Elyssa Perry

Oh, Elyssa Perry!  Didn't Steven Tyler write the immortal lines of Sweet Emotion about her - "You talk about things and nobody cares"? Elyssa (born Elyssa Jerret) was one of the most notorious Aerosmith ladies of all time. She and Steven Tyler knew each other as kids when they lived in Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire.  She and Joe Perry (eventual boyfriend and husband) also met in Lake Sunapee, but a bit later, when they were in their teen years.  Joe was shy and mysterious (a pizza boy I think), and never dared approach elusive Elyssa, blonde and intimidating.  Elyssa was dating an English rock star named Joe Jammer, who was managed by Led Zep's Peter Grant, but his career went no where.  When Joe Perry wrote Elyssa in the early 70's and told her that Aerosmith was born and they had a record deal, she flew home across the Atlantic and took up with him.  Their affair was to be a long-lasting one (in the rock world, at least), and they fell so in love that they virtually alienated everyone else.  Elyssa was THE number one source of tension between Steven and Joe and was a huge catalyst for the band's break-up.  Not that this was her fault, of course, but the way that Joe acted around her, as if they were exclusive members to Club Cool, filled Steven and the rest of the band with rage.  I never thought Elyssa was terribly beautiful or anything, but Joe Perry certainly is, and I love these pictures, back in the glory days of the 1970's when they were Rock Scene royalty.

all photos = my scans