Top Groupies Of All Time: Pamela Des Barres and Catherine James

Pamela and Catherine are more my kind of groupie girls. Miss Pamela represents the west coast, with her flowing hair, lace and velvet dresses, she was the ultimate in California hippie glam. And Miss James represents the east coast, with straight blonde hair and dolly-bird make-up, she had an aura of New York cool.  I know I already made a post for Pamela here and Catherine here, but I felt the need to include them in my Top Groupies list. Also, I found more new photos of them, so I thought I'd post them here.

A young Pamela and Catherine

Modeling for Rolling Stone Magazine.

A shot from Catherine's screen test at The Factory.

Miss Pamela and the GTO's

Pamela hanging out with Roger Daltrey and Keith Moon.

Miss P. sitting backstage while Mick decides what to eat.

On the set of  200 Motels with Ringo.

Baby-sitting Frank Zappa's daughter, Moon Unit.

Random shots of Miss Pamela.

The Muse Behind the Song: Catherine James

Catherine James has led a life you wouldn’t believe. Her crazy, wanna-be folk singer mother sent her to an orphanage in LA. Luckily her good looks and her mother's connections led a young Catherine to meet Bob Dylan. She then went to look for Dylan in New York and through musician and groupie friends met Denny Laine, who in turn whisked her off to Swinging London. There she lived my dream life; she became a model, went to recording sessions at the Harrison's, hung out at clubs with Paul McCartney, and went dancing with the Starkey's. Unfortunately, Denny didn't turn out like the English Prince Charming Cathy hoped he would be. So she, along with their baby son Damian, went back to Golden California where she worked at the-club-of-the-moment: Thee Experience. There she met Jackson Browne who wrote "Under the Falling Sky" for her. But Cathy went back to England to be with Denny, and quickly realized this was a mistake when he hit her again. She escaped to her good friend Eric Clapton's house were she watched the Layla saga unfold. She also had affairs with Mick Jagger and Jimmy Page. John Mayall's song "Miss James" is about her as well. And you can also read all about Catherine's rock and roll life in her memoir Dandelion.

Catherine with her mother.

 

Modeling Days.

 

With Jimmy Webb.

With her son Damian.

Cathy also hung out at The Factory.

With Nico.

With Edie Sedgwick and other Warhol groupies.

A video of Catherine at The Factory where the above picture was taken at.