Striking resemblance to her great idol Marilyn Monroe: Suzie Kennedy in the Berlin lookalike show “Stars in Concert”  (Photo credit: Stars in Concert)

When Suzie Kennedy walks into a room, everyone in it takes a trip back in time. With her bleach-blonde hair, bright red lips and porcelain skin, she’s the spitting image of Marilyn Monroe. The similarities are not just skin-deep; she sings, speaks and even moves just like the glamorous Hollywood star. All in all, the resemblances pay off, not least when portraying Monroe in the internationally-renowned tribute show “Stars in Concert” as Kennedy has done for the last eight years.

“Acting was never my dream job”, Kennedy says. She wanted to be a vet, but her family couldn’t afford the tuition. She was born to a teacher and a draughtsman in Grants Pass, a city close to the Californian border in Oregon, USA. Kennedy’s parents separated when she was two years old.

She looks confusingly similar

She and her older sister grew up in London, and their father died when Kennedy was just a teenager. Her talents for singing and dancing were discovered by sheer stroke of luck, when, at the age of 15, she applied for work experience running errands for a dance school. The school let her take free ballet classes every day as payment. Afterwards, when Kennedy was studying for her A-Levels at college, people began commenting on her likeness to the Hollywood icon. An agent sent her to an audition, and she landed her breakthrough job: filming an advert for Nestlé with supermodel Naomi Campbell. From then on, the jobs came rolling in. Kennedy has worked for the likes of Citroën and Pepsi, and has appeared in international theatre, TV, and film productions. Acting alongside stars such as Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, she’s had roles in the documentary “Who Killed Marilyn Monroe”, the Italian film “Io & Marilyn” and “Blade Runner 2049”.

In 2016, Kennedy modelled Monroe’s iconic clothes for the auction house Julien’s Auctions. By happy coincidence, she is the same size as Marilyn was. The star was known for her curvaceous figure, but, as Kennedy stresses: “Marilyn was actually very delicate. She almost had a fragility to her.” Kennedy drastically changed her diet several years ago. Today, she is a vegetarian and stays trim thanks to her discipline, daily jogging, and working out with weights. Maintaining her flawless alabaster skin is simple in comparison: She doesn’t smoke and religiously applies a cream with SPF 50.

“I can’t just take off this look”, Suzie Kennedy says. (Photo credit: NOVA Productions)

Kennedy’s wardrobe contains 40 replicas of the Hollywood legend’s iconic outfits. Her collection includes a dress identical to the one Monroe wore when she famously sang “Happy Birthday, Mr President” for the former U.S. president John F. Kennedy: a skin-tight silky number with thousands of crystals hand-sewn onto the fabric. The original sold for 4.8 million dollars at an auction to Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in America. Kennedy – the name is another happy coincidence – is regularly booked to perform the birthday song, with audiences including American TV star Eva Longoria and British businessman Sir Richard Branson.

In 2017, Kennedy won the accolade “Best Female Double” in Las Vegas for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe. It was also in L.A. that she was discovered by “Stars in Concert” producer, Bernhard Kurz, back in 2010. Since then, she’s appeared regularly in the line-up of the internationally-renowned tribute show.

Kennedy becomes Monroe on-stage, but even off-stage, she lives and breathes the spirit of the Hollywood icon. She has read every biography and watched every film Monroe has acted in. “Marilyn is my soul mate. I’m just like her: vulnerable and a little shy, but I know exactly what I want.” They also share a difficult childhood; both women grew up without a father. “I admire Marilyn for the uncompromising willpower that helped her become the most famous woman of her time.”

Marilyn, her soul mate

Six years ago, Kennedy got her first tattoo out of gratitude towards her idol – a portrait of Monroe on her right wrist. “Marilyn changed my life. Everything I do, I do because of her.” Since then, the Hollywood star is always with Kennedy. “While I was getting this tattoo, I could feel her becoming a part of me.”

