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Musicians tend to have a particular image in mind when they play and that means some of the most famous songs of all time were, in fact, inspired by real people. Let’s finally discover the backstories behind these beloved songs and discover the special individuals who inspired it all. Sometimes it was a person the musician loved, while in other cases, it was based on a fantasy of someone they adored. While some artists were brave enough to title the name of the song after the muse, others were more subtle about it. Read on to discover the women and men who inspired it all. 1. “The Girl from Ipanema” by Astrud Gilberto with João Gilberto and Stan Getz (1964) It all started in a neighborhood of the fashionable seaside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1962. The composers of the song noticed beautiful 17-year-old Heloisa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, otherwise known as Helô Pinheiro, on her daily strolls to the beach where she’d pass the Veloso café and sometimes enter the café to purchase cigarettes for her mother. Her sultry features captured the heart of every man who caught a glimpse of her. Originally titled “Menina que Passa” (The Girl Who Passes By), the song is about the beauty of youth and the pang of melancholy which arises just at the thought of youth fading. This Bossa Nova tune secured fame for Pinheiro and she went on to become a model and bikini store owner in São Paulo. Pinheiro appeared on the cover of Brazilian Playboy in 1987 and again in 2003 at the age of 59. 2. “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond (1969) Neil Diamond drew his inspiration from the cover of the September 7, 1962, issue of Life Magazine. It showed Caroline Kennedy riding a horse when she was four years old. The image of young Caroline remained at the back of Diamond’s mind, so much so, that five years later “Sweet Caroline” was born. Only 42 years after the song was released did Diamond reveal the inspiration behind the song during an interview on CBS’s The Early Show. He even performed the song in 2007 at Caroline’s 50th birthday celebration. However, Diamond took back his words in 2014, when he said the song was actually written about his ex-wife Marsha, but he needed a woman’s name with three syllables to fit the melody. 3. “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly (1957) Buddy Holly took the meaning of “buddy” very seriously. He helped out his drummer friend Jerry Allison and named his new hit song “Peggy Sue” after Peggy Sue Gerron, the woman Allison was swooning over at the time. It also ended up securing Holly one of the biggest rock and roll hits of all time. The song also managed to win the heart of Peggy Sue because Allison did indeed tie the knot with her. The successful union was celebrated with the sequel song “Peggy Sue Got Married,” but that song failed to hit the charts. 4. “Donna” by Ritchie Valens (1958) Ritchie Valens really knew how to get a crowd up on its feet with his Mexican folk song “La Bamba,” but his highest-charting hit was the sweet ode “Donna”, dedicated to his high school sweetheart Donna Ludwig. “Donna” reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959. Valens stayed in contact with Ludwig while he was on the road performing the hit until February 3, 1959, when he and Buddy Holly were tragically killed in a plane crash. However, Ludwig remained a close friend of the Valens family even after his death. 5. “She’s Always a Woman” by Billy Joel (1977) Billy Joel has always known how to work his magic with meaningful words and melodies, and “She’s Always a Woman” is no different. Released in 1977, the song talks about a modern woman whom Joel adores for all her flaws and foibles. This woman he talks of is his ex-wife Elizabeth Weber Small, whom he married in 1973. Weber managed Joel’s career and secured him a successful future at a time when the singer signed some bad contracts and made bad deals. The song talks about her tough negotiating skills that many opponents found quite masculine, but to Joel, this made her even more of a woman. The pair divorced in 1982. Read on to see which other beauties inspired Joel’s crooning. 6. “Wild World” by Cat Stevens (1970) Cat Stevens dated Patti D’Arbanville for about two years, during which he wrote several songs about her. The most well-known songs are the eponymous “Patti D’Arbanville” and “Wild World,” the latter of which emerged as a hit in 1970. Many critics interpreted the song as a bit over-protective for a departing lover. D’Arbanville left Stevens for Mick Jagger, so the words bid farewell to a lover who’s headed out on her own. D’Arbanville, a model, and actress, appeared in Andy Warhol’s Flesh when she was just 16-years-old. She went on to appear in other movies and TV shows including My So-Called Life. 7. “Photograph” by Def Leppard (1983) Marilyn Monroe possessed a timeless beauty that continues to inspire people even today. When the star died in 1962, Joe Elliot of the rock band Def Leppard was only three-years-old, but her beauty captivated him when he grew up and inspired him to pen the metal rock song “Photograph.” The song laments the feeling of desiring something you can never have. For Elliot, Monroe was obviously out of reach, and his only way to hold onto her was by placing her photo on the cover of Def Leppard’s single and recruiting Monroe lookalikes for the music video. Elliot later took to saying that the single wasn’t really about her, but that seems even more far-fetched than the song itself. 