Sable Starr

Sable Starr
Sable Starr taken in 1973 at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco
Born	Sable Hay Shields (1957-08-15)August 15, 1957 Palos Verdes, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	April 18, 2009 (aged 51) Reno, Washoe County, Nevada, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Rock and roll groupie
Children	2

Sable Starr (born Sable Hay Shields; August 15, 1957 – April 18, 2009) was a noted American groupie, often described as the "queen of the groupie scene" in Los Angeles during the early 1970s. She admitted during an interview published in the June 1973 edition of Star Magazine that she was closely acquainted with Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, and Marc Bolan.

Starr first attended concerts around Los Angeles with older friends who had dropped out of school in late 1968. She lost her virginity at age 12 with Spirit guitarist Randy California after a gig at Topanga, California. She had a younger sister, Corel Shields (born 1959).

Iggy Pop later immortalized his own involvement with Starr, in the 1996 song "Look Away":

I slept with Sable when she was 13,

Her parents were too rich to do anything,
She rocked her way around L.A.,

Starr became one of the first "baby groupies" who in the early 1970s frequented the Rainbow Bar and Grill, the Whiskey A Go Go, and Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco; these were trendy nightclubs on West Hollywood's Sunset Strip. The girls were named as such because of their young age. She got started after a friend invited her to the Whiskey A Go Go at the age of 14. Starr later described herself at that period as having been "nuts to begin with. I always liked getting into trouble". She had considered herself unattractive, so she had a nose job when she was 15. During the time Starr was a groupie, she continued to live at home with her family and attended Palos Verdes High School to placate her parents.

In 1973 she gave a candid interview for the short-lived Los Angeles-based Star Magazine, and boasted to the journalist that she considered herself to be "the best" of all the local groupies. She also claimed that she was closely acquainted with some of rock music's leading musicians such as Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Marc Bolan, and Alice Cooper, adding that her favorite rock star acquaintance was Led Zeppelin's lead singer, Robert Plant. When asked how she attracted the attention of the musicians, she maintained it was because of the outrageous glam rock clothing she habitually wore. She was often photographed alongside well-known rock musicians; these photos appeared in American rock magazines such as Creem and Rock Scene.