Cover Girls: What Happened to the Beauties on Front of Famous Records?

Suze Rotolo's picture was probably in more homes in the 1960s than Marilyn Monroe. Rotolo, who passed away February 25, was the girl who appeared on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, arm-in-arm with the famous folk-rock songwriter.

Along with her obituary in the New York Times (2/28/11) was a photo of that popular 1963 album, Dylan's first record consisting mostly of his own compositions. The article states that Dylan and Rotolo, both in their early twenties at the time, were in a "relationship (that) was intense but beset with difficulties."

The Freewheelin' album includes several songs which were inspired by Rotolo. Her interest in social movements of the time led Dylan to write the album's most famous track, "Blowin' in the Wind," as well as "Masters of War." Even the personal lyrics expressed in "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" were written for Rotolo while she was in Italy.

The column and the picture that accompained it brought to mind other women whose main notoriety is associated with album covers. Here are five women and what happened to them years after appearing on famous album covers.

Kate Murtagh on Supertramp's Breakfast in America: She was referred to as Miss Libby, a waitress holding up the Statue of Liberty on the cover of the band's most successful album. Murtagh, now 90, lives in a retirement village in New York.

Sayoko Amaguchi on Steely Dan's Aja: Brian Sweet's biography of the band,Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years, states that "The album cover proved to be a huge selling point, featuring a stunning and enigmatic photograph of a Japanese model." The model was Sayoko Amaguchi, who continued in that line of work after posing for the famous album cover. Yamaguchi died of pneumonia in 2007 at the age of 57.

Jerry Hall on Roxy Music's Siren: Band front man Bryan Ferry had a relationship with Hall, who has children with Stones' vocalist Mick Jagger. Recently, Hall starred in her own reality TV show, "Kept."

Ester Cordet on The Ohio Players' Honey: The woman getting honey dripped on her in the provocative album cover was a Pacific Southwest Airlines stewardess who had also appeared in Playboy magazine as the October 1974 Playmate of the Month. Since then she has been the entrepreneur of internet company and wife of Robert Ringer.

Linzi drew on Roger Waters' The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking: The unclothed young lady thumbing a ride on the solo album of Pink Floyd's front man is actress Linzi Drew. She has appeared on screen occasionally since the release of the album, including An American Werewolf in London and several Ken Russell films. At age 35 she had a son, Tiger Drew-Honey, who plays Jay on the BBC sitcom "Outnumbered."

Sources:

www.alleewillis.com/awmok/kitschenette/2010/03/24/26329

www.my-retrospace.com