8. “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John (1997) When Princess Diana was killed in a car crash on August 31, 1997, the whole world came to a standstill. Sir Elton John was bestowed with the honor of performing a song at the funeral a few days later on September 6th, and the song he chose was none other than “Candle in the Wind,” originally released in 1973 as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe. The lyricist Bernie Taupin altered the words of the song to fit Diana’s circumstances so that John could play it at the princess’s funeral. The revamped 1997 single was incredibly popular as the world mourned over the Princess Diana’s shocking death. The 1997 version proved to be a greater success than the 1973 original. In fact, 1997 single remains the second best-selling single of all time, after Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”. 9. “Sweet Child o’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses (1987) Some of the best songs of all time are those composed on the spur of the moment. Steven Adler and Slash were warming up for a jam session at Guns N’ Roses’s condo on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood when Izzy Stradlin joined in with some chords and Duff McKagan added a bass-line. The band’s lead singer, Axl Rose, heard all this going on from upstairs and became inspired to compose some lyrics. While the music playing downstairs certainly inspired Rose, his true muse was his girlfriend of the time, model Erin Everly. In fact, he was on such a roll that he completed the lyrics the following afternoon. Everly must have boasted some seriously beautiful hair if it reminded Rose of a “warm safe place.” 10. “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos (1970) If you want to win over the heart of your best friend’s wife, write a song about her. That’s what Eric Clapton did when he serenaded Pattie Boyd, who was still married to his best friend George Harrison. Well, he didn’t quite win her over at that point. In 1970, the guitar virtuoso released the hit “Layla” with his blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos. It expressed his obsession with Boyd. He loved her so much that to get close to her he moved in with her sister Paula. Paula, however, wasn’t having it when she heard the song and realized exactly what the lyrics meant. Boyd and Clapton eventually married in 1979. 11. “Jennifer Juniper” by Donavan (1968) There must be something about the Boyd sisters because Jenny Boyd also inspired the lyrics of a song. Two years before “Layla” was released, “Jennifer Juniper” by singer Donavan came out. Jenny was a famous model but quit the industry after she traveled to Rishikesh, India with Donavan and her sister Pattie to meditate alongside the guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Donavan and Boyd were never in a relationship, but he certainly had a crush on her. In the meantime, Boyd had been in an on-and-off relationship for 15 years with Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac, and they married in 1970 and had two daughters. Today, Boyd holds a Ph.D. in psychology and co-wrote a book called Musicians in Tune. 12. “My Sharona” by The Knack (1979) It was love at first sight when Doug Fieger laid eyes on Sharona Alperin. He was 25 at the time and she was 17, and his love for her inspired him to write many songs about her. However, there was only one that became a household single, and “My Sharona” secured his band, The Knack, one of its biggest hits. Fieger has stated that falling in love with Alperin felt like a baseball bat hit him in the head. They dated for four years, during which he feverishly penned a number of songs about her. In fact, “My Sharona” was written in about 15 minutes. He recounted how his instant affection for her inspired lots of songs. Alperin went on to become a realtor in Los Angeles and currently promotes her listings on her website, mysharona.com. 13. “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel (1983) Billy Joel originally wrote “Uptown Girl” about his Australian supermodel girlfriend Elle MacPherson, who was 19-years-old at the time. Soon after the pair broke up, Joel won over the heart of another supermodel, Christie Brinkley. The song was released two years before the two tied the knot, so it seems that both women inspired the lyrics. The song is about an average “downtown” man, a.k.a. Joel, who falls for beautiful and sophisticated “uptown” women. The song was originally titled “Uptown Girls” because Joel was hanging around the most famous women of the ’80s, including Whitney Houston. Joel also said that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons inspired the melody. 