Punk musician
Jane Wiedlin was born Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin on May 20, 1958, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. She is the rhythm guitarist of the all-female New Wave band The Go-Go's. In the beginning, Wiedlin was part of the Los Angeles punk scene which spawned several notable acts, then going by the name of Jane Drano. In 1994, she left The Go-Go's to pursue a solo career, releasing a total of four albums. While she did have a hit here and there, such as “Rush Hour” which broke into the Billboards top ten, reception was generally lukewarm for her career as a solo performer. Bored with the musician's life in Los Angeles, she up and moved to Costa Rica on a whim. She discovered later that her move was not as easy as she expected it to be, and she wrote a book chronicling her journey.
Sixteen years after the split, The Go-Go's reunited in 2000 and released an album called “God Bless the Go-Go's.” This, however, still did not even break the top 40 benchmark, peaking at 57 in the Billboard charts. Aside from music, Wiedlin also has some movie and television acting credits to her name.
In 2005, Wiedlin was cast in VH1 show
The Surreal Life season 4. The show features celebrities who are said to be past their primes and puts them in a Hollywood Hills mansion for two weeks. As if this is not enough, unforgiving cameras also follow their every move. In this season, Wiedlin had to face challenges, such as riding horses and starring in their own kung-fu movie. Wiedlin figured prominently in the latter challenge as she was chosen not only to star in, but to direct the kung-fu flick. She really struggled, though, as it was her first time to direct anything. Plus, she had to deal with slow-moving actors and technical problems. Also striking was Wiedlin's intense tiff with
Da Brat who was fond of mentioning that Jane was a has-been, something she vehemently denied.
(Photo courtesy of VH1)