Draft:Ian "Pleather" Wagner

Ian "Pleather" Wagner

Ian Wagner (born c. 1971) is an American groupie. Starting aged 15 and nicknamed “Pleather” due to his distinctive pleather shorts, he is famous within the groupie scene for being its first and only self-proclaimed male groupie.

He gained popularity in 2007 after making an appearance in Pamela Des Barres’ memoir Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies, where he detailed his relationships with female rockstars such as Courtney Love, The Pandoras, and L7, as well as claiming that he could physically not feel attraction to women that weren’t famous. It was also the first time his face and real name was made public.

Early life

Wagner was born to two musician parents, a father who was a drummer and a mother who played guitar and the two were in a punk band. He was homeschooled throughout his adolescence and was often brought along to his parent's performances. He would later say it was his mother, Johnette Napolitano, who was his neighbor during childhood, along with fictional female characters such as Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels, that gave him his admiration for female rockstars.

According to him, he decided to become a groupie after watching Janis Joplin get interviewed by Dick Cavett, in which he asked her if she encountered any male groupies throughout her career and she replied, “Not nearly enough.”

Life as a groupie

When Wagner was only 15 years old, he began attending concerts and having sex with the female performers and continued until he was in his twenties. As a groupie, Wagner was known by the nickname “Pleather” due to the fake leather shorts he often wore to attract women, specifically how much it accentuated the shape of his penis.

Around 1986, Wagner allegedly began sleeping with members of The Pandoras and would exchange in threesomes sometimes with other male groupies, and, on multiple occasions, was gang banged by the entire band. He was 15 at the time and all of the women were in their twenties. Wagner was also in a brief relationship with Inger Lorre of the Nymphs during the 1990s. The two of them would often engage in heroin usage in Terry Farrell’s house, which resulted in Wagner losing a lot of weight and often becoming sick. Wagner also claims to have saved Lorre's life while she was suffering a drug overdose.

Jennifer Finch of L7, another band Wagner was a groupie for, introduced Wagner to Courtney Love right before the release of her band’s debut album in 1991. He claimed Love, known for her attitude and temper, initially didn’t think that highly of herself as a performer, confiding in him that she thought 'she’d never be as popular as L7'. Wagner’s relationship with Love is his most well-known, as he often gave her pep-talks backstage before her performances.

According to Wagner, he claims the reason why he stopped being a groupie was after Carla Bozulich left him for another man, which resulted in him becoming suicidal. Wagner also claimed to have had sexual experiences with the Screamin’ Sirens and The Bangles whilst underage.

Later years

In 2007, Pamela Des Barres invited Wagner, along with many other groupies, to talk about their lives and experiences with famous celebrities in her newest memoir Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies, which was also the first time he ever revealed his name and face to the public. Although many of his earlier relationships were when he was underage, he stated he didn’t hold anything against any of the women he slept with and wished them the best.

“No matter how badly I got treated–and I did get badly treated by a lot of them–there isn’t a single woman that I hold anything against. We’re all just trying to do the best we can and make our own lives work. It was an honor for me to be around them for the short amount of time I was. It was my pleasure; I would give any one of them my last two dollars.”

Wagner had read and got inspired by Des Barres’ memoir I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie and began writing his own memoir titled I’m with the Girl Band, which was meant to detail Wagner's life and relationships. Des Barres actually liked the idea and said she would be first in line to buy it upon its release; however, it seems this never came into fruition.

Wagner also became a co-writer and co-producer for the band Switchblade Kittens.

References

Category:Groupies Category:Living people Category:1971 births Category:American producers Category:American songwriters