In the late 70s and early 80s you performed at the legendary Country Councils and danced at Bangs and the Sombrero clubs. What was your favorite venue of that era?
The club called Hell. It was really a knock on from the original Blitz crowd - Rusty Egan and Chris Sullivan ran it and I liked the idea of saying ‘I am going to Hell!’ There is a common misconception that Boy George and Marilyn were the original Blitz Kids but in fact it was Princess Julie, Rusty and Chris, also John Galliano and Lee Bowery. Hell saw the movement become mad for soul and I just loved it – until the police closed it in 1979.
You have been with your partner Mark Summerfield for over thirty years now. How did you meet and was it love at first sight?
It’s been 36 years all together. Mark and I met at Screen On the Hill, at a Carmen Miranda movie. Afterwards there was a band called Havana playing and we have never looked back.
You’ve worked with David Bowie, who I understand was bit of fan of yours. Where were you when you heard the news of his death?
I was in bed; it was a real Diana moment. I just looked down and saw the news and did not believe it. He was a lovely man. So many of my friends were such Bowie fans, it was like a part of them had died. I was just in shock. We have lost so many in the last few years. It felt like the end of an era.
What was it like meeting David for the first time?
It was four in the morning and I was on the set of the video Jazzin for Blue Jeans. Most of the extras were either from club Hell, as were the extras on Absolute Beginners. There was a huge excitement as Bowie arrived but to be honest although I liked him it wasn’t to the extent that so many of my peers did. So maybe it was unfair that I was first to meet him as he walked into my dressing room.
First, he much taller than you would imagine. My mouth opened and I said: ‘You don’t have one eye a different colour from the other, you just have a big pupil’. He seemed to find this amusing and hung out chatting music hall songs. Months later I was on the set of Absolute Beginners and again there was a lot of excitement as Bowie arrived. But this time he said: "Where’s Ferret?"