Marsha Hunt (born April 15, 1946) is an American actress, novelist, singer and former model, who has lived mostly in Britain and Ireland. She achieved national fame when she appeared in London as Dionne in the long-running rock musical Hair. She had relationships with Marc Bolan and Mick Jagger, who is the father of her only child, Karis Jagger.
Hunt has written three novels and three autobiographies, which include a frank account of life as a breast cancer sufferer.
Early life Hunt was born in Philadelphia in 1946 and lived in North Philadelphia, near 23rd and Columbia, then in Germantown and Mount Airy, for the first 13 years of her life. Hunt told The Philadelphia Inquirer that she remembers Philadelphia with affection, particularly the "Philadelphia steak sandwiches and the bad boys on the basketball court".Ann Kolson, "Marsha Hunt's Life is Filled with 'Joy': The Irrepressible Performer has Mick Jagger in her past, old ties to Philadelphia, and a New Book", Philadelphia Inquirer, February 16, 1991.
Hunt's mother, Inez, was her primary parent and worked as a librarian in a local library."History" , Marsha Hunt's Official Website.Real Life by Marsha Hunt. Published by Chatto & Windus, 1986. Hunt's father, Blaire Theodore Hunt Jr., was one of America's first Black psychiatrists but he did not live with Hunt; when she was 15 years old, she found out that he had taken his own life three years previously.Barry Egan, "I'm lucky that I grew up poor", Irish Times, August 31, 2008. Hunt was brought up by her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother. Hunt described her mother as "extremely intelligent and education-minded", her aunt as "extremely Catholic but very glamorous", and her grandmother as an "extremely aggressive...ass-kicking" independent Southern woman.
Hunt credits the experience of having been poor with teaching her not to be materialistic. Her family put a great deal of emphasis on academic performance, and Hunt did very well in school. In 1960, the family moved to Kensington, California, which Hunt still regards as home, so that her brother and sister could attend Oakland High School and prepare to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Hunt also went to Berkeley, in 1964, where she joined Jerry Rubin on protest marches against the Vietnam War.The Irish Times. "Rebel to the Roots" by July 4, 1998. In her book Undefeated she recalled that during her time at Berkeley they "were sitting in for the Free Speech Movement, smoking pot, experimenting with acid, lining up to take Oriental philosophy courses, daring to co-habit, and going to dances in San Francisco."
Move to London In February 1966, Hunt booked a flight for a brief trip to London, where she was temporarily detained before a fellow detainee gave her details of contacts, including John Shepherd, who worked on the television show Ready Steady Go!. Through Shepherd, she met Kenny Lynch, and then appeared as an extra in Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow-Up.Ruddock, Martin (August 2020), "Voodoo Child", Shindig!, #106, pp.68–74 Hunt has said that in London in the 1960s "anything seemed possible."
She briefly lived in Edinburgh, Scotland,John Gibson, "Undefeated after battle with cancer", The Scotsman, October 26, 2005. before returning to London where she became a backing singer with Alexis Korner's trio Free at Last. She then met and began a short relationship with musician John Mayall, inspiring Mayall's songs "Marsha's Mood" and "Brown Sugar", which were included on his 1967 album, The Blues Alone. Although Hunt indicates that she had no great musical talent, she worked as a singer for 18 months after arriving in England, intending to earn her fare back home.
Marriage to Mike Ratledge In late 1966, Hunt met Mike Ratledge of Soft Machine. Hunt was having trouble getting a visa extension to stay in England and proposed to Ratledge.Graham Bennett, Soft Machine: Out-bloody-rageous, SAF Publishing Ltd, 2005. Ratledge and Hunt were married on April 15, 1967. The Soft Machine were heavily booked and there was no time for a honeymoon, but Ratledge and Hunt spent two months together before the band headed for France later that year. Hunt said in 1991 that she and Ratledge never held hands and never kissed, though "...he comes for Easter. But that's what we called 'married'." While the two have remained good friends, Hunt says the secret to a happy marriage is to "separate immediately." On their 40th wedding anniversary, Hunt called Ratledge up and jokingly said, "We should renew our vows." Ratledge died on 5 February 2025.
Music career After her marriage in 1967, Hunt took a singing job with Long John Baldry's band Bluesology, alongside keyboard player Reg Dwight, soon to be known as Elton John. She also auditioned for Ratledge's band Soft Machine, and in 1968, briefly joined the group The Ferris Wheel.
That same year, Hunt achieved national fame in England when she appeared as Dionne in the rock musical Hair, a box-office smash on the London stage. Hunt only had two lines of dialogue in Hair, but she attracted a lot of media attention and her photo appeared in many newspapers and magazines. Her photograph was used on the poster and playbill of the original London production, photographed by Justin de Villeneuve."Justin's Birds of Barnes" – Justin de Villeneuve bio. Her 1968 photo also replaced the original LP artwork when Reader's Digest re-issued the LP in Europe in 1976. Hunt says that the role was a perfect fit for her and expressed who she actually was. She was one of three Americans featured in the London show, and when the show began she had no contract to perform. Once the show opened, she was featured in so many stories that she was offered a contract right away.
