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Obituaries
Poly Styrene dies
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 26 April 2011
Poly Styrene, an icon of the British seventies punk scene and best known as frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, has died after losing a battle with breast cancer.
Marianne Elliott-Said was inspired to form punk band X-Ray Spex after seeing the Sex Pistols play in the mid-seventies. It was a short lived venture that resulted in just five singles and an album, ‘Germ Free Adolescents’, but they definitely made their mark on the British punk scene, not least because of Elliott-Said’s distinct vocals and their biggest single release, ‘Oh Bondage, Up Yours!’
Despite rising interest in the band, Elliott-Said quit in 1979. She released one solo album, but then disappeared from the music scene until a surprise X-Ray Spex reunion show in 1991. A more full on reunion in 1995 resulted in a second album, ‘Conscious Consumer’, though plans for a trilogy of records never materialised. Nevertheless, there was another reunion show in 2008.
More recently Elliott-Said recorded a second solo album, working with producer Youth. The album was released last month, though plans to promote and tour it were halted when he was diagnosed with cancer.
A brief statement was posted to her official Facebook and Twitter this morning, reading: “We can confirm that the beautiful Poly Styrene, who has been a true fighter, won her battle on Monday evening to go to higher places”.
