Carmella Scaggs — noted S.F. socialite and singer’s ex-wife
Carmella Scaggs, who was drawn to San Francisco from Seattle by the music scene in the 1960s, married Boz Scaggs and joined the San Francisco social swirl, died Friday.
Mrs. Scaggs died at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco of complications from open heart surgery, according to her son, Austin Scaggs of Nashville. She was 71.
“She was lively and funny and vivacious and a joy to be with,” said Jann Wenner, editor and publisher of Rolling Stone, who stood as witness when Boz Scaggs and the former Carmella Storniola were married in Aspen, Colo. The marriage lasted less than a decade, but it produced two sons and propelled Mrs. Scaggs toward the top of the social heap. She became a great friend of Ann Getty. Both tall, they played pickup basketball together on an outdoor court.
“Carmella was warm and witty and a friend who was always there for you,” said Getty. “She had a bold and interesting style and when she entered a room, everyone turned around and looked at her.”
Among the heads she turned was that of Boz Scaggs, a tall and skinny guitarist who came from Texas with the Steve Miller Band. He spun off as a solo act and was on his way up as a singer with a high and lonesome tenor.
His future wife had grown up in Seattle. Her parents had died young and there was no one to stop her from heading for San Francisco. With her Sicilian American good looks and fashion-model figure, she was able to charm her way into the right rooms on the right nights.
“My mom being beautiful and the life of the party, it was only a matter of time before they met and fell in love,” said Austin Scaggs.
By the mid-’70s, Boz Scaggs had transitioned from a Texas bluesman toward a white-shoes pop crooner with two hit albums, “Slow Dancer” and “Silk Degrees.” The couple took a ski trip to Aspen with Wenner and his then-wife and got married on a whim.
Gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson was recruited to be the wedding photographer, but he was too loaded to remember to put film in the camera. The honeymooners returned to San Francisco and bought a house on Clay Street in Presidio Heights. Their sons, Oscar and Austin, were born a year apart, and both attended the prestigious Town School for Boys.
“When I came to the city in the 1970s, it was all about Carmella and Boz,” said longtime friend and event planner Daniel Detorie. “As far as Pacific Heights society, everybody wanted them at their party. They were the creme de la creme.”
With her husband and without him after their divorce in 1980, Mrs. Scaggs attended opening galas and was a regular at Stars, a fraternity house for the glitterati operated by Jeremiah Tower in the heart of the Civic Center.
Mrs. Scaggs appeared frequently in the column of the late Chronicle society editor Pat Steger and was also a favorite of the late columnist Herb Caen. Once when Caen was covering a society cruise on the Nile in Egypt, Mrs. Scaggs made a dramatic arrival from Naples in the company of a movie producer.
But that was just one side of her. She was also a dedicated reader who collected first editions and always brought her boys to Tower Records on Tuesdays when the new releases came out.
She’d hit groundballs to them at Julius Kahn Playground in Presidio Heights and did duty as a room mother on school field trips.
“She was the mom that everyone wanted,” said Austin Scaggs.
Once her boys moved out, Mrs. Scaggs moved from Presidio Heights to a house on Russian Hill, and became a dealer in rare books and antiques. She also dabbled in interior decorating.
A brief 1988 marriage to New Orleans architect David Waggoner ended in divorce. The turning point in her life came on New Year’s Eve 1998, when her older son, Oscar, 21, was found dead of a heroin overdose.
“Losing my brother was the most traumatic event of her life,” said Austin Scaggs. “She withdrew from the social scene, but she never withdrew from friends.”
But those friends felt the change, as well. “Her friends made an effort to get her out,” said Getty, “but she just withdrew more.”
Survivors include son Austin William Scaggs and his wife, Louisa Scaggs, and grandchildren Levon Oscar Scaggs and Poet Darling Scaggs.
A private memorial service will be held.