Kennedy has a twinkle in her green eyes when she confesses that there are, of course, some differences between the two women. For one, Monroe’s eyes were blue, and Kennedy believes that her idol got mixed up with the wrong crowd. “I’m lucky to have such wonderful friends, not to mention a great relationship with my mother”, she reflects. “But for me, the most important thing is my faith in God.” Even when she’s performing in Berlin, Kennedy prays every day and goes to Sunday services at the American Church.

Kennedy regards Berlin as a home away from her real home in London, where she lives with her pug dog and two cats. She loves the cosmopolitan vibe of the German capital, which is relatively affordable compared to London. Her favourite spot is the “Thai Park”, where an informal weekly food market sells fresh Asian delicacies for just a few euros.

Six years ago, Kennedy got her first tattoo out of gratitude towards her idol (Photo credit: NOVA Productions)

Does she always channel Monroe in her day-to-day life? “I can’t just take off this look”, Kennedy says. She is often mistaken for Monroe when she’s out and about in the supermarket or in restaurants. “It has its benefits. I always get a table”, she laughs. However, her sensuous look has its downsides, too: some see her as a “blonde bimbo”, a stereotype that Monroe also struggled against all her life.

Is it difficult, always pretending to be someone else? “Lots of people would probably be happier if they were able to escape themselves now and then”, Kennedy answers with a smile. She has been portraying Monroe for over two decades now, but she won’t be able to play the starlet forever. Although she looks much younger than her 42 years, Kennedy is now older than her idol ever was – Monroe died at 36 under mysterious circumstances. Kennedy is well aware that the bookings will eventually dry up, marking the end of her career as a look-alike. Marilyn Monroe is her defining role, and she can’t imagine ever playing another person. “Being Marilyn isn’t a job, it’s an honour.” BvH

Suzie Kennedy hopes to perform as Marilyn Monroe in the Berlin “Stars in Concert” show at the Estrel Hotel soon again (Photo credit: NOVA Productions)

Contact and Infos:

stars-in-concert.de

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The Livingroom of Thomas Dellert-Dellacroix in his Loft in Berlin-Kreuzberg

In the 70’s, Andy Warhol decided that Tommy Dollar sounds better than Thomas Dellert. That was the time of the ‘Sex Pistols’ and Dellert was a punk rocker and follower of Warhol. Wether ‘Phantom of the Opera’ or ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’: The multi talent Dellert left out hardly any art- and music genre. Since five years, the native of Stockholm, with compassionate connections to the Swedish royal house, lives in Berlin Kreuzberg. The 120 square meter loft of the former Berlin Wall painter is full of memories and dedicated pictures from Yoko Ono and Michael Jackson to Nina Hagen. One isn’t surprised that the antique Samovar was a present of the Russian tsar family to one of Dellert’s ancestral and that he enjoyed the, meanwhile empty, caviar cans together with the erstwhile Shah of Persia and his wife, Empress Farah Diba.

Multimedia-artist, actor, singer, painter & film maker: Thomas Dellert-Dellacroix

MyStylery: Your life took you to many different cities, Paris, London, New York. Today you live in a former chocolate fabric in Berlin. Does an artist have to be here nowadays?
Thomas Dellert: No, to me, Berlin is only a stopover. I’m restless and in thoughts already somewhere else. Maybe I’ll go back to Paris or Stockholm next.

Highheel on telephone: Artpiece by Thomas Dellert

MS: In your loft you live with your wife and two children. And you also work here…
TD: I never separate work and privacy. My life is my work.

This is what the home of a manic collector looks like

MS: Two times within five years you got robbed. Do the things that stayed with you become a different meaning?
TD: Yes, such as Miles Davis’ trumpet or my collection of stockings from the 30s and 40s. Among is also a pair that Marlene Dietrich gave to me in 1973. Especially the things that can’t be replaced are the important ones. Therefore I saved all my projects on harddrive, which I keep in a hundred years old, very thick steal-safe.

