Samantha Fox

Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966)[1] is a British singer, songwriter, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at age 16, she began appearing as a topless model on Page 3 of British tabloid newspaper The Sun, and continued as a Page 3 girl until 1986. During this time, Fox became the most popular pin-up girl of her era, as well as one of the most photographed British women of the 1980s.

This article is about the English model and singer. For the American pornographic actress, see Samantha Fox (pornographic actress).

Samantha Fox
Fox performing live in Rescaldina, Italy, 2009
Background information
Birth nameSamantha Karen Fox
Also known asSam Fox
Born (1966-04-15) 15 April 1966[1]
Mile End, London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • former glamour model
  • actress
  • TV personality
  • record producer
InstrumentsVocals
Years active
  • 1983–1987 (model)
  • 1986–present (singer)
Labels
Associated acts
Websitesamfox.com

In 1986, she launched a pop music career with her debut single "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", which peaked at number one in 17 countries, and became the first of her three top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart. Fox also had three songs reach the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100: "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)" and "I Wanna Have Some Fun".

In 1988, Fox received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Artist.[3] She has also appeared in a number of films and reality television shows, and has occasionally worked as a television presenter.

Early life

Samantha Fox is the elder daughter of actress Carole Ann Wilken and John Patrick Fox. Her sister is Vanessa and she has two half-siblings from her father's second marriage, Frederica and Frankie.[4] Fox comes from a family of market traders.

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 age 3, formed her first pop band with Richard Smart, Edward Gallagher, and Bob Day when she was fourteen years old. She was enrolled in the Anna Scher Theatre School from age 15.[5] The next year she got her first record deal, with Lamborghini Records.[6]

Career

Modelling and music

In 1983, when Fox was 16, she released her first single. Released on the Lamborghini Records label, "Rockin' With My Radio"/"My Old Man" was produced by Ian Gillan Band and Spencer Davis Group member Ray Fenwick, who also wrote the b-side. The collaboration with Fenwick continued into 1984 and her second single, "Aim to Win"/"17 and Holding", where he again produced and wrote the song on the b-side.

Also, in 1983, her mother submitted several photographs that she had taken of her daughter in lingerie to The Sunday People newspaper's Girl of the Year amateur modelling contest.[5][7] She came in second place out of 20,000 entrants and the photographs drew her to the attention of the newspaper The Sun, which invited her to pose for Page 3.[5][7]

Her parents gave their consent for her to pose topless, and her first Page 3 photograph appeared in the Sun on 22 February 1983.[8] She signed a four-year Page 3 modelling contract with the Sun,[9] and won its "Page 3 Girl of the Year" award for three consecutive years: 1984 to 1986.[10] She is recognised today as the most popular pin-up girl of her era, as well as one of the most-photographed British women of the 1980s.[11]

In 1986, Fox retired from Page 3 modelling, at the age of 20, and transitioned into a career in pop music. In 1995, aged 29, she made a one-off appearance in The Sun to promote Page 3's 25th anniversary. After receiving an overwhelmingly positive reader response, she appeared in the slot every day of that week, with Friday's final topless picture given away as an A3-sized poster. The following year, she appeared in the October issue of Playboy magazine.[12]

In December 2009, her latest compilation album was issued, Greatest Hits, both in single CD and double CD formats.[13] In 2012 her first 4 albums were-re-issued as double deluxe CDs by Cherry Red.

Film and television

In the late 1980s, Fox appeared in television advertisements for Leicestershire-based car dealership network with the slogan "Follow the Fox to Swithland Motors". Around the same time, she also appeared in television adverts for bingo in The Sun newspaper.[14]

In 1990, she appeared on the American sitcom Charles in Charge as Samantha Steele, a fictional rock star whose agent pushes her to romance Charles (Scott Baio) so the paparazzi will print it in the tabloids. She also featured in two films: 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 Richard E. Grant, Ian Holm and Tom Sizemore.

In 1995, under the group name 'Sox', Fox took part in A Song for Europe, the UK heat for the Eurovision Song Contest 1995. Her song Go for the Heart finished fourth of the eight shortlisted entries with 65,436 telephone votes and the single went on to reach No. 47 on the UK Singles Chart.[15] Also that year, she guest starred in the Hindi film Rock Dancer.