14. “Oh Sherrie” by Steve Perry (1984) This one couldn’t be more obvious given the title, “Oh Sherrie.” Steve Perry penned this tribute to the woman he loved at the time, Sherrie Swafford, who even appeared in the music video. Unfortunately for Perry, the relationship didn’t last very long and he never married. Even though Perry’s relationship with Swafford didn’t last, the legacy of the song remains one of the best ’80s anthems. The song reached number one on the rock chart and number three on the pop chart in the U.S. that year. The popularity of the music video also contributed to its success, seeing that MTV played it non-stop. 15. “Woman” by John Lennon (1981) Serving as an ode to his wife Yoko Ono, the song “Woman” was featured on the album that John Lennon and Ono collaborated on shortly before his death on December 8, 1980. This song was the first posthumous single released from the Double Fantasy album. Lennon dedicated the song to his wife, who in turn, stood for all women. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, three days before he was shot to death, Lennon stated that the song was a “grown-up version” of his song “Girl.” The track opens with Lennon murmuring the phrase, “For the other half of the sky …,” from a Chinese proverb that Mao Zedong once quoted. 16. “Brown Sugar” by The Rolling Stones (1971) Mick Jagger and model-singer Marsha Hunt conducted a brief and secret relationship, but long enough for them to have a daughter together, Karis Jagger. It’s no wonder that Hunt inspired such an iconic song. After all, she was on the original London poster for Hair, a musical that canonized the ’70s. Others have claimed to be the inspiration for the song, though. Singer Claudia Lennear declared on BBC’s Radio 4 that “Brown Sugar” was in fact written about her because she was hanging out with Jagger at the time. However, that hasn’t stopped Hunt from holding fast that the song was more likely written about her. 17. “Athena” by The Who (1982) Unrequited love is never fun, especially when you take the time to write and dedicate a song to a special someone. Pete Townshend met the actress Theresa Russel when he went to watch a Pink Floyd performance during the band’s Wall Tour. He tried to make moves on her, but she outright rejected him. The even funnier part is that at the time she was engaged to Nicholas Roeg, the director Townshend wanted for his rock opera Lifehouse. Townshend originally titled the song “Theresa,” and he described how he decided he was in love with her because he took a line of cocaine the night before he met her and got very drunk at the Pink Floyd show. This led to even further frustration when she didn’t reciprocate. He changed the title so it wouldn’t seem as personal when the band The Who recorded it. 18. “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney (1970) When Paul McCartney writes a love song, it can be nothing short of incredible. “Maybe I’m Amazed” is probably the most meaningful love song McCartney wrote and performed as a solo artist because he expresses gratitude to his wife Linda McCartney for simply being who she is. When The Beatles split up, Linda served as a strong pillar of support to McCartney, so he decided to write the song to her as a tribute. This was one of many songs he penned about his wife, who died in 1998 of breast cancer. 19. “Walk Away Renee” by The Left Banke (1966) Renne Fladen-Kamm is to blame in this case for distracting the keyboard player Michael Brown during band practice. She was bass player Tom Finn’s girlfriend and used to sit in the studio when The Left Banke recorded the 1966 hit “Walk Away Renee.” Brown, only 16 at the time, described how his hands used to shake when he stared at the tall blonde, so he had to come back later when she wasn’t around to practice. The Left Banke actually wrote several other songs about Fladen-Kamm including “Pretty Ballerina” and “She May Call You Up Tonight.” Until 2001, no one really knew who this Renee figure was until she was identified as a vocal coach and singer from San Francisco. Brown lamented that he was “mythologically in love” and that’s pretty much what his unrequited love came down to. 20. “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash (1969) As if one song isn’t enough to impress, Stephen Stills of rock-folk band Crosby, Stills & Nash composed a multi-part ode called “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, which they performed at Woodstock. The ode refers to Stills’ rocky relationship with his singer-songwriter girlfriend, Judy Collins, known for her piercing blue eyes. Most of the lyrics that make up the different sections of the suite describe Stills’s thoughts and feelings about their imminent breakup. The pair met in 1967 and dated until 1969 when she fell for Stacy Keach, her co-star in the musical production Peer Gynt at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Stills was truly heartbroken when Collins left him for Keach and wrote the song to channel his sadness. In fact, the band was originally only formed to record “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” but went on to create more albums and hits. Credits: icepop.com

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