Glenn O'Brien

Glenn O'Brien (March 2, 1947 – April 7, 2017) was an American writer who focused largely on the subjects of art, music, and fashion. He was featured for many years as "The Style Guy" in GQ magazine and published a book with that title. He worked as a writer and editor at a number of publications, including Rolling Stone, Playboy, Interview, High Times, Spin, and Details. He also published the arts and literature magazine Bald Ego from 2003 to 2005.

Life and career O'Brien was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended the Jesuit St. Ignatius High School. O'Brien went to Georgetown University and edited the Georgetown Journal, which was founded by Condé Nast. O'Brien later studied film at the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

In his early career, O'Brien was a member of Andy Warhol's Factory. He was one of the first editors of Warhol's Interview magazine. Bob Colacello, his classmate and the editor of Interview, hired him as an associate editor. O'Brien significantly extended the magazine's content beyond film by including fashion and music.

After his departure for Rolling Stone magazine, he continued to write for Interview and returned as editor several times.

The Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers (1971) features an image photographed by Warhol of O'Brien in his underwear on the inner layer of the front cover that was revealed upon unzipping the original jacket's physical zipper.

In the late 1970s, O'Brien had a band called Konelrad, which he described as a "socialist-realist rock band".

From 1978 to 1982, O'Brien hosted a New York city Public-access television cable TV show called TV Party. During this period, O'Brien edited several iconic downtown novels, including Kathy Acker's Blood and Guts in High School and The Correct Sadist by Terence Sellers.

In 1980, he wrote the screenplay (which he also co-produced with Patrick Montgomery) for a film to be called New York Beat, starring Jean-Michel Basquiat It was released in 2000 as Downtown 81, with post-production managed by O'Brien and Maripol. In June 1980, O'Brien's article "Graffiti '80: The State of the Outlaw Art" was published in High Times magazine. It was the first major survey of the burgeoning graffiti art scene, which featured Basquiat, Fab 5 Freddy and Lee Quiñones. O'Brien has a cameo appearance as an art dealer in the hip-hop film Wild Style.

After leaving TV Party, in addition to continuing his writing career, he attempted a stint as a stand-up comedian, and was a contributing editor of Allure, Harper's Bazaar, and Creative Director of advertising at Barneys New York. He had been introduced to Madonna a decade prior through her relationship with Basquiat. He also worked with her on The Girlie Show World Tour book in 1993.

In January 2008, he was named editorial director of Brant Publications, which included Interview Magazine as well as Art in America and Antiques. In June 2009, it was announced that he had left his position with Brant Publications. and co-authored a major volume on the artist.

Death O'Brien died of complications from pneumonia in Manhattan on April 7, 2017, at the age of 70. Following the news of his death, Madonna called O'Brien "an amazing soul and a creative genius" in a statement on Twitter.

Personal life O'Brien's first wife, Judy, went by the name Jude Jade as a reference to the Beatles song "Hey Jude."

Published works