10:00pm Friday 16th October 2009
By Tom King
THE year is 1972, and an ambitious 17-year-old model is just embarking on what will turn out to be a stellar career, although she could hardly have guessed what a roller-coaster ride lay in store.
This picture of Jo Karslake, from Benfleet, was taken by a friend and neighbour, Hadleigh photographer and writer Robert Hallmann.
Now, 37 years later, Jo Karslake is Jo Wood, famous for her appearances on Strictly Come Dancing and her three-decade long marriage to Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones.
Mr Hallmann recalls he was introduced to Jo by a friend at the local camera club.
“He told me ‘I know this girl who wants to be a model, you might be able to do something with her.’ “She turned out to be a natural. I photographed her in various locations around Benfleet, and on the Suffolk coast.
“Her career took off when I showed a shot I had taken of her clutching a daisy to the editor of the Daily Mirror. He bought it instantly.” Of all the shots, Mr Hallmann particularly remembers one of Jo in hot-pants, standing on a Canvey jetty.
Jo Karslake lived at the time in Benfleet’s old vicarage with her family. After several more high-impact appearances in various publications, Jo found a London agent and moved to the City.
“I didn’t deal any more with her after that, but I remained friendly with her parents,” says Mr Hallmann. “I learnt she was living in Edgware Road. Then she met the Rolling Stones and the rest is marital history.”
He recalls that Jo was “easy to work with”, and her mother looked after her clothes and make-up. “She even came up with a complete gipsy outfit”.
Jo Wood’s ability to reinvent herself means the vintage photos are once again being snapped up by newspapers and magazines.
“I’m glad now that I kept them,” says Mr Hallmann.
“It just shows you should never throw anything away.”
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