Why did Dylan choose this photo for the cover of his latest book?

Between Little Richard and Eddie Cochran is a rock and roll star who had a short musical career. Why did Bob Dylan choose this unknown for his latest book of essays?

By: Christian Criticos / The Guardian
Translation: Telegrafi.com

In the early days of modern American pop music, female artists struggled to achieve the recognition of their male counterparts. Thus, a new "metaphor" of marketing appeared. This labeled jazz trumpeter Ernestine "Tiny" Davis as the "female Louis Armstrong." Big band drummer Viola Smith became the "female Gene Krupa." And rockabilly pianist Alice Faye Perkins – who became Laura Lee Perkins – was "the female Jerry Lee Lewis".

But no artist inspired his peers more than the king of rock and roll. "At various record companies, there seemed to be a particular drive to find a 'female Elvis,'" says Leah Branstetter, a musicologist specializing in women in the first wave of rock and roll.

Among the many female Elvises, there was only one who took this role literally. He smoothed his hair and styled it to have the effect of eyelashes. He carried the guitar on a long strap and became known for his irresistible moves. And, she takes the stage name, Alice Lesley, so only a few consonants separated her from the king. "I don't know if anyone took to the 'female Elvis' like Alice Lesley," says Branstetter.

While this approach brought Lesley some early success, her music career was short-lived. In 1959, at the age of 21, he left rock and roll. In the decades since then, he is said to have given only one interview. But Lesley suddenly returned to the limelight this year when she was revealed as a cross between Little Richard and Eddie Cochran on the cover of Bob Dylan's new book, his first since "Chronicles: Volume I" of 2004. In November, "Philosophy of modern song" includes 60 essays by Dylan on songs by other artists. The press release states that the book's images have been "carefully selected", prompting speculation as to why an unknown artist like Lesley had to be chosen for this cover. Dylan, of course, has not commented.

Lesley began her career during Dylan's formative years, so it's possible he may have known her, or even seen her passing through her US tour circuit. She started playing local nightclubs with a band called the Arizona Stringdusters – in her hometown of Phoenix. But her big break came in 1956, when she was invited to perform with musician Buddy Morrow. During an uninhibited rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes," Lesley took off her shoes. The public loved it and soon tour schedules were drawn up.

When Lesley performed in Las Vegas, Presley himself went to see her. He was reportedly impressed enough to recommend him for Little Richard's upcoming Australian tour. The press began to take an interest and declared that Lesley was "destined to be a long-term star".

Released her first single in April 1957. Unfortunately, it would also be her last. Titled "Heartbreak Harry," the album was an obvious tie-in to Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel," which was a top-seller a year earlier. And while it received a favorable review in Cashbox magazine, which called it "a wonderful rock 'n' roller", the recording failed to attract public attention. By the time of the Australian tour a few months later with Little Richard, Lesley was already talking about quitting music. "I will not grow old in showbiz," she told a reporter. "I'm thinking about the future."

Other press reports of the time alluded to her ambitions to write original material. Branstetter claims this may have been the factor behind her disillusionment with the music business. "I think the interviews with Alice Lesley show that she had a lot of ambition and that she didn't intend to be the 'female Elvis' forever. Maybe the desire to write her songs had something to do with it."

When Lesley returned to the US, he spoke even more frankly about the newspapers. "Actually, I don't like showbiz," she said. "But I can't get out of my contracts for at least two more years."

During these next two years, she continued to tour, performing a set list filled with Elvis' hits - "Hound Dog", "Don't Be Cruel" and "Blue Suede Shoes". She once shared success with Bobby Darin, just as he was becoming a superstar. And she seems to have been particularly popular in Quebec, Canada, visiting the country four times.

Lesley's last major breakthrough came later, in 1959, when he recorded at Sun Studio - the very place where Elvis began his career. He did six versions of Charlie Rich's song, "Handsome Man," but the deal fell through. At the end of the year, Lesley left the music scene forever.

What little we know of Lesley's later years comes from the single interview she gave to researcher Will Beard, portions of which were released by Hank Davis on the CD set, Memphis Belles: The Women of Sun Records. According to what she said, Lesley returned home to take care of her sick mother. Earned a degree in education and worked closely with Native American communities as an educator and missionary. He spent his retirement "traveling the world" and survived cancer in the 1990s.

Lesley is now 84 years old and still lives in Phoenix. And though she stays out of the public eye, she remembers her music career fondly: after local reporter Ed Masley wrote about it in the Arizona Republic earlier this year, she wrote to him thanking him for remembering and said he is looking forward to the publication of Dylan's book.

But if Leslie has any theories as to why Dylan might have chosen her image for the cover, she's yet to voice them.

Laura Tenschert, host of the "Definitely Dylan" podcast, who also sits on the board of the University of Tulsa's Institute for Bob Dylan Studies, suggests that the choice of image may not be about Lesley, but about her pairing with Little Richard. and Cochran. "It feels like an acknowledgment of the different roots of modern American music," she says.

She says that "the three figures on the cover can be seen to represent different sides of Dylan's own musical identity". For Lesley, this representation can be like assuming the artist's other personality. Dylan took a similar approach in his early years, modeling himself after the folk singer, Woody Guthrie. But where Dylan was able to move beyond that and carve out his own identity, Lesley's ambitions seem to have been completely overshadowed by the 'female Elvis' persona.

Furthermore, the cover can be seen as an acknowledgment of the transitory nature of what Dylan calls "the modern song". Branstetter notes that all three artists on the cover left the music scene "within two years of this photo being taken." Little Richard left to join the religious service. Lesley traded in her guitar for a quieter life. And, Cochran died in a car accident at the age of 21.

Dylan's career has had much greater longevity. But he was always aware of the transitory nature of popular music. When asked how he felt when Rolling Stone magazine named his song "Like a Rolling Stone" the greatest of all time, he simply shrugged and replied, "Who's to say how long that will last?" this"? (Indeed, in a recent update, Rolling Stone bumped Dylan's song up to number four.)

Perhaps some of Dylan's attitude is summed up in that cover image. The faces of Alice Lesley, Little Richard and Eddie Cochran are smiling, full of youth and hope, at the center of a musical revolution – not knowing that it will all end sooner than any of them could expect. Dylan pays tribute and honor to these rock 'n' roll pioneers who came before him. But, perhaps, he also recognizes how short their moment was – how "the present will later be the past" and today's "modern song" is tomorrow's story. /Telegraph/