Bebe Buell Biography

Bebe Buell was born Beverle Lorence Buell, on July 14, 1953, in Portsmouth, Virginia, to Harold Lloyd Buell and Dorothea Johnson. Her father was a World War 2 veteran and was an officer in the U.S. Navy. When Bebe was born, her father was not around, which led her mother to wait a few weeks to name her until her father returned home. Her parents are of German descent and she grew up in a financially comfortable household. Her mother was the founder of the Protocol School of Washington.

Bebe Buell had become infatuated by the rock n roll culture during her early years. In the 1960s, when Bebe reached her teen years, the American culture and art flourished with many new movements taking place throughout the decade, especially rock n roll. She grew up listening to and admiring musicians such as Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

After moving to New York, Bebe Buell was managed by the modelling industry legend Eileen Ford, working at the Ford Modelling Agency, one of the most popular modelling agencies in the world. She appeared in many advertising campaigns and magazines in the first few years of her modelling career.

Her career’s big break happened when she appeared naked in the Playboy Magazine, in November 1974, when she was selected as the Playmate of the Month. She was photographed by famed photographer Lynn Smith, who advised her to have a photo-shoot and send it to Playboy. She was among the first few models to have achieved the honour.

Modelling paid well and hence, Bebe Buell kept working as a model for the next few years. In between, she had many relationships with popular musicians, which fuelled her dream of becoming a musician. By the late 1970s, she had decided to pursue a career in music and she had also become a mother by then. Hence, she took a partial retirement from modelling and began her career as a musician.

Portland and Maine in general, had an extremely thriving music scene in the 1980s and Bebe Buell wished to take the full advantage of that. She stayed in Portland for the entire decade and in 1989, she moved back to New York City. By then, due to the lack of success, her band had disbanded.

In the mid 1980s, Bebe Buell began a new band called The Gargoyles. The band released a few more singles and many major record companies exhibited their interest in signing up with Bebe’s band. However, Bebe’s career struggled to bag major record deals when Bebe’s romantic association with Steven Tyler became public.

After a break of many years, in 2010, Bebe Buell released yet another single titled ‘Air Kisses for the Masses’. She further embarked on live shows to perform around New York City and she followed it with the release of an album, which had 12 songs, titled ‘Sugar’.

In the early 1970s, Bebe Buell dated the Utopia band’s multi-instrumentalist named Todd Rundgren. Todd was on the verge of beginning the most successful phase of his musical career when he dated Bebe. The couple dated for a few years.