OP/ED by Adam Wilcox
It was an E! True Hollywood Story on Shannon “Savannah” Wilsey in 1999 that initially sparked my interest in the adult industry, long before I even considered trying my hand at writing porn-related articles. That documentary opened my eyes to the fact that so many XXX performers are beautiful and unique people with fascinating stories plying their trade in an often misunderstood and deceivingly complicated business. I wanted to commemorate the 16th anniversary of Shannon’s passing with a biography piece on her. I hope you enjoy.
It was on this date sixteen years ago that Shannon Wilsey – who performed as one of the most prominent adult film stars of the 1990s under the stage name “Savannah” – ended her life in the garage of her luxury home in the Hollywood Hills. She was 23 years old.
Born Shannon Wilsey on October 9, 1970 in Laguna Beach, California, the future porn superstar entered adult entertainment following a failed long-term relationship with musician Greg Allman, whom Shannon had started dating at age 16. She began with topless and nude modeling gigs before moving onto hardcore sex films, and it wasn’t long before the gorgeous blonde’s striking looks and voluptuous body caught the eye of Vivid Video, the world’s top adult cinema studio. Vivid signed Shannon – who had adopted the moniker “Savannah” as her stage name (inspired by the film Savannah Smiles, a childhood favorite of Shannon’s) – in the Spring of 1991.
Under the Vivid banner, Savannah skyrocketed to icon status in the adult industry and courted an impressive array of celebrity boyfriends, including actor and comedian Pauly Shore, Motley Crue front man Vince Neil, and Slash, former lead guitarist for heavy metal band Guns N’ Roses. She was also romantically involved with fellow porn actress Jeanna Fine. In 1992, Savannah captured the AVN award for Best New Starlet.
Despite her high profile within the adult video business, Savannah was not well-liked by her peers and developed a reputation for being difficult and disruptive at work, often making outlandish demands on set or outright refusing to perform when her wishes were not accommodated. Additionally, Savannah was a longtime heavy drug user, a habit she acquired during her days as a teenage rock groupie. In 1993, Vivid Video head Steven Hirsch decided to cut his losses and parted ways with the eccentric, unreliable actress.
Upon her release from Vivid, Savannah filmed several movies with former employer Video Exclusives. In June 1993, she agreed to star in the inaugural Starbangers gang-bang flick for director John T. Bone. Following the shoot, Savannah’s porn gigs became few and far between and she began exotic dancing on the strip club circuit.
During the early morning hours of July 11, 1994, Shannon Wilsey was driving home after a long night on the West Hollywood party scene. The intoxicated former porn queen lost control of her white Corvette and crashed the vehicle into a picket fence. Her companion (Jason Swing, a friend of rock/hip-hop band House of Pain) escaped injury, but Shannon’s face had been noticeably injured. Still, she managed to drive the wrecked car back home and into her garage.
Shannon became frantic upon seeing the damage done to her face, as she had been scheduled to leave the following morning for a lucrative dancing engagement in New York. According to reports, Swing later returned to the garage to find his friend sitting in a pool of blood with a 9mm handgun between her legs. Shannon had used the pistol (which she kept for protection against an alleged stalker) to shoot herself in the right temple.
Shannon was rushed to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank, California. When informed that she would not survive, Shannon’s father granted permission to have her life support system removed. She died at approximately 11:00 AM on July 11 with her dad, friend and manager Nancy Pera (who had also been present at Shannon’s home the previous night), and reportedly Pauly Shore at her bedside. Authorities concluded that Shannon was a deeply troubled young woman driven to suicide by family issues, complaints of childhood abuse, a string of failed romances, ongoing problems with the Internal Revenue Service, and her uncontrollable drug and alcohol addiction compounded by the car crash.
Texas-based rock band Okkervil River and musician Bryan Adams have written songs in memory of Shannon Wilsey. In 1999, the E! Network produced an episode of E! True Hollywood Story documenting her life and career. She is also a member of the AVN Hall of Fame.
Sources: E! True Hollywood Story (1999), Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767437/bio), Celebrity Skin Magazine, 1995 (http://www.adultoutlook.com/nsmith/savannah/fallen.html), FindaDeath.com http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/s/savannah/savannah.htm).
It’s hard to believe that it has been 16 years.
What was the song Bryan Adams did???
She was a big time loser….
Allman just got a new liver, what a piece of crap. Wonder if Shelley is gonna make some hay on this anniversary. That Rolling Stone piece on her from back then broke my heart, it had that classic picutre of her from the picture book “Pornstar”. The author of that book would make an interesting interview, as I remember he spent a lot of time with Jon Dough(Chet).
The best book about Savannah is “Pornstar” by Ian Gittler. How some trashy rock group photographer was the best writer on porn ever I have no idea. The book is amazingly well written. Chris
She’s the first porn star death that I first remembered. She was well known outside of porn and all over the tabloids. I remember Pauly Shore crying on the entertainment shows holding her picture and crying after she died. She said he was the only boyfriend who ever took her home to meet his parents. All the other men in her life used her. He later left her because she wouldn’t leave porn.
Her mother sued Allman after her death. He’s the one who got her started on drugs when she was underage. I don’t know what happened to that lawsuit.
These two entries are from my blog two years ago about the songs dedicated to Savannah:
The Okkervil River band recorded the song “Savannah Smiles” for Savannah. She killed herself July 11, 1994 after a car crash earlier that night. A new article on the band can be found over at Chart Attack.
They ask for more;
What do you think this fanclub is for?
I slithered up each rose corridor,
I kept a warm safe place in my core
before I lost it.
They ask for blood;
What do you think this womans made of?
I stuck a small thin pin in my thumb;
They dreamt a low long line to be crossed
and I crossed it.
I’m alive but a different kind of life
Than the way I used to be;
I retire to a split white smile to be seen
In on an old sad magazine.
And this girls eyes,
Well they were roughly wretched open;
I could see a starry stare up your thigh.
You hid behind your hair, oh, but I saw you smiling
While all these guys, all these curious sets of eyes
safe behind a TV screen.
I let them pry;
Pick apart and hang out to dry
Almost every piece of me.
(If you don’t love me, I’m sorry)
Oh what a trip,
Oh what a shivering silver ship,
Oh what a hot half-life I half lived
Oh and the stripes and stars
how they stripped off the siding.
When my life ripped, all from the part that played as a kid
Into the part that blazed through your lips
To find a safe warm place then to sit
curl up inside it.
So here’s goodbye
From the part that stays behind
To the part that has to leave
To the sublime lips that were never spoiled
by lying to the face inside the being
Who wasn’t me
Who wasn’t me
She’s not me
_____________________
The song is from Bryan’s new album ’11′. I found this video on Youtube. It’s not the music video. The notes say:
Well, just another character-video.
This time it’s Mandy Moore playing Bonney Delilah Graham in a “Heroes”-RPG.
Music: “Flower Grown Wild” by Bryan Adams
Hope you like and enjoy it a bit^^
Two months ago I read about another song that has been dedicated to Savannah by The Okkervil River band called “Savannah Smiles”.
From lvrj.com:
One of them, “Flower Grown Wild,” was inspired by the 1994 suicide of the porn star known as Savannah. “What a sad story,” he says. “I wrote the lyrics for that a long time ago” after reading a piece in Rolling Stone. “It never really turned into a song. Then a piece of music came in, and I sort of married the two together.”
“Flower Grown Wild” lyrics
She was the girl in the very front row
Always waitin’ after the show
She was the queen of the hollywood hills
Knew the stars, the bars, the pimps and pills
Somebody’s climbin’ on a greyhound tonight
Too much lipstick and her dress real tight
Looks like a woman but she ain’t quite
No, not quite
She’s somebody’s baby
She’s somebody’s mother’s child
She may look like a lady
But she’s just a flower grown wild
They never knew you by your childhood name
But they were drawn to you like moths to a flame
Nobody saw the tears in your silk n’ lace
Or the scarred little kid behind your face
Just remember when you hold her tight
What you’re holding in your arms tonight
She’s no angel, but that’s alright
Ya that’s alright
She’s somebody’s baby
She’s somebody’s mother’s child
She may look like a lady
But she’s just a flower grown wild
Just another little pretty thing
Another angel with a broken wing
Who fell to earth ‘neath the hollywood hills
Amid the stars and the bars, the pimps and pills
Just like the girl on the movie screen
She played it up until the very last scene
The picture faded and the day was done
Went home to nothin but a loaded gun
Somebody’s climbing on a greyhound tonight
A little angel flyin’ out of sight
Looks like a woman but she ain’t quite
No, not quite
Hey Cindi, Spain has won the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Not my favorite team but I think its just as newsworthy as King James taking his talents to South Beach….
