Iggy Rose, a model and actress, was immortalized by Mick Rock in Syd Barrett's "The Madcap Laughs", his first solo album after Pink Floyd, released in 1969. She was known as Iggy the Eskimo back then, as it was rumored she was part Inuit.
Born Evelyn Laldawngliani Joyce on December 14, 1947, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, to a British father, Major Harry Charlton Joyce, and a Mizo woman, Chawngpuii (also known as Angela in English). Evelyn's parents met at the end of World War II, when her father was stationed in Mizoram, northeastern India.
Evelyn had two younger siblings, Stephen Lalungmuana, born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in January 1949, and Elizabeth, born in Worthing, Sussex, around 1959. For decades, there were political and military troubles in Mizoram, and Evelyn's family lived a luxurious and protected life in a British enclave, ignoring the civil war raging around them.
The family fled to Aden, Yemen, but eventually returned to England, where they lived an upstairs life. The Mizo branch lost contact with the English family members in the 1960s, due to a military conflict between India and Mizoram freedom fighters.
Evelyn, nicknamed Iggy or Ig, was briefly an art student and lived in Brighton. She ran away from home at 14, discovering boys, girls, booze, and speed. Iggy danced through life, her pretty looks and free spirit mostly ensuring her some food and a place to stay.
She worked at Granny Takes a Trip, a psychedelic boutique in London, and was a regular at the Orchid Ballroom in Purley between 1963 and 1967. DJ Jeff Dexter, who regularly played at the Orchid, remembered Iggy as a mysterious and unusual girl.
Iggy spent a brief part of the 1960s living in Croydon with Dexter. She said, "The Orchid Ballroom was the place to be, the atmosphere was fantastic. I loved going there, I loved to dance. Jeff wanted to turn me and two other lovely girls into the English version of the Supremes, but that never happened."
In the 1960s, Iggy met many famous musicians, including The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Rod Stewart. She recalled, "I met so many people in the 60s -... I was a free spirit."
Iggy became an iconic model in the Swinging 1960s. In 1967, she became involved with film director Anthony Stern, who took many pictures of her and made a film called "Iggy the Eskimo Girl." Stern said, "Iggy was my muse. I met her at a Hendrix gig at the Speakeasy. She was a lovely inspiration and free spirit. I never knew her real name. We used to hang out together, occasionally dropping acid, staying up all night, going for walks at dawn in Battersea Park. She entirely captures the spirit of the Sixties, living for the moment, completely carefree."
The most iconic images of her appear on Syd Barrett's solo album "The Madcap Laughs," where she poses naked in the background, taken by Mick Rock in the spring of 1969.
Iggy and artist Jenny Spires, Syd Barrett's ex-girlfriend, met in the summer of 1966 and again in the spring of 1967. From then, they went clubbing together, and Iggy introduced Jenny to Syd Barrett in January or February 1969. Photographer Mick Rock recalled, "Syd was still in his underpants when he opened the door. He'd totally forgotten about the session and fell about laughing. Iggy the Eskimo was naked in the kitchen making coffee. She didn't mind either. They both laughed a lot and it was a magical session."
Iggy stayed for a couple of weeks at Wetherby Mansions and visited Barrett over the period of a few months. The legend was that Iggy vanished all of a sudden after she broke with Barrett, but she just wasn't traceable on the Floydian radar anymore. In those days, it was enough to move a couple of blocks to other, equally alternative and underground, circles.
Iggy acted in the experimental film "Central Bazaar" by Stephen Dwoski in 1976. She worked on a horse farm for a while and met her future husband Andrew there. According to painter Duggie Fields, Barrett's old flatmate, she got married in 1978 to a rich guy from Chelsea and led a "decent" life after that.
In 2002, Mick Rock's coffee-table book "Psychedelic Renegades" featured more shots of Syd and Iggy posing outside the
