mahler (1974) - Anna von Mildenburg
The People That Time Forgot (1977) - Ajor
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978) - Mary Frankland
Bad Timing (1980) - Amy Miller
Scrubbers (1982) - Budd
Parker (1986) - Monika
Sterben werd ich um zu leben - Gustav Mahler (1987) - Anna von Mildenburg
Strapless (1989) - Julie Kovago
Sunday Pursuit (1990){{cite web|last=Dillon |first=Charlotte |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dana-gillespie-mn0000953148 |title=Dana Gillespie – Music Biography, Credits and Discography |publisher=AllMusic |date=30 March 1949 |access-date=1 March 2013}} - Maureen (final film role)
David Bowie: Finding Fame (2019) – appeared as herself
Hotel India (2014) - Herself