Gittler’s book is a classic, if only for the photos. My copy is lost to the winds.
Gittler’s coverage of Jon Dough was great. You got some real insight into this tortured soul. It was not a surprise when he killed himself.
Jon said he got his stage name from the guy in the band “X”.
On Savannah….I remember the story of her and Slash having sex in public at a bar. She was on Howard Stern in the early nineties and she sounded like a drugged up tranqulized idiot. This chick was lost.
http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/s/savannah/savannah.htm
She made tons of money and spent it all (an often familiar theme), her parents blamed the porn industry for her life (similar to Shelley), though she was spoiled rotten compared to the average star (like Traci Lords). Billy Idol liked to fuck her with her high heels on and she rated Axl Rose a 1 in bed from a scale of 1- 10.
http://www.freeviewmovies.com/porn/32603/Savannah-and-Tom-Byron-vintage-fuck.html I’m glad to hear porno music has evolved. Nothing like a cheesy, surreal jack-off experience.
You never knew her. So how do you know if she was spoiled rotten or just what the industry puts out? Yes she had her problems far before getting into porn. Hated her father but wouldn’t say why. I CAN’T IMAGINE why.
Her mother said she spent a lot of money on her family and always brought with her expensive gifts when she visited regularly. She was told she was “too old” though she wasn’t even 25 yet. She ended up doing a 10 or 12 man gangbang because she desperately needed the money. And because of that gangbang, it ruined her reputation in the industry. Gangbangs ruin a reputation??
Every man in her life used her. Slash left her because the tabloids got a hold of the story that she performed oral on him at a bar. Did she rape him?? He’s a rockstar and a porn star having sex with you in a bar will not hurt him. But he left her for his ex-girlfriend, married that ex-girlfriend. This devastated her because she was really in love with him.
At the time of the crash, who was the musician she was dating that went on tour in Europe and didn’t even tell her he was leaving?
She gets in the crash, busts her nose, and now thinks her career is ruined. Yes she had her problems far before getting into porn. But with the way they treated her and how she was considered “old” and she resorted to doing a 10 or 12 man gangbang for the money, the industry did help in how her life ended.
Bill Margold (yes I know) said he was getting phone calls from people already celebrating her death. Thing is she wasn’t dead yet and still in the hospital. This so-called “Family of X” is nothing but a pile of horse sh*t.
Jenna Jameson was spoiled rotten, not Savannah.
Traci Lords was average? Her and Ginger were 1 and 2 back then. Ron Jeremy also said Traci was the first woman to get $1,000 a film.
You misunderstood me, Darrah, I wasn’t saying Traci was average, I was saying compared to the average star, Savannah, like Traci was spoiled. At least, that’s how it seemed, to me. She made lots of dough, spent it all, including on drugs, was difficult to deal with, etc…
Oh, lol I thought you were saying Traci wasn’t average at all.
Yes Savannah spent a lot of the money on drugs. But I’m sure most of her drugs were given to her for free by friends/boyfriends. Allman reportedly got her started on drugs when she was underage. Though why the hell did her parents allow her to be with him. They could have very simply called the police or threaten to call them and her life might have been a completely different story.
I’m sure the drugs made her difficult to deal with. Yes all the stories are out of there of how she acted when on drugs. But the blame can be shared: her parents, Allman, whoever introduced her to porn, the porn industry, and Savannah herself. You can’t blame everyone in her life and not porn for how badly things ended. She was still a porn star when she killed herself.
I believe it was her E! special where they said she was the first porn star who got into porn to be famous. She must be loving how she’s still being talked about after all these years and where songs have been written about her. More famous now than when she was alive.
Well, Darrah, perhaps we can continue this conversation later but I may not be at a computer again for a few days, not sure. You sound like Shelley blaming porn. How do you blame “porn”? Porn doesn’t kill people and neither do guns. People kill people. It’s interesting how Bill “The best thing Savannah ever did was die” Margold says that the ONLY reason to get into porn is not sex, not money, but fame. As usual, he thinks he speaks for all of us, when he has no right to speak for anyone but himself.
She was still in the industry when she died. So they share part of the blame. If Lindsay Lohan kills herself tomorrow, Hollywood has some blame for how her life ended.
