The latest issue of Dutch TV magazine VARAgids features an article about Patty Brard's jet set years in America in the 1980s.
In July 1980, Patty took everybody by surprise when she suddenly left Luv'. A couple of months before, during a memorable promo tour in Mexico, the enfant terrible met Carlo Nasi, a member of the very influential and wealthy Agnelli-Nasi family (the owners of FIAT in Italy). He was an A&R manager at WEA International in Los Angeles, CA. Patty's latest love affair was front-page news in the Netherlands and overshadowed Luv's activities. The larger than life singer escaped from Holland to go to California to live with Carlo. The lovebirds settled down in a mansion in Hidden Hills notable for being home to many actors and celebrities. Patty's famous neighbours were Marvin Gaye and Jermaine Jackson. She spent time with Lionel Ritchie, Sheila E, Carlos Santana and Joan Collins. In addition to their villa in LA, Carlo and Patty had an apartment on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam and a house in Monte Carlo. Patty and Carlo's sister often went shopping in luxury shops in Turin, Italy (the home base of the Agnellis).
Dutch journalist Pieter Ploeg (who published Patty's biography "De Naakte Waarheid" in 2003) discussed Miss Brard's Californian era with VARAgids. As a reporter for the Arnhemsche Courant, Ploeg had already followed Luv'. In 1984, during the Summer Olympics, he really became an acquaintance of the diva. According to him, Patty's glamorous life in America was her happiest time.
In Los Angeles, Patty (supported by Carlo) recorded three solo albums with sought-after musicians, among them: legendary keyboard player Billy Preston (who worked with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones), Brazilian percussionist Paulinho Da Costa (who played on Michael Jackson's Thriller Album and Madonna's True Blue LP) and American composer Jai Winding (who later became the musical director of Madonna's world tours "Blonde Ambition" (1990) and "Girlie Show" (1993).
A few weeks after the wedding of Patty and Carlo in the City of Angels in 1983, their daughter Priscilla was born. The Nasi-Brard family then moved to Pacific Palisades. Patty's jet-set life went on (including a dinner in honour of Liza Minelli in Cap d'Antibes, France, Easter with Princess Caroline of Monaco, chilling with Dutch billionaire Freddy Heineken...).
During the 1980s, the ex-Luv' singer sometimes went back to the Netherlands to co-host the high-rated TROS TV show "Bananasplit" with Ralf Inbar. She tried her luck in Italy to present the extremely popular music TV show "Sanremo Festival" on RAI UNO with Pippo Baudo. But her career in Dante's country was short-lived.
In 1989, Patty and Carlo divorced. La Brard moved back to Holland and hosted the hidden camera show "Gaan Met Die Banaan" on the first Dutch commercial TV channel "RTL Veronique". In late 1993, she went bankrupt due to a bad management of her magazine "Hello" she had launched with her partner Eric Peute. Misled by her lover, the diva was obliged to auction all her possessions in late March 1994 and lost everything. It took her ten years to pay her debt of 2.7 million guilders.
Source: VARAgids, Egbert
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire