Westlake author pays visit to heyday of rock ’n’ roll





Debra Davis

Debra Davis

Debra Davis remembers the first time she was on a private jet with The Rolling Stones. She walked to the back of the plane to find the room where guitarist Keith Richards spent much of his time.

When she entered the room, she saw a large circular bed with five seat belts across it.

“I better stay close to the front of the plane,” Davis decided.

In February, Davis, who has lived in Westlake Village for 16 years, published “BackStage Pass VIP,” an inside look at the lives of some of the most notable names in rock ’n’ roll history, including Mick Jagger, John Lennon and George Harrison.

She interviewed dozens of musicians, sidemen, producers, executives, assistants, wives and girlfriends for her book.

Davis boarded that tour plane as an independent journalist in the summer of 1982, hoping to tell a story. What she came out with were more than 1,800 pages of notes that taught her one thing: celebrities are people too.

“It’s not cliché,” Davis said. “It’s not sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. This book imbues them with a humanity we don’t see.”

Davis was surprised by some of her observations—Jagger is a “closet conservative,” she said, and Lennon struggled with bulimia.

“A lot of people buy into these rock stars for their rebellious tendencies, but I punctured that,” Davis said. “They were capitalists. They lived well.”

Davis said that Jagger operated more like the CEO of a Fortune 500 company than the front man of a rock band. When she made her way to the front of the plane on that first of five flights with the band, she found Jagger using a calculator, figuring out a way to save money.

Davis was born and raised in Philadelphia, where she graduated with a degree in journalism from Temple University. After her experience on tour with The Rolling Stones, Davis moved west to pursue a career in the entertainment industry as a publicist and marketer.

After a year in Marina Del Ray, Davis moved to Agoura Hills, where she lived before settling down in Westlake Village.

Busy with her career and raising two daughters after an unsuccessful marriage, Davis set aside her notes from the tour and other interviews to focus on supporting her family.

She became the founder, president and CEO of Westlake Village based Davis Communications Inc., and The Davis Group. The businesses focus on marketing and brand management.

More than 25 years after her tour with The Rolling Stones, Davis attended a dinner party with people in the entertainment and publishing industries.

“The talk turned to brands that have stood the test of time—and The Rolling Stones were mentioned,” Davis said. She then told the people that she’d traveled with the band as a journalist and she had all the interview notes in her garage. “It just flew out of my mouth. They were dumbfounded.”

Friends called the next day wanting to know more and encouraged her to put it all in a book.

“BackStage Pass VIP” is available as an e-book through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Davis released the book digitally to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of the birth of The Rolling Stones. She also plans to release a print edition and perhaps make a film version. She hopes to publish literary fiction as well.

“I’m just getting started,” Davis said. “Storytelling is primitive. The human being will always have a desire to be told a story.”


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