With Savannah, certain people in the industry took advantage of her later on in her career and used her knowing full well she would do just about anything because she desperately needed the money. This is the same industry that told her she was too old. The same industry who wouldn’t hire her as much anymore and her rates dropped after she did her 10 or 12 man gangbang. So many people in the industry do share in the blame.
Her problems started long before porn no thanks to her father and Allman. But the industry also helped in her demise.
All I’m saying is when you know someone has serious problems and you take advantage of the situation, then you are to blame.
I agree that people take advantage of others when they are down, weak, in need or desperate. That still goes on today in porn and outside it.
If a handful of people took advantage of her, don’t blame the entire industry. I won’t speak ill of the dead but go look at some of her performances…
That Rolling Stone article on Savannah was a classic.
Man she did a lot of blow.
Savannah blew some big time stripping gigs in those last months($9K a week!), she took work from John T Bone and even as I remember shot some new stuff Leisure Time, could be wrong about the last. Gonna watch some fine Shelley Lubben work as Roxy right now.
“On Savannah….I remember the story of her and Slash having sex in public at a bar. She was on Howard Stern in the early nineties and she sounded like a drugged up tranqulized idiot. This chick was lost”
That instance was at “The Scrap Bar’, I believe in the Village in NYC.
I was there another time when she,Slash, and Lemmy from Motorhead were hanging out at the bar.
My cousin set me up by telling me to tell ( Lemmy) that he looks a lot like Lemmy from Motorhead.
I did, and he looked me in the eye and said , ” Because I am fuckin’ Lemmy, now, lets do a shot.”
I drank a shot of Southern Comfort, then another, another, until I had to puke.
I made it to the bathroom to find the door closed and locked. I was told that it was “occupied”. I figured that Slash and Savannah were fucking, and I had to puke badly.
So I threw up on the floor in front of the bathroom.
The bouncer threw a bunch of towels on the ground and just looked at me in disbelief. Minutes later, the happy couple came staggering out of the bathroom, stepping on the towels that had covered my mess.
When my cousin dragged me out of there at 4 AM, I was still sitting at the bar with Lemmy talking shit, wanting to go with them to the next party.
Luckily I left and spent the rest of the night and the next day or two feeling very,very out of it.
I remember that Savannah was gorgeous in person, and I got a chance to say hello and tell her what a big fan I was.
No cell-phone cameras or the like at that time. ( I believe it was 1991-92 or so).No way to document that meeting except for the autographs on the bar napkins that were lost imediately.
Good times.
A few years later I was saddened to find out that she was in an accident and subsequently committed suicide sometime later.
At the end, she was strung-out, and had spent a good deal of her money. And the accident was one of many contributing factors in her demise. The Corvette was one of her most prized possessions , and it was one of the factors that ended her life.
Great memories of that night in the city.
I have a couple of notes.
The first is a bit morbid, I guess I should apoligize now. I have a compilation tape of Savannah and on it is a very little known clip of her and Rocco. Both are very young and the scene is sizzling. Adult superstars – volume 3. I dont suppose anyone know what movie this clip is from and if they had any other scenes together.
Next, about Savannah’s death, doesnt anyone think it is strange thta immediately following the car crash that the person with her decided to leave and walk the dog? Savannah is a mental mess, obviously distraught over her facial injury and mental over the car accident! So this person decides to Walk the Dog? To me that is strange and somehow it doesnt fit the scene.
Cool story, redgoat.
I always thought that the incident with Slash and Savanah took place in Los Angeles. I remember at one time she was hitched up with Pauley Shore.
Ive always wanted to go down to the Rainbow bar on Sunset in Los Angeles to talk to Lemmy…but I find him a little like Ozzy…hard to understand.
I’m sure that it happened numerous times. I know for a fact that the instance at The Scrap Bar was not the one reported because I did not see him getting blown or fucked at the bar.
Lemmy is a cool cat. Black motorcycle jacket, crazy eyes, and….that mole. He poured the alcohol down his throat faster than some can consume a glass of water.
I would have been DOA if I was allowed to go to a party with him and his band.
I’ve never blamed the ENTIRE industry for Savannah’s death. Just like I would never blame the entire Hollywood industry if Lindsay Lohan died tomorrow and just like I would never blame the entire music industry if Britney Spears had died a couple of years ago. Many are responsible but not the ENTIRE industry.