Dellert loves provocation – even and especially in his art

MS: Wherever you look around here, you always find something new. Have you always been a collector?
TD: Yes, a passionate one. My style is creative and full of love. The carpets I designed myself. But I also like Danish design, such as the chair from Kjaerholm.

The black leather chair is by Kjaerholm, the carpets are Dellert-Design

MS: How did you get the idea of wallpapering your bedroom with a leopard print?
TD: (laughs) Since I was 18 I always had a leo-wallpaper. It’s the energy from back then, which I hope for and thereby get back. Now I am 60, three times divorced, survived fires and car accidents. Today I’m standing in the Autumn of life and look back.

Wherever one looks, there is always something new to discover

MS: Kitchen furniture, floor, lampshades, nearly all walls are black here. Why?
TD: I never really thought about this. Black isn’t a color, it’s a powerful basis, a symbol and has something sedative. When I close my eyes, I see black, but also all the other colors. Actually black is the beginning and ending of everything.  BvH

Besides Andy Warhol, Dellert is the only artist who ever designed a SL-Edition for Mercedes

Thomas Dellert’s likeness as a bottle label – also an expression of his versatility

Dellert – who was named Tommy Dollar by Andy Warhol – was enthusiastic about pop art and inspired Warhol to his camouflage series

VIP toilet: On the walls pictures, autographs and dedications from Nina Hagen to Michael Jackson

Former Berlin wall painter Dellert, who was born just eight years after the end of WWII, deals in his works with the war theme, the Holocaust and the division of Germany

Thomas Dellert in his bedroom: Here he also keeps treasures of his collection such as the snakeskin-heels of Leni Riefenstahl or a stage outfit of Jimi Hendrix

Dellert’s art is represented among others in ‘The Absolut Vodka’ Collection and ‘The Heinz Collection’ and the Holocaust Memorial Museum

Dellert was already fascinated of leoprints as a jung man. Today his entire bedroom is papered with it

Memories of Africa. Dellert lived in New York, Barcelona, twelve years in Paris, eight years in London, in Barcelona and in Stuttgart

Customized workplace

Dellert has a certain penchant for the morbid

And again Leo: this time not a print, but a real one

Contact Thomas Dellert:

www.thomasdellert.com

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The Café Grosz on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin: Here coffeehouse tradition is maintained

When I ask her where we shall meet, she spontaneously replies: Let’s meet at Grosz on Ku’damm, her favorite café in Berlin where she feels comfortable and unknown. That this is not always the case is self-explanatory after all Vicky Leandros is Europe’s most famous singer with over 55 million sold albums. And everybody knows the singer with Greek roots, who is touring through Germany at the moment, celebrates her 50th stage anniversary and since her Grand-Prix-Win 1972 with „Après Toi“ has become a world star. Vicky and me connect a long-standing friendship that has started in the north of Germany, in Schleswig-Holstein, where we lived with our families in neighboring municipalities. We both love life – and tea.

Vicky and me connect a long-standing friendship

MyStylery: Vicky, you’re drinking Café Latte?! I thought we were meeting up for a cup of tea.
Vicky Leandros (laughs): I’ve already had a few meetings today; I need a little pick-me-up, a little caffeine boost. Afterwards I’ll gladly have a cup of tea with you to relax.
MS: It is quite funny, I always meet up with my interview partners for a cup of tea and everybody always orders a coffee at first.
VL: The Café Latte today is an exception. I love tea; my favorites are Assam or Earl Grey. I have this ritual in the morning, to drink a cup of strong tea with milk and sugar. I wouldn’t miss it.

Timeless beauty and multilingual: Vicky records every album in German, Greek, French, English and partly even in Japanese

MS: There are only few musicians, who can look back at half a century of music history, Mick Jagger and you. A new album, the just started tour, concerts, and TV performances: You could also just sit back and relax …
VL: I don’t feel old enough to retire. Quite the opposite: I have worked my whole life, I love to compose songs. Singing is also my passion. I am grateful for my old fans and the new audience, for example the Gay Community. This also makes a concert so exiting.

