Dana Gillespie (born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie) was born into an aristocratic family, yet decided to pursue a life of blues and rock ‘n roll. Despite having a personal and professional relationship with the likes of David Bowie (who supposedly penned “Andy Warhol” for her) as well as having the looks and talent a star usually needs, things never quite panned-out for her. All the same, she recorded some admirable material in the 1970s.
One of her most striking tracks is the title track of her album, Weren’t Born a Man. Although the album features a cheesecake pin-up picture of Ms. Gillespie on the cover, suggesting the obvious—that this beautiful, extremely feminine, woman is the farthest thing from a man—the song is about something else entirely. Rather, Dana is singing to someone she is absolutely smitten by, infatuated with, and in thrall of and it’s THAT person who Dana laments that “it’s so sad…you weren’t born a man.” Is that person another woman? A gay man? Not clear. And she does it all over this slinky and smoky, funky Country Blues groove that Bonnie Raitt would have killed for. As a mid-70s slice of confident female sexual ambiguity, it’s as hot as you could long for.