Hunt played at the Jazz BilzenTimeline — Bands 1969 , Jazz Bilzen. and Isle of Wight music festivals in August 1969 with her backup band "White Trash"."Marsha Hunt and White Trash –The Isle of Wight Festival" , August 30, 1969. UK Rock Festivals. Hunt's first single, a cover of Dr John's "Walk on Gilded Splinters", produced by Tony Visconti, was released on Track Records in 1969; it became a minor hit. An album, Woman Child (also produced by Tony Visconti) (in Germany released under the title Desdemona), followed in 1971. In May 1977, an album with disco songs was released in Germany with the title Marsha. It was recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich and produced by Pete Belotte (co-producer with Giorgio Moroder of many Donna Summer albums).
Hunt met Marc Bolan in 1969 when she went to the studio where Bolan's group was recording "Unicorn". Tony Visconti said that when Bolan and Hunt met, "[y]ou could see the shafts of light pouring out of their eyes into each other.... We finished the session unusually early, and Marc and Marsha walked out into the night hand in hand."Mark Paytress, "Marc: The Rise and Fall of a 20th Century Superstar", Omnibus Press, 2002. According to Hunt, the relationship between the two was based on more than physical attraction, though she also recalled that her commercial visibility put her in opposition to Bolan's philosophy that "the serious art of music...was validated by obscurity."
In 1971, after the birth of her daughter Karis, whose father was Mick Jagger, she appeared for a while in the musical Catch My Soul, and acted alongside Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the film Dracula A.D. 1972. She signed a recording contract with Phonogram Records, and led her own band, 22, which the record company insisted on billing as "Marsha Hunt's 22". The band included guitarist Hugh Burns, whom Hunt lived with for three years. The band toured, released two singles, "Medusa" and "(Oh No! Not) The Beast Day", and recorded a set of demos of songs largely written by Hunt. These were later released in Germany and Poland as an album, Attention! Marsha Hunt, though Hunt was unaware of its release until 2020. The band 22 split up after they had their equipment stolen and Hunt's daughter became ill.
From 1973, Hunt co-presented with Sarah Ward a popular late-night radio show, Sarah. Marsha and Friends, on London's Capital Radio.Peter Harvey, "Capital hits the million", Record & Radio Mirror, 1974, p. 9. Also in 1973, as a member of a panel organised by British magazine Melody Maker to discuss women in music and options open to Black women, Hunt suggested that Black women needed to make use of the "side-door" in the industry, entering as "the statutory representative" before they could make music under their own terms.
In 1976, she released two funk-pop singles produced by Steve Rowland, and the following year issued an album, Marsha, produced by Pete Bellotte, which she later described as "a musical departure that had nothing to do with my own taste". She moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s, and fronted a punk rock-influenced band, Marsha & The Vendettas. From there, she moved to Australia, and recorded a single, "Pleasure Zone", written with David Dundas and produced by Ricky Fataar.
Modelling Three months after Hair opened, Hunt was on the cover of British high-fashion magazine Queen, the first Black model to appear on their cover. In 1968, Hunt posed nude for photographer Patrick Lichfield after the opening night for HairDouglas and McIntyre Publishing Group. Undefeated. Author: Marsha Hunt and the photo appeared on the cover of British Vogue's January 1969 issue."Viewfinder: Marsha Hunt, 1969, Patrick Lichfield", Daily Telegraph, June 4, 2005. Almost 40 years later, Hunt again posed nude for Lichfield, recreating the pose for her Vogue cover five weeks after she had had her right breast and lymph glands removed to halt the spread of cancer. The photo appeared on the cover of her 2005 book Undefeated, about her battle with cancer."The Sixties star talks about her book", BBC Woman's Hour, October 12, 2005. She was pleased to work with the photographer under such differing circumstances, although in her autobiography she expressed confusion as to why the photo has been so often reprinted. Hunt has also been photographed by Lewis Morley and Horace Ové."Marsha Hunt (1947-), Model, singer, actress and writer", National Portrait Gallery.
Relationship with Mick Jagger Hunt said that she met Mick Jagger in 1969 when the Rolling Stones asked her to pose for an ad for "Honky Tonk Women", which she refused to do because she "didn't want to look like [she'd] just been had by all the Rolling Stones." Jagger called her later, and their nine or 10-month affair began. According to Christopher Sandford's book Mick Jagger: Rebel Knight, Hunt told journalist Frankie McGowan that Jagger's shyness and awkwardness won her over, but that their relationship was conducted mostly in private because their social scenes were very different. According to Tony Sanchez in Up and Down with the Rolling Stones, Jagger considered proposing to Hunt but did not because he did not think he loved Hunt enough to spend the rest of his life with her, while Hunt, for her part, did not think they were sufficiently compatible to co-habit satisfactorily. The relationship ended in June 1970, when Hunt was pregnant with Jagger's first child, Karis. According to Hunt, the pair planned the child but never intended to live together and the two agreed that Jagger would be an "absent father". On 4 November 1970, Karis was born in London. She is Hunt's only child.