Vicky Leandros has received many prizes and awards in her live, most recently the federal cross of Merit

MS: You have recorded albums in multiple languages. Your repertoire includes ballades, chansons and soul. Aren’t you annoyed, that people often only recognize you as a ‚Pop star’?
VL: No I’m neither annoyed nor angry. I am very relaxed. I know that I have taken some risks, just remember the production with Xavier Naidoo in 2009. Who doesn’t dare to try something new from time to time will stagnate and get old faster.
MS: You need a balance with your restless schedule. Where do you find it?
VL: Since a few years I am living in the countryside again, quite close to Hamburg, because I wanted to be closer to my family. Being together with my children and grandchildren calms me down. But I miss Berlin a lot, that’s why I’m there quite often. You can say I still have a suitcase in Berlin …

Besides her latte Vicky ordered a steak and we shared the delicious scampis. Highly recommended by the way are the sweet potato fries

MS: It’s no secret that you like to cook. Your moussaka, for example, is fantastic. What else do you like to serve as a dish?
VL: I like fish from the oven, artichokes in white wine sauce and I also love bouillabaisse or vegetable dishes. The only thing I really don’t like are Brussels sprouts. It has a bitter taste. But apart from that I’m super uncomplicated. Cooking relaxes me; it already begins with the preparations.
MS: And do you turn up the music while cooking?
VL (laughs): That can happen indeed! Especially when I have guests. I like to listen to Elton John, Beyoncé or Michael Bublé, a special favorite of mine. But usually I am quite happy when I don’t have to listen to anything for a while. I like the silence.

Vicky … always busy …

MS: How did you decorate your home?
VL: I like my home comfortable but without plush. Minimalistic design might be nice to look at, but it isn’t for me. I have a sense for nice things but to arrange them is a job for the pros. I lack the talent. (laughs)
MS: Which pieces from your flat could you not live without?
VL: I’m devoted to my aubergine colored Chinese carpet and an antique bureau that I have acquired years ago at an antiques store in Hamburg. I like to combine them with modern furniture.  That’s the perfect combination that I feel comfortable with. Such old pieces give everything a warmer atmosphere. I’m also interested in modern art and am a big fan of Jonathan Meese and Rainer Fetting.

Both of us are fashion lovers. For her stage performances Vicky likes to choose evening dresses by Guido Maria Kretschmer, Brian Rennie, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana

MS: What about your wardrobe? Do you often sort it out?
VL: I have kept many of my old things that my daughter Sandra now profits from. There is also my favorite item that I would never give away. A dress from Tom Ford from the time he still worked for Yves Saint Laurent. Many things often stay unnoticed in my closet and then I rediscover them and am happy to still have them.
MS: What is really important in life?
VL: My family, my kids and my friends. Especially friends play an increasingly important part the older I get. I’ve known most of them for over 20, 30 years. Friendship doesn’t just mean having fun together. It’s more important to rely on each other. BvH

The tea is served in finest porcelain from Meissen

The Café Grosz – named after the painter Georg Grosz – is located at the Cumberland-House …

… directly on Berlin’s boulevard number one, the Kurfürstendamm

Some more tea, Vicky Leandros?

Until World War I the Grand Hotel resided in the magnificent rooms, then the Imperial post office

Since 2012, the with many details equipped rooms shine in new splendor

The Café Grosz is also known for its homemade Patisserie

What an amazing place – Vicky Leandros loves it. And me too!

Tip:

The current tour data from Vicky Leandros’ tour ‘Life and I’ can be found here:
www.vickyleandros.eu

Contact:

www.grosz-berlin.de

The post How about a cup of tea, Vicky Leandros? appeared first on My Stylery.