SHE'S NOT THERE - daisy jones & the six

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Vienna Kelly was born in 1950, and resided in Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York until the age of ten. She moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanian after the passing of her father Ernie Kelly.

Elaine Chang ( Biographer, author of  Vienna Kelly: it girl. ): Vienna. god, where to start. You've got this girl who came from nothing, and i mean absolutely nothing, who's got this insane talent just falling from her fingertips all in the body of some vogue model.

She's got this effortlessly cool aura about her, from the way she walks to the way her hands fall on her hips when she stands still. It's captivating. And then she plays and it's a whole other story. Just being sat with her makes you feel elegant.

Her dad was a soldier in Vietnam but he was discharged early due to an injury. He worked in a factory after that. Her mom stayed home, looking after Vienna and her younger brothers: John and Jesse. She's said many times that her dad taught her everything she needed to know about music. He gave her his old guitar and she never put it down.

Ernie died in 64', heart attack. Her mother remarried Martin Hannigan in 65'. She didn't really have a choice. She'd picked up two jobs and was still barely managing to make ends meet. They moved to Pittsburgh the same year.

Vienna took her fathers death hard. She was so close to him, it was like losing her best friend. She had a hard time after that. She started rebelling, smoking, drinking, sneaking into clubs in manhattan. In fact there's one picture that I absolutely love, it's of Blondies' Debbie Harry sat next to  a baby faced Vienna Kelly at studio 54, a cigarette hanging from her lips. She was around fifteen in that picture, just casually sat next to an icon as if it were nothing. The best thing about it was, no one knew who she was back then.

This girl, this fifteen year old girl who was going to school in the day and hanging around with stars at night. All the while, her only friend was her guitar.

If that doesn't tell you what you need to know about her i don't know what does.

Vienna Kelly ( guitarist, The six) : God, i was over the moon when i saw that photo first. The thing is, i was so out of it most of the time it didn't matter who i hung around. Just as long as i was on the scene. I'm pretty sure i bummed a cigarette from Mick Jagger that same night. I used twenty different names to get into clubs back then. Though, i'm pretty sure most people knew me by marla.

I started copying everything i saw the girls around me doing. I started smoking, drinking and dancing the way they did.  When i did, everything changed. All of the obstacles between me and the door, disappeared. I learned that sex appeal was everything very quickly. Most people want what they can't have, i think that's where the whole 'cool girl' persona came from. It was an act, a coping mechanism. It was a sure way of hiding the fact i was shitting myself.

I loved the clubs, i mean they played the best music. That's what it was really all about back then, for me at least.  I liked the dancing, it made me forget [laughs] that and the revolving door of free drinks i got.   I remember i used to cycle down to manhattan, [laughs] actually cycle. It took me a whole hour to get there but i didn't care, that wasn't the hardest part. It was sneaking in at god knows what time, so high and drunk i couldn't see straight and trying not to wake up the whole damn house.

That's how i spent most of my time to be honest, planning my nightly escape. It was either that or plucking dads guitar. He taught me everything i needed to know. People always talk about how talented i  am with it. 'People'  didn't meet my dad. 

Anyway, my nights out on the town were numbered, After dad died and my mom married martin we moved away pretty quickly.

Clover Martinez ( Vienna Kelly's best friend. ) : When I first met Vienna, she was sat on her porch strumming a guitar. She looked like one of the girls from my magazines. She was like none of the girls in my grade y'know. She had this big hair, Sharon Tate makeup and  she wore this denim jumpsuit. [laughs] she was always so good with fashion.

I told her she was really good. She just looked at me and i swear i could see the cogs turning in her head and then, she simply looked down and went back to plucking the strings. I swear i shrunk a few inches under that stare, [laughs] I called her an asshole for ignoring me.

Vienna:  [smiles] we became friends fast.

Clover: Within the first hour of knowing her, I knew she wasn't as cold as she seemed to be. I mean we clicked instantly, it felt like i'd known her my whole life after knowing her for a day.

Vienna: Clover always saw right through me. It's something i've always loved about her. I think it just proves that we were meant to be in each others lives.

Clover: We spent almost every day together. She practically lived at my house. At school, we were like a packaged deal. It came to the point where my parents were treating her as if she were there own.

Vienna: we always said that i was her parents favourite child [laughs].

I hadn't ever had a friend like Clover. I hadn't had a friend, period. She was everything i needed, I'm so grateful for her, really. She taught me a lot.... [pauses]....  I owe a lot of my success to her.

I mean, she is  the one who got me to go to that audition.