If there’s one group of people who have raised the collective eyebrow of society more than any other, it’s those singular iconoclasts who have chosen to buck social conventions and never marry — not even once. PART ONE

If there’s one group of people who have raised the collective eyebrow of society more than any other, it’s those iconoclasts who have chosen to buck social conventions and never marry — not even once. This series, exclusively for SingularCity, takes a look at the few, the proud, the never-married, and how they illustrate throughout history, a life without marriage can bring singular satisfaction.

 

Bill Maher

The man has made political satire a media empire. Bill Maher, 54, has had a legendary career as a stand-up comedian, written four books, helmed three successful television talk shows and, most recently, written, produced and narrated Religulous, a scathing documentary that boldly questions religious belief.

If gossip, steamy tell-alls and court cases are to be believed, Maher’s taste in women runs a wide gamut. Of his dating habits, Maher says, “I couldn’t go out with bimbos if I tried! I scare them off! The women that like me are smart.”

Avowedly agnostic, professionally politically incorrect and a gleeful provocateur, Maher cheerfully flouts social conventions. “I always compare marriage to communism,” he said in a Rolling Stone interview. “They’re both institutions that don’t conform to human nature, so you’re going to end up with lying and hypocrisy.”

Given his outspoken views, Maher hardly keeps it a secret that as a highly politicized single dude, he puts the “libertine” in “Libertarian.”

 

Coco Chanel

Modern women owe the existence of the following to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel: the little black dress, pants, unconstructed suits, sling-back pumps, bobbed hair and ropes of pearls.

Chanel also created a collection of bons mots that are as lasting and relevant today as they were when she first dropped them. “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous,” “There is time for work, and time for love. That leaves no other time” and “Great loves too must be endured” are aphorisms worthy of Oscar Wilde.

Chanel was more than a dress designer: She was the architect of the modern woman, a woman who wore comfortable but complimentary clothing such as suits based on menswear but impeccably tailored for the female form, a woman who defined herself by her work and unapologetically lived her life on her own highly luxe terms.

Which is not to say that Chanel never relied on men. Rather, she took them up and put them down with a kind of casual grace. When the Duke of Westminster asked Chanel to marry him, she declined and later commented, “I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.” Chanel died in 1971 at 87; her unrepentant and stylish modernism lives on.

 

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt the Stilt, the Big Dipper, the Chairman of the Boards — no matter what you called him, Wilt Chamberlain was a Goliath of a basketball player. Standing 7 feet 1 inch, Chamberlain played center for the L.A. Lakers, the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Yet his selection to 13 all-star games, his four MVP awards or even his two NBA winning titles don’t immediately pop into minds when Chamberlain’s name is mentioned. What does is his claim in his 1992 autobiography A View From Above that he had sex with over 20,000 women.

In his defense, Chamberlain said, “The point of using the number was to show that sex was a great part of my life as basketball was a great part of my life. That’s the reason why I was single.”

A pick-up artist who made Mystery look like a rank amateur, Chamberlain nevertheless maintained a reputation for being polite in his seductions.

 

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow has the best rock-’n’-roll hair this side of Ann and Nancy Wilson. She also has fantastic arms and a killer midriff; it’s a super bod that has kept her in step with superman boyfriends like Lance Armstrong, John Stamos, John Cusack, Ryan Seacrest and, most recently, restaurateur John Cassimus.

More importantly, Crow’s assertively healthy lifestyle helped her overcome breast cancer in 2006 and adopt a son in 2007.

Today, at 48, Crow looks really, really good. Natural. And strong enough to be your favorite rock-and-roll woman. Which is probably what really explains Crow’s longevity.

In a sea of girl singer wannabes, Crow reads as a real woman with real pain and the real honesty to sing about the whole mess. Take “Diamond Ring” from her Detours disc: “Diamonds may be sweet/ But to me/ They just bring on/ Cold feet … Diamond Ring/Don’t mean a thing.”

Always public about her bouts with depression, her progressive politics and her personal struggles, Crow writes songs that tread the fine line between pop and poetry.

Crow may be the only woman in the current pop-rock scene who fearlessly and unapologetically presents herself as being the singular woman she really is.

Next week: PART TW0 of the Never Marrieds