Lizzy Mercier Descloux

I’m obsessed with the androgyny and coolness that was Lizzy Mercier Descloux. Lizzy was a French musician, singer, writer, painter, and all around amazing lady. After spending some time at the Beaux Arts in Paris, she left for New York. She and her partner Michel Esteban contributed to French new wave magazine Rock News, and assisted in the establishment of the store Harry Cover, (ala Malcolm McLaren and Viv Westwood) which was the retail Mecca of all things punk rock at the time. Mercier quickly became a huge part of the New York underground scene. She would run around to various Soho galleries and clubs in the Lower East side with her Fender Jazzmaster and perform using the name Rosa Yemen as her moniker. In 1979 she released her first album ‘Press Color’ under New York record label ZE records. She released several albums thereafter, but only had great success with the song Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles (‘But where have the gazelles gone?’)

As if all of this wasn’t enough to give her major street cred, she also used to pal around with the likes of Patti Smith and Jean Michel Basquiat (her ‘kindred spirit’), and write beautiful poems, and take awesome photographs. (‘Disiderta’ is one of her published works, which include a preface and illustrations by the aforementioned Patti Smith.) So… yeah. That pretty much sums up why I’m in love with this woman. Unfortunately, Lizzy Mercier Descloux died in 2004 due to complications with cancer, but her music and art still continue to enlighten.