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46 years after Whole Lotta Rosie was released, AC/DC author Jesse Fink has published a photo of the woman he believes to be the song’s original subject
(Image credit: Inflatable Rosie: Airworks | «Real» Rosie: : Courtesy of Graeme Fry/jessefinkbooks.com)
When the very first issue of Kerrang! launched in 1991, it featured a poll of the 100 greatest tracks of all time, as voted by the public. And at number one was AC/DC‘s Whole Lotta Rosie.
Taken from Let There Be Rock – although the definitive, «AN-GUS!, AN-GUS!» version is on the live album If You Want Blood You’ve Got It – Whole Lotta Rosie has passed into rock lore not just for its livewire, riff-driven genius, but also also for the mystery surrounding the identity of song’s protagonist, a fan whom late AC/DC frontman Bon Scott immortalised in the song’s lyrics.
«She used to look up and see what band was in town and say ‘Hi over there, boys’ and we’d go over and have a party,» recalled late frontman Bon Scott in an interview included as an audio track on the 1997 box set Bonfire. «She came to one of our shows, she was from Tasmania actually, and she was in the front row. She was like 6’2 and like 19 stone 12 pounds [about 125 kilos]. That girl was some mountain. So you can imagine the problems I had. So I just sorta had to succumb… I had to do it.»
In 2022 writer Jesse Fink – author of The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC and Bon: The Last Highway – identified «Rosie» as an Australian sex worker named Rosemaree Garcia, and now he’s published a blog post(opens in new tab) featuring a photo of the original «whole lotta woman.»
The picture shows «Rosie» with a gentleman by the name of Graeme Fry, and was taken in Jackson Street, St Kilda, Melbourne, in 1978. Fry’s nephew Tim Briton is appealing for more information.
«Graeme was 21 when the photo was taken, and had been in Australia for about six months,» says Briton. «The photo was taken in the flat that Graeme and Rosie shared at the time. They were leaving Melbourne to go to Mildura that night.
«Graeme would be really happy to hear from anyone else who remembers Rosie from that time. There were other people who were part of the same group of friends at the time — Wayne James, Terry Hagen, Kevin Shaligh.»
In addition to being immortalised in song, Rosie has long been part of AC/DC’s stage production, with a vast Rosie inflatable appearing onstage whenever the band perform Whole Lotta Rosie. The iconic inflatable was made by Dutch company Airworks, who’ve also made inflatables for Roger Waters, U2, The Rolling Stones and more.
Jess Fink’s updated version of Bon: The Last Highway: The Untold Story Of Bon Scott And AC/DC’s Back In Black is published later this month and is available for pre-order now(opens in new tab).
