ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE - 1990

Jane Child - A flamboyant fashion plate serves us up a hot hit.

THE DOUBLE TAKES BEGIN AS SOON as Jane Child pops out of her 1972 blue Citroen at the Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles. Even though the Canadian singer isn't wearing the chain that usually connects her nose ring to an earring, she's still an exotic sight: The spiky patch of hair that crowns her head skirted by a field of braided blond corn-rows reaching down to her ankles.

Child, whose debut album, Jane Child, recently spawned the Top Five single "Don't Wanna Fall in Love;' graciously stops to sign autographs for the fans who recognize her from the song's video but remains oblivious to the stares. “I've been walking around like this for six years," she says. “It's not something I give much thought." Nevertheless, she's set aside a whole day tomorrow for her monthly hair braiding -- -a process that requires fourteen hours.

It's hard to believe that this outrageously attired woman was once a plain Jane. The daughter of two classical musicians, Child had almost no exposure to rock music while growing up in Toronto.“I was always going to become a concert pianist," she says. "When I was fifteen, I needed a summer job and saw an ad in the paper for a keyboard player. I figured rock & roll couldn't be that difficult, and of course I was wrong."

The job was playing original "free form" rock in remote northern Canadian towns for twenty-five dollars a week. The improvised jams liberated the teenage pianist, and Child dropped out of high school, abandoning her plans to attend Canada's Royal Conservatory of Music. Instead, she tinkered with synthesizers, teaching herself to program computerized keyboards.

In late 1988, Child landed a deal with Warner Bros. She produced and played all the instruments on her debut album with the exception of the guitar parts. Now that the album is a bona fide hit, Child is pleased that she's being recognized for her songs as well as her flamboyant fashion style. When one well-wisher at the Farmer’s' Market says, "I enjoy your music, your video; your talent...and your braids;' Child gives him a Mona Lisa smile. "I like the order of that," she says.

-JEFFREY RESSNER