Rockspring Fling - A New Generation of Rock Royalty - ShowMe South Africa (2024)

Unusual names, big personalities and spot-on style. A new generation of rock royalty has emerged.

Parents by their very nature are uncool (at least until their children emerge from adolescence, but even then it’s touch and go). But every generation, a select few embryos hit the genetic lottery and wind up with parental units so cool, they have no option but to be trailblazers themselves. Meet the new rockspring.

Zoe Kravitz

The vocalist of an otherwise all-guy rock band Elevator Fight, who describe themselves as “liquid rage”, Zoe elicits Juliette Lewis comparisons – crazy, sexy, grungy and one of the boys. That’s her dad, rockstar Lenny Kravitz’s influence. From her mom, Cosby Show star Lisa Bonet, 21-year-old Zoe inherited her caramel complexion, bright eyes and free spirit, making her the obvious choice for the new face of Vera Wang’s Princess perfume.

Her genetic dynasty has obviously opened a lot of doors for the effortlessly cool up-and-comer, but she’s turned her perfect button nose up at the It Girl label. “[I] think it means that you don’t have a job but people still pay attention to you, it’s kind of an insult,” she says. And coming from someone with six movie credits, including The Brave One and four films in production due for release later this year, Zoe’ is determined to make it on her own.

Peaches Geldof

Her father was a punk, her mother a rockabilly. It’s in her blood to not want to be put into a box, the It Brit told Times Online. And with a name like Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa Geldof, the 21-year-old is hard to pigeon hole.

Born to parents Bob Geldof, a musician and activist, and Paula Yates, a TV presenter, the budding media mogul has contributed columns to ELLEGirl, Nylon and CLEO Australia, presented TV shows, designed a clothing line, and DJs with her pal Fifi Brown under the name Trash puss*es when the mood strikes. She also launched her own magazine Disappear Here last year, letting MTV cameras capture the process (her name has since disappeared from the masthead). Ignoring criticism that her hard partying ways (that included a three-month marriage) are leading her down the same road as her mom, who died of an overdose, Peaches remains unstoppable and indefinable

Frances Bean Cobain

Her very birth was a controversy when her mother, Hole rocker Courtney Love, let slip in an interview that she used drugs while pregnant. Child protective services took the two-week-old Frances from her and father, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, while an investigation was launched.

Less than two years later, Kurt took his life and Courtney’s since been in and out of rehab and plastic surgeons’ rooms, attempting to resurrect her career. For her daughter’s “sweet sixteen”, she helped plan a suicide-themed party. Not surprisingly, custody of Frances was given back to her paternal grandmother and aunt earlier this year, and the now 17-year-old heir to the lyrics of Smells Like Teen Spirit is finding her feet. After interning at Rolling Stone magazine, she appeared on a track called My Space by folk duo Evelyn Evelyn. It seems the world’s an oyster for the girl with the infamous baby blues.

Daisy Lowe

Flaunting her feline curves in campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and DKNY, the love child of musician-turned-designer Pearl Lowe and former Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, had an unorthodox upbringing.

Pearl and Daisy’s stepdad, Danny Goffey of the band Supergrass, were part of the Primrose Hill set – swinging celebs who indulged in the high life. As a result, Daisy looked after her younger siblings, while her mom looked after her cocaine and heroin addiction.

In 2004, Daisy learnt that Gavin, the man she thought was her godfather, was, in fact, her biological father. They don’t appear to have much of a relationship, but she remains remarkably well adjusted, something she attributes to her mom who’s since cleaned up her act. This has already been a big year for Daisy, who celebrated her 21st birthday and launched a jewellery range for Swarovski’s Crystallized, giving 20 percent of the proceeds to Climate Concern. A true breath of fresh air.

Coco Sumner

Caesar is a gritty electronic tune penned by I Blame Coco aka Coco Sumner. Born Eliot Pauline Sumner to parents Sting and Trudie Styler, Coco’s also dabbled in acting, scoring a bit part in Stardust, and modelling in a Burberry campaign alongside Agyness Deyn.

But it’s her music that’s making Coco famous in her own right (that, and an alleged slumber party with Pete Doherty at Glastonbury). Having scored a record deal with Island Records, she’s currently on tour with Le Roux and is releasing her debut offering, The Constant, later this year.

Notoriously shy and awkward in interviews, Coco’s a typical teenager in many ways, except for the famous parents. “I love them to death,” her official blog reads, “but this is not about them. It’s what I do and what I have to say.”

Text by Natalie Pool. Photography by Great Stock/Corbis: Magazine Press Features/Scope: Inpra/Rex; Gallo Images/Getty Images.com. This article was taken from the May 2010 edition of Cleo magazine.