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Glenn O'Brien (March 2, 1947 – April 7, 2017) was an American writer who focused largely on the subjects of art, music, and fashion. He was featured for many years as "The Style Guy" in ''GQ'' magazine and published a book with that title. He worked as a writer and editor at a number of publications, including ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'', ''
Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...
'', '' High Times'', '' Spin'', and ''Details''. He also published the arts and literature magazine ''Bald Ego'' from 2003 to 2005.


Life and career

O'Brien was born in
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, where he attended the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
St. Ignatius High School. O'Brien went to
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
and edited the ''Georgetown Journal'', which was founded by
Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...
. O'Brien later studied film at the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In his early career, O'Brien was a member of Andy Warhol's
Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
. He was one of the first editors of Warhol's ''
Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...
'' magazine.
Bob Colacello Bob Colacello (born May 8, 1947) is an American writer. He began his career writing for ''The'' ''Village Voice'' before becoming an editor for pop artist Andy Warhol's ''Interview'' magazine from 1970 to 1983. His roles at ''Interview'' included ...
, his classmate and the editor of ''Interview'', hired him as an associate editor. O'Brien significantly extended the magazine's content beyond film by including fashion and music. He worked with artist Richard Bernstein to produce the elegant new ''Interview'' logo, which is still in use today. From early 1972 to the summer of 1973, O'Brien took over Colacello's role as the managing editor of ''Interview''. After his departure for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine, he continued to write for ''Interview'' and returned as editor several times. He was a music critic for the publication in the
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
era for which he penned the column "Glenn O'Brien's Beat" for 12 years.
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
album ''
Sticky Fingers ''Sticky Fingers'' is the ninth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released on 23 April 1971 on the Rolling Stones' new label, Rolling Stones Records. The Rolling Stones had been contracted by Decca Records an ...
'' (1971) features an image of O'Brien in his underwear on the inner sleeve, taken by Warhol. In the late 1970s, O'Brien had a band called Konelrad, which he described as a "socialist-realist rock band". From 1978 to 1982, O'Brien hosted a New York city
Public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...
cable TV show called ''
TV Party ''TV Party'' was a public-access television cable TV show in New York City that ran from 1978 to 1982. History After Glenn O'Brien was a guest on the weekly variety television show, ''The Coca Crystal Show: If I Can’t Dance, You Can Keep ...
''. During this period, O'Brien edited several iconic downtown novels, including
Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, critic, performance artist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that deal ...
's '' Blood and Guts in High School'' and ''The Correct Sadist'' by Terence Sellers. In 1980, he wrote the screenplay (which he also co-produced with
Patrick Montgomery Patrick Montgomery (born September 13, 1949) is an American documentary producer/director and film and photo archivist. He has specialized in making films using archival materials, most notably ''The Man You Loved to Hate'' (1979) about the legen ...
) for a film to be called ''New York Beat'', starring
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...
It was released in 2000 as '' Downtown 81'', with post-production managed by O'Brien and Maripol. In June 1980, O'Brien's article "Graffiti '80: The State of the Outlaw Art" was published in '' High Times'' magazine. It was the first major survey of the burgeoning graffiti art scene, which featured Basquiat, Fab 5 Freddy and Lee Quiñones. O'Brien has a cameo appearance as an art dealer in the hip-hop film ''
Wild Style ''Wild Style'' is a 1982 American hip hop film written, produced and directed by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Adam Horowitz, Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, L ...
''. After leaving ''TV Party'', in addition to continuing his writing career, he attempted a stint as a stand-up comedian, and was a contributing editor of '' Allure'', ''
Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...
'', and Creative Director of advertising at
Barneys New York Barneys New York is an American brand founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman that operated full-line department stores from 1923 until 2020. Authentic Brands Group acquired Barneys' intellectual property in 2019, and has licensed the brand to Saks F ...
. For 10 years, he wrote a monthly column for
Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...
magazine. O'Brien edited
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
's 1992 ''
Sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...
'' book. He had been introduced to Madonna a decade prior through her relationship with Basquiat. He also worked with her on The Girlie Show World Tour book in 1993. In January 2008, he was named editorial director of Brant Publications, which includes ''
Interview Magazine ''Interview'' is an American magazine founded by pop artist Andy Warhol and journalist John Wilcock in 1969. The magazine, nicknamed "The Crystal Ball of Pop," features interviews of and by celebrities. Background In 1965, pop artist Andy War ...
'' as well as '' Art in America'' and ''
Antiques An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...
''. In June 2009 it was announced that he had left his position with Brant Publications. He lent his collection of early Basquiat works to various exhibitions, including
Deitch Projects Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)''Los Angeles Times''. born July 9, 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects (1996–2010) and curating groundbreaking exhi ...
, and is a co-author of a major volume on the artist.


Death

O'Brien died of complications from pneumonia in Manhattan on April 7, 2017, at the age of 70. Following the news of his death, Madonna called O'Brien "an amazing soul and a creative genius" in a statement on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.


Personal life

O'Brien's first wife, Judy, went by the name Jude Jade as a reference to
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
song "
Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' fir ...
." She was an intern at ''Interview'' magazine while O'Brien was an editor. They had a son, Terence O’Brien Pincus. His second marriage was to artist and designer Barbara Egan. In 1999, O'Brien He married his third wife, publicist Gina Nanni. The couple had a son, Oscar Lucien O’Brien.


Awards and honors

On February 17, 2009, O'Brien was named one of Top 10 Most Stylish Men in America by '' GQ''.


Published works

*. Edo Bertoglio (photographer). * * * * * * * * * * * * * *amazon.co
A toast to the world's preeminent spirit
/ref> * *


References


External links


Official website for Glenn O'Brien
*
Style Guy Blog
* ttps://archive.today/20130204185747/http://www.theblock-mag.com/farewell-mr-obrien/ O'Brien's final interview as Editor-In-Chief of ''Interview'' magazinein ''The Block'' Issue 18
Glenn O'Brien on How to Be a Man
on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Glenn 1947 births 2017 deaths American fashion journalists American magazine editors American music critics Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Georgetown University alumni People associated with The Factory Writers from Cleveland Writers from New York City