Samantha Fox

English singer, songwriter, actress and former glamour model, coming as a strong No.17 in Steve Sullivan's "Glamour Girls - The Illustrated Encyclopedia," St. Martin's Griffin, NY, 1999. Fox was only 16 years old when her naked breasts greeted morning readers of the famous British tabloid, The Sun, and her fresh young blonde beauty, infectious smile, and 5'1", 99-pound, 36D-23-33 form shot her straight to the top." She had a pop music hit, "Touch Me (I Want Your Body);" 1986, selling more than four million copies worldwide. A calendar, video clip and album paved the way for a Playboy pictorial, 1996, as well as previous Oui, Penthouse, New Look and Club layouts. Talented, funny, and sincere, Sammy's inspired her fans with her uniquely styled dance, rock, house, and torch songs. She was born to a working class family who did the best they could, sending her to private school and avidly supporting her interests in swimming and singing. She wanted to sound just like Stevie Nicks, but couldn't quite get it. They also had to contend with a hip abnormality requiring Sam to wear a leg brace for three years. The family traded their East End home for nicer digs in the north, but Sammy kept her Cockney hard-working spirit and knew she'd be famous some day. In 1993, Sam's musical efforts with four school friends was noticed by Lamborghini Records. The company released two singles, which didn't chart or sell well. About that same time, Sam's mom entered a photo of her 16-year-old daughter into the "Face of '83" contest in the "Sunday People" magazine. Sam was a finalist and went on to take second place, but more importantly, her phenomenal figure got noticed by credible photographers; a refreshing change to the questionable sorts that had been after Sam for some time. Sam did a sitting with one of those pros for The Sun's "Page Three" feature. That tabloid was the most famous out of several in the UK that featured a daily topless picture of a young Brit lass in their paper. Sam's 36D assets and dazzling smile were an immediate hit and a star was born. An illustrious three year reign as the No.1 Page Three Girl, plus commercial endorsements, TV appearances, and international modeling opportunities, put Sam at the top of the European glamour scene. She had her own calendars, clothing line, night club, and a fan club boasting 10,000 members. Sammy wasn't the first Page Three girl to record a single. As a gimmick, it was pretty common. But Sam liked singing so much, she wanted it to be different. With her dad as manager, they negotiated with Jive Records to do a song named "Touch Me". The producer, Jon Astrop, was singularly impressed with her professionalism and enthusiasm. The efforts of all parties involved paid off big when "Touch Me" went silver after two weeks and on to No.3 in the British charts. Internationally, it did even better hitting No.1 in fourteen countries. Jive decided to produce an entire album and started a major publicity campaign. They decided to keep Sam's topless career and music career separate, and that distinction has continued to this day. After her 21st birthday she announced that she was leaving Page Three for good. When Jive brought Sam to the States with the support of RCA records, she enjoyed her biggest commercial success ever. "Miss America's" first single hit No.4 in the pop chart. She guest VJ'd on MTV for a month and started working hard on her second album. The idea was to create an image of a tough, street-smart, yet gorgeous woman and toss in a British accent. Fox continued to explore bawdy themes and don lusty garb as her third album. "Wanna Have Some Fun" hit the scene in 1988. Songs like "Next To Me," "Your House or My House" and "Hot For You" earned her an "airhead pop" label by most rock critics. They considered her efforts "a small step for humanity, a big step for lip gloss." She toured the world in 1989, embracing her new rock star life. The life she'd dreamed of since standing in front of her mirror at home singing into her hair brush. While the naughty-girl image was a commercial success, it's not what Sam wanted to do forever. Jive, however, was moving ever farther in that direction dealing exclusively in black urban dance music. Her fourth album, therefore, had a split personality: Full Force and C&C Music Factory the first half, and rock-pop for the rest. It was an excellent demonstration of Sam's versatility as she sounded great doing it all. But Jive's lack of enthusiasm, combined with a distribution problem led to the album falling through the cracks and being mostly ignored. Except for one "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer who gave it a much deserved "A" rating, even suggesting Sam could take Madonna's place as most provocative artist! The Greatest Hits album was Jive's final cash-in on Sam. Released without even asking her for inputs or writing a retrospective, it was the end of their contract with Sam. It was a mutually beneficial separation. Since that time, Sam's been making music on her own and waiting for the right deal to come along. She's been in the English papers for visiting the UK troops in Bosnia (before the American's made it safe!) and other charitable acts. Joined by other young models, Fox helped raise more than $1,000 for Bob Geldoff's African Relief project in 1983. In 1995, Sam took a chance to anonymously enter a song into the UK part of the Eurovision song contest. Known only for the merits of the song, Sam came in fourth out of 800 entries. Late that same year, Sam was extended a special invitation by The Sun to do one more photo shoot celebrating the 25th Anniversary of "Page Three." Sam appeared in the paper for an entire week, every day wearing a little less until Friday, when her first topless picture in eight years was printed poster size. n 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 career criminal Peter Foster. They began dating, but she turned down his marriage proposal. She also had a relationship with Paul Stanley, rhythm 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 circulated that the woman with whom she resided, Cris Bonacci, the Australian former lead guitarist for the rock band Girlschool, was her lover. The relationship was confirmed later by Bonacci in an interview. In 2003, Fox 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 she had been reluctant to come out because, having already dealt with obsessed fans and stalkers, she feared fans' possible reactions. In 2009, she announced her plans to form a civil partnership with Stratton. In 2015 Stratton died of cancer. She was 60 years old. Link to Wikipedia biography