Fourteen and
forlorn, Nina Antonia escaped the torment of her teens with dreams of
Marc Bolan and the New York Dolls. They ruled supreme in her glam rock
universe - until the night she saw Brett Smiley on the Russell Harty TV
Show.
Appearing to reside in very different worlds, Nina and Brett shared the
same wish - some kind of transformation through music. The youngest
child ever to play 'Oliver' on Broadway, Brett seemed poised for
stardom, and as the Seventies went into orbit, he found himself the protégée
of Rolling Stones' svengali Andrew Loog Oldham.
Coming to terms with her damaged childhood, Nina began writing about the
lives of her teen idols, resulting in a friendship with former New York
Doll, Johnny Thunders. Eventually she learned of Brett's fall from the
high life and his crash landing on the boulevard of broken dreams.
The Prettiest Star details two people's search for redemption, and is a
tender and sad love letter to the heady days of glitter, champagne,
cocaine and platform boots.
ISBN: 0 946719 83
7 A Hardback Original
Publication date: May 19th 2005
150 x 215mm, 192 pp
UK £14.99
B and W photographs
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THE
PRETTIEST STAR
Whatever
happened to Brett Smiley? Nina
Antonia
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