Belinda Carlisle's Transformations

belinda black randy

Who's that girl with the outrageous wig, in the shadow of a shadowy Black Randy doing a gig as "Mexican Randy" ? It is none other than Belinda Carlisle. She was making an appearance as one of Randy's "Blackettes."

blackettes

Yes, back in 1977 and 1978, Belinda was a punk rocker through and through. Still very much an "It Girl," and very much destined for stardom...she was wearing her punk rock heart on the outside.

dickies belinda

Here she is with Dickies member Carlos Caballero backstage somewhere.

Belinda and I attended neighboring high schools and participated in all the same extra curricular activities, so we knew each other as far back as ages 14 or 15. By the beginning of 1976, I was living in Los Angeles, going to UCLA, and would soon have my own apartment (that Famous Lobotomy Apartment, where Belinda and the future Lorna Doom would bunk for a few months in-between their own lodgings). I'd see Belinda and Lorna hanging out, as we all did, in the parking lot of the Rainbow Bar n Grill, next door to the Roxy on Sunset Blvd. It was what one did back then. "See and be seen" never gets old.

Like we all did, Belinda experimented with fashion. Some suited her, and some, well, just consider the time. Everyone was doing it!

belinda outside whisky2

You probably like the cat-eye glasses she's sporting here, while hanging outside the Whisky. In the next frame from this strip of negatives, guess who walks by? Johnny Rotten and Malcolm McLaren.

hausfrau for the web

Believe it or not, this was a look lifted from Vogue magazine...

Thrift store shopping suited all us punks much better....

Belinda backstage

And you can witness Belinda's transformation from pure punk to pure stardom, all in the span of LA punk rock's heyday - 1976 - 1980. Belinda from beginning to New Beginning.

Belinda, Pleasant and Wyline

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