STEVE STRANGE

The impact that Steve Strange has had on London's club scene cannot be underestimated, even if it is often overshadowed by his music credentials. Unfortunately, his last couple of club ventures in this decade seem to have lasted 5 minutes and made him no money. That doesn't mean they weren't any good. Pcokz at Sway, Covent Garden, and Chase The Dragon at Opium in Soho both had a lot of potential and even played host to some good parties, but still died a death very quickly. Growing up in the family butcher shop in 60s' Wales wasn't exactly the sort of existence Steve had planned for himself. A move to the bright-lights-big-city could only be de rigueur for someone bent on playing the fame game. The dandy-like teenager did just that and got a job cleaning the toilets at Roxy, Covent Garden's legendary punk dive. It wasn't as bad it sounds. Steve was already singing with The Moors Murderers, alongside Chrissie Hynde. He was also helping out at The Rich Kids' office, being close to the band's drummer, the entrepreneurial Rusty Egan. Rusty conveniently also promoted Billy's, a popular club night on the electronic scene. Things really started moving when the pair founded a Tuesday club night called The Blitz. To begin with, it didn't look particularly promising, given that it took place at a sad wine bar tucked away behind Holborn station. Soon though, the golden youth of the day not only adopted the place, but made the effort to work a thousand pantomimic outfits and hairstyles on a planetary scale. Some media hack called them 'new romantics' and, hey presto, a youth sub-culture was born. Steve capitalised on that success by launching his band Visage. The Blitz ended only after 18 months when the building suitably burned down. The Strange one then attempted repeating the winning formula with Club For Heroes at Baker Street's Barracudas, but it wasn't until he set foot at The Camden Palace in '83 that his ship came in again. Alas, that also met a sticky end when plain-clothed officers caught Steve red-handed snorting coke in the toilets. That pretty much spelt the end of Steve Strange's career, as success has mysteriously eluded him since. Beside taking part in '80s revival tours or hosting the odd party here and there, not much is heard from the naughty-but-nice fallen idol these days. He's presumably living off royalties from his Visage 'Best Of' DVD. Oh, and he made a bob or two out of his hilarious appearance on the reality show Celebrity Scissorhands, which is coming back for a second series soon. Oh, and he relaunched The Blitz (almost 30 years later) in Shoreditch, in September, as a monthly event with his old pals Rusty Egan and Rosemary Turner. We wish them continued success.