Look Who’s on the Cover of Easyriders Magazine

Porn starlets who've graced the cover of America's #1 biker magazine

Traci Lords

Since 1971, Easyriders magazine has been the premiere biker magazine (or “rag,” to use the biker colloquial term) on the newsstands. Most of the ladies Easyriders featured on their covers, at least in the early days of the magazine, were not well-known or even professional models However, not all who’ve graced the covers and pages were amateur models. In fact, several were lades who were already, or shortly thereafter went on to become, top names in the porn industry. My educated guess is that, back in the 1980s,  Easyriders‘ contributing photographers hired some of their models through Jim South’s World Modeling Agency. The most (in)famous model being their November 1985 cover girl Traci Lords (above), who at the time and unbeknownst to Easyriders‘ staff or even the adult entertainment industry, was underage. When she posed for the her Easyriders shoot, she was no older than 17. Traci went on to have a successful mainstream acting and later singing career. These days, she is still active in the entertainment  industry and has launched her own fashion line with Pinup Girl Clothing.

Traci Lords may have been the most infamous porn starlet to grace the cover of Easyriders, but she sure wasn’t the first or last. What follows are several more covers of issues that featured top porn starlets of the late-70s “Golden Age” era, the 80s-90s video era, as well as a couple from the post-2000 Internet era. All were also featured in spreads in the issues they graced the covers of, adorning the bikes, but, with the exception of Marilyn Chambers, no mention was made of their work in the adult film industry.


Nancy Suiter

The August 1978 cover featured then-yet-to-be porn star Nancy Suiter. Shortly after her Easyriders cover appearance, Nancy made her adult film debut in the 1979 film The Ecstasy Girls, in which she had a small role. She followed that one up with a more prominent role in Taxi Girls, released later that same year. Just like her fellow adult starlet at the time, Rhonda Jo Petty, was billed as a Farrah Fawcett lookalike, Nancy was billed as a Cheryl Ladd lookalike. This was aimed at cashing in on the then-huge popularity of the TV show Charlie’s Angels, in which by 1979, Farrah had departed from and Cheryl, her successor, was starring in. Nancy has been residing in the “Whatever Happened to..?” file ever since she left the adult entertainment biz in the early-1980s.


Kandi Barbour

Six and a half years before Miss Lords was spotlighted, Kandi Barbour graced the April 1979 cover. Kandi passed away in January of 2012. Kandibarbour.Wordpress.com, seemingly created for the sole purpose of telling Kandi’s story, gives a good account of her life and times.


Marilyn Chambers

The iconic Marilyn Chambers appeared on the cover of the November 1980 issue. Of course and unlike with the other ladies included in this article, the folks at Easyriders were well-aware of the fact that Miss Chambers was a famous porn star at the time, having already appeared in such X-rated classics as Behind the Green Door and Insatiable. Marilyn passed away at her Southern California home in 2009 at age 56.


Julia Parton

June 1983 cover girl Julia Parton went by the stage name “Nina Alexander” until it got out in 1990 that she was a cousin of country music star Dolly Parton. After that, she began using her real name to cash in by being billed as Dolly’s cousin. Perhaps Julia’s the one member of the Parton clan never talked about at family gatherings.


Lois Ayres

Sondra Stillman/Lois Ayers graced the cover of the April 1983 issue at the dawn of her career in the adult business. Yours truly had the pleasure of meeting Miss Ayers at a dancing engagement at one of San Francisco’s then-top live adult theaters shortly after her first stint in porn and she was looking tanned, toned, and better than ever. She took a hiatus after that and returned to hardcore for another stint before retiring in the mid-1990s. She had a Myspace page (which she deleted around 2007) in which she stated in her profile something to the effect of; “Most of you are aware of my past, and that’s where I want to keep it.” She now also resides in the “Whatever Happened to..?” file.


Tracey Adams

February 1984 cover girl Tracey Adams was a top star during the mid-to-late 80s. She also did a few B-movies under her real name, Deborah Blaisdell. Tracey/Deborah is another former X-film starlet currently residing in the “Whatever Happened to..?” file.


Susan Hart

January 1985’s cover girl, Susan Hart (not to be confused with the actress and American International Pictures heiress of the same name) never became as big a name in the adult industry as ladies like Marilyn Chambers or Ginger Lynn, but she had her fanbase and a fairly prolific career in the 80s.


Shannon

To date, May 1986 cover girl Shannon is probably the only transsexual lady who has graced the cover of, or been featured in, Easyriders magazine. However, like Traci Lords’ true age, Shannon’s original gender was most likely unbeknownst to the folks at Easyriders magazine. According to adult industry sources, Shannon, who also went by Catherine Crystal and Crystal Evans, had sex reassignment surgery no later than 1984, so it’s safe to assume that she was post-operative at the time of her Easyriders shoot.


Crissa Bo Bozlee

Although she couldn’t be considered a bonafide porn star, June 1986 cover girl Crissa “Bo” Bozlee’s ties to the adult entertainment industry and her appearance in the February 1988 issue of Penthouse magazine earn her an honorable mention here. Besides the aforementioned, her notoriety as the Soldier of Fortune magazine cover girl and poster girl almost equaled that of her being the then-girlfriend of Chuck Traynor, whose ex’s before Crissa included Linda Lovelace (Deep Throat) and Marilyn Chambers.


Dana Dylan

Late-80s star Dana Dylan, who also went by Sheri Sloan, was the September 1987 cover model.


Zara WhitesFebruary 1991 cover girl was Dutch-born early-90s star Zara Whites.


1994-08 Bobbie Brown & Jenna JamesonPorn icon Jenna Jameson (right, wearing what looks like a brown wig) graced the August 1994 cover at the dawn of her career. Jenna’s co-cover girl here is model Bobbie Brown, who, at this time was (and perhaps still is) best known as the girl featured in Warrant’s 1990 “Cherry Pie” music video.


Gina LamarcaThe July 1995 cover featured top 1990’s star Gina LaMarca. Her time in the adult entertainment industry sort of bridged the gap between the end of the video era to the dawn of the Internet era. She was also the 1995 Penthouse Pet of the Year.


2011-09 Tasha Reign

Easyriders didn’t stop featuring porn stars after the VHS/DVD era. However, the post-90s starlets were already established in the adult industry (if you can refer to it as the “industry” in the Internet era) when they were featured in the magazine. An example is Tasha Reign, who graced the September 2011 issue (above). A former Hooters Girl and later stripper, Tasha made her hardcore debut in 2010.


Carmen Valentina

Carmen Valentina, who got into the adult industry in 2009, graced the cover of the August 2012 issue. In case anyone besides myself is wondering; I have no idea if any of the ladies featured in this article are/were actual motorcycle enthusiasts who actually ride/rode.


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2 Comments

  1. I was a subscriber to Easyriders from ’79 to ’90. After reading this article, I now wish I would have kept all these issues. I do remember all theses faces, but I just thought they were local amateur models. In the 90s, Easyriders became a more ‘polished’ magazine and started using professional models who were obviously professionals. Not sayin’ it was a good thing, just sayin’.

  2. Great article! Fortunately Easyriders back issues are still obtainable. So, with the exceptions of Traci Lords (who achieved mainstream success), Marilyn Chambers, and Kandi Barbour (RIP to both), where are these ladies today??

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