Julie E Kitaen was pronounced dead by a coroner this Friday morning in Orange County. She was better known as Tawny Kitaen with her appearance in a handful of Whitesnake music videos through the ’80s. Variety is reporting that there is currently no cause of death. She was found alone in her Newport Beach home.
Early Life In Cali
Tawny Kitaen was born in San Diego, California back in 1961 to Linda & Terry Kitaen. In an interview she did with Screamer Magazine back in 2011, she mentioned that her father took her & some of her friends to their first concert when Tawny was only 14. They got to see Peter Frampton at Balboa Stadium and got backstage passes for after the show. During the interview, she mentions that she wanted to be a part of that energy that she felt backstage.
Tawny first got into the California rock scene when she appeared on the album cover of RATT‘s debut EP in 1983. She quickly followed that up by appearing on RATT‘s debut album cover by the name of Out of the Cellar. Â
The England-based glam/hard rock band Whitesnake featured Tawny in four of their music videos during their tremendous 1980’s run. They were: “Here I Go Again”, “Still of the Night”, “Is This Love,” and “The Deeper the Love”. She would later return to where she got stared and appeared in RATT‘s “Back for More” music video.
Months after she appeared in Out of the Cellar, she would appear in the 1984 sex comedy: Bachelor Party. Which stars Tom Hanks before he became a national treasure. Tawny was also featured in TV shows such as Seinfeld, Married…With Children, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and even hosted a couple of episodes of America’s Funniest People.
Julie E Kitaen leaves behind her two daughters, Wynter and Raine, who are currently living with their father and retired Major League Baseball player, Chuck Finley. Our regards go out to their family at this difficult time.
