Samantha Fox1 Biography

Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English dance-pop singer, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at the age of 16, she began her modelling career on Page Three of The Sun, and went on to become a popular pin-up girl. In 1986, she launched her pop music career with her debut single "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", which became a Number 1 hit in 17 countries. She has since sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Fox has also appeared in a number of films and reality television shows, and has occasionally worked as a television presenter. She had a brief comeback with Marc Mysterio on the song 'Tomorrow' within which Samantha provided guest vocals.

Background

The eldest daughter of the late John Patrick Fox and Carole Ann Wilken, Samantha Karen Fox comes from a family of market traders from Chapel Market, Islington, London. She has a sister, Vanessa, who is six years younger, a half-sister, Frederica, and a half brother, Frankie, from her father's second marriage.

Fox attended St Thomas More Catholic School, Wood Green and took an interest in the theatre from an early age. She first appeared on a theatre stage at the age of three, and was enrolled in the Anna Scher Theatre School from the age of 5. Her first television appearance came in 1976, at the age of 10, in a BBC play entitled No Way Out. Following on from this, she started at the Mountview Theatre School, near her home in Haringey, at the age of 11.

At the age of 14, Fox formed her first band, Karl Boseley on the Bongos, with Richard Smart on guitar, Edward Gallagher on triangle and Bob Day on tambourine. Her first record deal came a year later, with Lamborghini Records. However, both her theatre and music careers went on hold when her modelling career took off. Samantha's band was called S.F.X and in 1983 they released their first record 'Rockin' With My Radio/My Old Man'. In 1984, S.F.X released a second record 'Aim To Win/17 and Holding'. Both singles were released by Lamborghini Records on 7 and 12 inch formats. The songs were later re-issued in 1986 by Genie Records.

Modelling career

Carole Fox photographed her 16-year-old daughter Samantha in lingerie, submitting several pictures to The Sunday People newspaper's Girl of the Year amateur modelling contest. She came in second and the photographs drew her to the attention of the Sun newspaper where her first topless shots were run. By March 1984 Fox had left school and signed a two year contract with the newspaper for "?2000 a week; she was the youngest person ever at the time to be a Page Three pinup. Other reports had the contract as being for five years.

Fox was named The Sun's Page Three Girl of the Year award for three consecutive years between 1984 and 1986.

Fox retired from Page Three modelling in 1986, at the age of 20, and recorded 'Touch Me'. In 1995, aged 29, she made a one-off appearance in The Sun to promote Page Three's 25th anniversary week. After receiving an overwhelmingly positive reader response, she appeared in the slot every day during the anniversary week, with Friday's final topless picture given away as an A3-sized poster. In 1996, aged 30, she appeared in the October issue of Playboy magazine.

Music career

In the late-1980s, Fox began a singing career on Jive Records, producing five albums in six years (1986"1992), and working with notable music producers such as Stock Aitken Waterman and Full Force.

1980s

Fox released her debut single, "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", in March 1986. The single made the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic (#3 in the UK; #4 in the US). It also topped the charts in 17 countries, including Canada, South Africa and Australia. Her debut live performance came at Peter Stringfellow's club Hippodrome. Her second single "Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)" also made #10 in the UK though fared less well in the US. The third release from the album, "Hold On Tight", managed to secure a top 30, placing in the UK singles chart (#26) while the final single, "I'm All You Need", just narrowly missed the UK Top 40 (#41).

Within a year, Fox had released her second album, Samantha Fox (1987), again on Jive Records. The first single released from the album, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now", enabled her to achieve her third (and final) top ten hit in the UK (#8), although it only managed to peak at #80 on the US Billboard charts. The track was produced by the production team Stock/Aitken/Waterman. The second single release, "I Surrender (To the Spirit of the Night)", failed to match the success of its predecessor in the UK and peaked at #23 in the UK. The next two releases, "I Promise You (Get Ready)" and "True Devotion", both failed altogether to make the UK Top 40 singles chart. The fifth and final single, "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)", turned the fortunes of the album around and managed to secure a top ten placing on the US Billboard charts (#3), becoming her biggest hit to date in the US and scoring Fox another Top 40 hit on the UK singles chart (#31). The track was a different sound for Fox, being produced by the US hip-hop producers Full Force. They would continue to work with Samantha on subsequent albums and achieve similar success with her stateside, whereas her changed sound did not fare as well for her with European listeners, who preferred the Euro-pop sound of her earlier music.

