The model behind Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ album cover identified after 42 years
Rio album cover art - redrawn by Atmospheres for Spaces
The mystery behind the identity of the model on Duran Duran's iconic album cover for "Rio" has finally been solved.
After decades of pondering by tens of thousands of fans, idly thumbing through the liner notes on their beds in the early 1980s as Hungry Like The Wolf blared in the background, we now know who the model graphically illustrated on Duran Duran’s Rio album cover is: Marcie Hunt.
“…and I might find her if I’m looking like I can.”
Simon Le Bon
The famous painting of Rio was a slightly tweaked reproduction of an original painting by graphic artist Patrick Nagel, which itself was, as discovered by the owner of Instagram account @nagel_angel and published by @patricknagelarts, based on images from an editorial for the fashion designer, Angelo Tarlazzi in Vogue Paris’s February 1981 edition.
Patrick sadly passed away just 2 years after Rio’s release but the photo (inset, right) that the album cover was based on was confirmed as authentic by Patrick’s then technical art assistant, Barry Hahn.
During the final stages of the album’s completion, Duran Duran looked through many images and photographs to try and find the killer shot that captured the energy and exotic glamour of the music of the international jet-setting playboys.
As soon as they saw Nagel’s painting, they all agreed: “That’s it!”… and the rest is history.
One of the most delightful aspects of this story is that, not only did the band not know the original identity of the real woman behind Rio, but Marcie herself had no idea too.
Another Patrick Nagel piece from his series of stylised models
Credit: HA.com
She later said that she loved Duran Duran’s music and often danced to their music in clubs - even playing one of their tracks during her wedding (we’re guessing it was Save a Prayer!).
It’s difficult to comprehend the impact on somebody who has unwittingly been the very image of such an important part of pop culture history, to have lived all those years being a fan of the band and playing the record without ever knowing that you were the face behind the cover.
Marcie’s distinctive look and striking pose perfectly captured the essence of Rio and the zeitgest of the early 80s. The image helped establish the album as a visual and musical masterpiece that still endures 42 years on.
With the revelation of Marcie as the mystery model, the album has taken on new significance, adding another layer of intrigue to an already legendary piece of pop culture history.
Reema Ruspoli, the model in the music video of Rio. One suspects the band looked long and hard for a lookalike, while all along the actual Rio, Marcia Hunt, was available