Jobriath reinvented himself as piano crooner Cole Berlin

From Jobriath's 1974 live performance on The Midnight Special on NBC.

I found out about him because of DL. I love him. This song is fabulous!

I remember reading an article about Jobriath when I was a young teenager, I don't remember exactly when, but I think it was after his music career had failed to take off. I wasn't aware of him when his albums were released, and I don't remember ever seeing either of his albums in the record stores. To me, he was this VERY underground, forgotten figure.

When Napster came along, I found some of his stuff and downloaded it, and...I wasn't that impressed. He was clearly a huge talent, but I can understand why he never caught on. It seemed to me that he should have been writing musical theater or rock operas. I'm surprised he didn't go that route after his recording career didn't take off. His style just didn't fit in with the rock and pop world he was trying to conquer.

It's a known fact that Jobriath died from AIDS, OP. There's even been a documentary about him.

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‘His ‘Space Clown’ is my favourite 70s glam ballad. So poignant and bittersweet and baroque, while still a bit loopy and druggy.

There’s as much Jobriath as there is Bowie & Eno in Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ character Brian Slade (of the mock rock biopic VELVET GOLDMINE).

In fact, one of Brian Slade’s fictional album sleeves looks exactly like the one for Jobriath’s self-titled.

Haynes denies to this day that he used either Bowie or Jobriath as inspiration for his characters or film.

R8 and JRM still denies to this day that he prefers men sexually. What a world.

He was immensely talented but needed a good manager and producer to rein him in and produce hits. A lot of his music is a cacophony of ideas, he had so much going on in his head that needed to come out. He was possibly bipolar. Ultimately he needed someone to help him winnow that flood of creativity down into manageable songs.

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The documentary about Jobriath is now on Peacock.

Those videos of him... it's like watching early Freddie Mercury, but without the talent.

The Datalounge......how do I not know about this weird, strange person? I never heard of him. Every day, DL teaches me something new about gay history in 2022. Why didn't I know about DL in 1995? Datalounge...The more you know!! To R9, JRM was a beautiful man (innocent looking with a gleam in his eyes) back in the day (what a body, cock and ass). Maybe the denials of wanting man-sex drove him to drink, JRM always& drank pretty well.

Free on Youtube.

Did Jobriath record an album as Cole Berlin?

Just watched the documentary on Jobriath last night. Have to admit that I’d heretofore never heard of him, even though I definitely qualify as an Eldergay. The documentary was interesting and ultimately sad. It seemed to imply that that early, excessive hype perpetrated by his then-manager ultimately worked against Jobriath.

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And in a weird twist, also dead of AIDS three days later in August 1983: Klaus Nomi. .

Jobriath and Klaus Nomi are very sad stories. Klaus has received some attention in subsequent years. They both were extraordinary.

I too learnt something today off of Datalounge like R14 who for some reason is greyed out fuck knows why. Both Jobriath and Klaus Nomi, huge untapped potential and talent had they not been taken too early

[quote]Both Jobriath and Klaus Nomi, huge untapped potential and talent had they not been taken too early.

Told you.

Being both Millennial and a person living with HIV, I appreciate this post a lot. What Fran @ R22 neglected to mention is that the audience died, too. Survivors' guilt be damned. We're still here.

I had never heard of Jobriath. Here's my new 'favorite' song, when they were in a late 60s folk band called Pidgeon. Thank you OP, you taught me something today.

FYI, all: the documentary, "Jobriath A.D.," is on Tubi. I watched it last night. Outstanding, gripping filmmaking - lots of fabulous archival footage of Jobriath performing, as well as interviews with those who worked with and knew him; the interview portions with Jerry Brandt are particularly fascinating and well done. (I won't comment on how Brandt comes across--better left unsaid.)

The end focuses on Jobriath's reinvention of himself as a nightclub singer and almost had me in tears. Wonderful documentary--moving but never cloying. Jobriath, not incidentally, was unbelievably handsome.

Highly recommend for those of you who missed it elsewhere.

FYI one of our Dataloungers is the director/producer/writer of, "Jobriath A.D".

^ That is fantastic! I do hope he knows how admired and appreciated his work is. I was blown away by the entire film--the skilled presentation of the material: the pacing, use of footage, interviews, and narration. Obviously an extremely talented filmmaker at work. I'm going to watch Jobriath A.D. again, for sure.

Also curious if the director did the voice-over narration, because it's top-notch in the way it guides without intruding.

Henry Rollins narrated.