The following year, Fox released her third album, I Wanna Have Some Fun (1988), also on Jive Records. The album was produced by various producers covering the Euro-pop sound. Two tracks, "Next to Me" and the title track, reunited her for Full Force, where another reunion with Stock/Aitken/Waterman saw her record a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You", and the SAW original "You Started Something". The first UK single released from the album was "Love House". The second single released in the UK, "I Only Wanna Be with You", managed to secure her biggest hit in over a year, peaking in the Top 20 at #16. The first single release in the US fared even better. The title selection, "I Wanna Have Some Fun", produced by Full Force, managed to peak in the US Top Ten at #8 (although when released as the third single in the UK it only managed a #63 placing). The American release, as the follow-up, of "I Only Wanna Be with You" peaked inside the US Billboard Top 40 at #31. No further singles were released from the album.

1990s

In 1991, Fox released her fourth album, Just One Night, again on Jive Records. The first single lifted from the album, "(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" was another Full Force production. However, the lead single failed to make an impression in either the UK or US charts. Second single, "Another Woman", originally produced by Ralf-Rene Maue, was remixed by PWL stable-mate Phil Harding for release and performed moderately on some European charts. A third single, the album's title track, was also released. A bonus track, "Now I Lay Me Down" (again a Full Force production), was featured in the film A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and on the accompanying soundtrack.

In 1992, Jive released Samantha's first official compilation, Greatest Hits, which featured three new tracks. Fox co-wrote and performed the track "Go for the Heart" for UK submission in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995. It was performed as Sox featuring Cris Bonacci and Lorraine McIntosh. The song placed 4th in preliminary public voting and was therefore not selected as the representative track. "Go for the Heart" was a modest hit in some European territories.

In 1998, Fox released a new album, 21st Century Fox. It performed moderately throughout Europe and Scandinavia. Without a worldwide distribution deal the album suffered from little promotion and a staggered release schedule. Singles "The Reason Is You", "Deeper", "Let Me Be Free" and "Perhaps" made little chart impression (although "Let Me Be Free" was a Top 20 hit in The Netherlands) despite Fox making numerous television appearances to promote the album.

In 1998, Fox released a single together with DJ Milano, "Santa Maria", which charted at #31 in the UK chart and was a Top 10 hit in Austria, Scandinavia and the Czech Republic. In 1999, Fox was cast in her first stage musical, Tayla Goodman's Virus, but she had to withdraw when the backer pulled his money.

2000s

Fox co-wrote the song "Dreams" for girl group All Saints's 2000 album, Saints & Sinners, but was credited as "Karen Wilkin" because the group refused to record the song if Fox's real name was used.

In 2004, Fox teamed up with Mats Söderlund (alias Günther) in order to do a remake of "Touch Me", which charted #1 in Sweden and Top 10 in other Scandinavian countries. In November 2005, Fox released the album, Angel with an Attitude produced by Joe Barrucco, in Canada. It was reissued in Australia to coincide with the Countdown Tour and included a new version of "Touch Me". 2008 saw the release of "Midnight Lover", a Euro-dance collaboration with Greek production team Zante Dilemma. In the summer of the same year, Samantha Fox performed at Sopot Festival in Poland, during a concert dedicated to the music of the 1980s, alongside Sandra, Sabrina Salerno and Thomas Anders (ex-Modern Talking).

In October 2009 Fox's first three albums were reissued in the US with bonus tracks. In December 2009, her latest compilation was issued, Greatest Hits, both in single CD and double CD formats.

2010s

In 2010, Fox teamed up with trance superstar 4 Strings to release a new single, "Forever". Summer 2010 saw the release of a duet with Italian singer Sabrina in which they performed a cover version of Blondie's hit "Call Me". Released in Italy on 15 June 2010, the single peaked at #4 in the Italian Dance Singles Sales Chart on the first week of July.

On 10 August 2010, The Beatles Complete On Ukulele released her reimagining of The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better" featuring ukulele.

Fox is touring France from February"May 2012 with dates on her official website she has written the title theme for a movie 'The Beautiful Outsiders' to be released soon. She is working on her seventh studio album with Full Force and Steve Strange as well as working on her autobiography. Steve Strange revealed on Twitter, that the name of the first single is "Dirty N' Flirty".