In 2008, Fox and her partner Myra Stratton 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 day 16. In 2010, she appeared in a celebrity episode of Come Dine with Me with Calum Best, Janice Dickinson, and Jeff Brazier. In 2016, Fox became a participant in Celebrity Big Brother 18, where she just missed out on reaching the final and finished in seventh place.

Personal life
Fox (left) and her partner Myra Stratton at the 2010 Fate Awards in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Fox's father Patrick, a former carpenter, managed her career until 1991, when she hired accountants to trace over £1 million (£2.2 million today) that she believed he had embezzled from her accounts. She sued her father, who by then had divorced and remarried, and in May 1995, she was awarded a £363,000 (£0.7 million today) court settlement.[16] Patrick Fox died in 2000, at which time they had not spoken for almost a decade.

In 1994, it was reported that Fox had become a born-again Christian;[17] that year she played at the Christian arts festival Greenbelt.[18]

In the late 1980s, Fox became romantically linked with Australian Peter Foster. They began dating, but she turned down his marriage proposal.[19] She also had a relationship with Paul Stanley, rhythm guitarist and singer of the rock band Kiss.[20][21] 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.[22]

In 2003, Fox made a statement about her personal life:[23] "I have slept with other women but I've not been in love before Myra Stratton. People say I'm gay. 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.[24] In 2009, she announced her plans to form a civil partnership with Stratton.[25] In 2015, Stratton died of cancer.[26] She was 60 years old.

Charitable activity

In 2008, Fox donated her favourite bra to a charity auction.[27]

In 2011, Fox appeared as part of a campaign for LGBT charity the Albert Kennedy Trust.[28]

Discography
Main article: Samantha Fox discography
Studio albums

References
  1. "Ben Shott's Almanac for April 2008". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Samantha Fox". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  3. "1988 Brit Awards". Awards & Winners. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  4. Lane, Harriet. "Sam Fox is still up front". The Observer. The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  5. "Samantha Fox". thebiographychannel.co.uk. 2012. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  6. James, Gary (2009). "The Samantha Fox Interview". classicbands.com. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  7. Tuber, Keith (May 1987). "On the Hunt with Samantha Fox". Orange Coast Magazine: 160–162. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Alt URL
  8. "Where Are They Now? Samantha Fox". Comedy Central (UK). Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  9. Grinter, Alison. "Look who's talking: Samantha Fox Interview". tntmagazine.com. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  10. Blair, Iain (19 April 1987). "Samantha's Fox Image Paying Off". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  11. "Samantha Fox on new 80's-inspired album". BBC News. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  12. Gallery of various 1996 issues of Playboy featuring Fox at playboycoverarchive.com Archived 27 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  13. "Sam Fox to release new 'Greatest Hits'". Digitalspy.com. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
  14. "Central Adverts, c. 1987" at YouTube
  15. "go for the heart - full Official Chart History - Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
  16. Christa D'Souza, "The Curse of Page 3: Sam Fox on Her New Life—and Today's Topless Pretenders", Daily Express, 18 February 1997.
  17. "Samantha Fox charged with DUI". BBC News. 28 October 1998. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  18. Porter, Stanley E. (1996). The Nature of Religious Language: A Colloquium. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-85075-580-7.
  19. Vasagar, Jeevan (6 December 2002). "Serial fraudster who keeps bouncing back" – via www.theguardian.com.
  20. Custodio, John (29 July 2004). "Sam I Am". Montreal Mirror. Archived from the original on 23 August 2004. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  21. Samantha Fox Interview Archived 22 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  22. "My 4-year affair with SAM". TheFreeLibrary.com. 8 February 2003. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  23. "Samantha Fox Needs Love Too". AfterEllen.com. 18 October 2005. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
  24. She's still up front, Harriet Lane, The Guardian, 2 February 2003, retrieved 27 May 2009.
  25. "Fox wants Lemmy to give her away". Metro.co.uk. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  26. Fleming, Amy (13 December 2017). "Samantha Fox on fame at 16, stalkers and David Cassidy: 'I kneed him and told him where to go'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  27. "Buy Sam Fox's bra for charity". Charities Aid Foundation. 3 March 2008. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  28. "Ian McKellen, Paul O'Grady and Samantha Fox star in gay awareness ad". guardian.co.uk. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
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