In 2012, Samantha Fox re-released her first four albums as 2-CD "deluxe edition" sets with unreleased bonus tracks and remixes of all the singles from all four albums.

Film and television

Fox was invited to star in a Bollywood film Rock Dancer.

In the late 1980s, Fox appeared in television adverts for Leicestershire-based car dealership network with the slogan "Follow the Fox to Swithland Motors".

In 1989, Fox co-presented the BRIT Awards with Mick Fleetwood, which became notorious for turning into a shambles; Fox has asserted in interviews since that the autocue did not work properly that night. She spent a year in New York presenting pop promo videos for MTV, and she made other attempts at TV presenting, including an interview with Rolf Harris, which was ill-fated even before it started as Fox referred to her interviewee as "Ralph" on several occasions, annoying the normally genial Harris.

Fox appeared on the sitcom Charles in Charge in 1990 where she played the role of Samantha Steele, a fictional rock star whose agent pushes her to romance Charles (Scott Baio) in order to get the paparazzi to print it in the tabloids. Fox featured in the ITV programme An Audience with... Ken Dodd (1994). Fox also featured in the movie It's Been Real, written and directed by Steve Varnom and starring John Altman, and The Match, written and directed by Mick Davis and starring Pierce Brosnan, Ian Holm, Tom Sizemore, Neil Morrissey, David Hayman and Ilar Blair. In 2003, she appeared in a reality television show The Club, competing against Richard Blackwood and Dean Gaffney by trying to run the most successful bar in The Club, which was full of celebrity guests such as Katie "Jordan" Price.

In 2008, Fox and her partner, Myra, took part in Celebrity Wife Swap, exchanging with Freddie Starr and his wife Donna. In November 2009, she took part in ITV's I'm a Celebrity?Get Me Out of Here. She was voted out on the 16th day. In July 2010, Fox took part in a celebrity episode of Come Dine With Me, appearing with Calum Best, Janice Dickinson & Jeff Brazier. In early 2011, Fox presented her 50 favourite hits of the 1980s on VH-1 in the UK.

Personal life

Fox's father Patrick, a former carpenter, managed her career until 1991, when Fox hired accountants to trace over £1 million that she believed he had embezzled from her accounts. She then sued her father, who by then had divorced and remarried, and in May 1995 she was awarded a £363,000 court settlement. Patrick Fox died in 2000, at which time he and Fox had not spoken for almost a decade.

In 1994, it was reported that Fox had become a born-again Christian. That year, she played at the Christian arts festival Greenbelt.

In the late 1980s Fox became romantically linked with Australian con man Peter Foster. They began dating but she turned down his marriage proposal. She had also a relationship with Paul Stanley, guitarist and singer of the rock band Kiss. Rumours regarding Fox's sexual orientation began to surface in 1999 when she judged a lesbian beauty pageant, and rumours started to circulate that the woman she resided with " Cris Bonacci, the Australian former guitarist for the rock band Girlschool " was in fact her lover. However though the two women did reside together, neither has stated publicly that they were lovers. Prior to Bonacci, Fox shared her home with Debbie Connor, but again it has not been stated by Fox that she and Connor were romantically linked, and they have said they were "best mates".

In February 2003, she made a statement about her personal life: "I have slept with other women but I've not been in love before Myra Stratton. People say I'm gay... I don't know what I am. All I know is that I'm in love with Myra [Stratton, my manager]. I love her completely and want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Fox said that part of her reluctance to come out was due to fears of how some of her fans might react to her being in relationship with a woman, as she had already had to deal with obsessed fans and stalkers. In August 2009, Samantha Fox announced her plans to have a civil partnership with Stratton.

Charitable activity

Samantha Fox donated her favourite bra to a charity auction which allowed fans to buy a piece of celebrity clothing. Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association's Strip It Off three-day auction which began on 4 March 2008 saw members of the public bidding for stars' garments in order to raise money for the deaf blind charity.

In June 2011, she appeared as part of a campaign for LGBT charity The Albert Kennedy Trust.

Discography

• 1986: Touch Me
• 1987: Samantha Fox
• 1988: I Wanna Have Some Fun
• 1991: Just One Night
• 1992: Greatest Hits
• 1998: 21st Century Fox
• 2002: Watching You, Watching Me
• 2005: Angel with an Attitude
• 2009: Greatest Hits