Siouxsie Sioux ( 27 May 1957) is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976–1996) and of its splinter group The Creatures (1981–2005).
The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden", "Happy House", "Peek-a-Boo" and "Kiss Them for Me". With The Creatures, Siouxsie recorded four studio albums and the hit single "Right Now".
Siouxsie is considered to be "one of the most influential British singers of the rock era".
Siouxsie on 27 May 1957 at Guy's Hospital in Southwark, Central London, England. She was the youngest of three children; ten years separate her from her elder brother and sister. Her two elder siblings were born while the family was based in the Belgian Congo. Her parents met in that colony and stayed working there for a few years. Her mother, Betty, was a bilingual English secretary and her father was a Belgian Walloon bacteriologist who milked venom from snakes. In the late 1950s, before Siouxsie's birth, the family transferred to England. The Ballions resided in Chislehurst, a suburb in south-east London. Her father died prematurely due tocirrhosis of the liver when Siouxsie was 14 years old. This had an adverse effect on her health. She survived a life-threatening bout of ulcerative colitis, which she would later say "completely demystified the body" for her.
During her adolescence, she was a self-described "loner," who enjoyed listening to the music of male outsiders: David Bowie, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music and Iggy Pop of The Stooges. She went out with other young people who were interested in the same kind of music and glam fashion.
At 17, she left school. It was during this period that she began frequenting the local gay discos where most of her sister's friends used to go. She introduced her own friends to that scene. In November 1975, a new young group called the Sex Pistols performed at the local art college in Chislehurst. Siouxsie didn't attend, but one of her friends told her how their singer threatened the string of students present at that gig. He added that they sounded like the Stooges. In February 1976, Siouxsie and her friend Steven Severin went to see the Pistols play in the capital. After chatting with members of the band, Siouxsie and Steven decided to follow them regularly.
In the following months, journalist Caroline Coon coined the term "Bromley Contingent" to describe this group of eccentric teenagers devoted to the Sex Pistols.
Siouxsie became well known in the London club scene for her glam, fetish and bondage attire, which were later notable of punk fashion. She would also later epitomise goth style with her signature cat-eye makeup, deep red lipstick, spiky dyed-black hair, and black clothing.
In early September 1976, the Bromley Contingent followed the Pistols to France, where Siouxsie was beaten up for wearing a black armband with a swastika on it. She claimed her intent was to shock the bourgeoisie, not to make a political statement. She would later write the songs "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)" (in memory of the anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield) and the single "Israel".
Following the adage of DIY and the idea that the people in the audience could be the people on stage, Siouxsie and Severin decided to form a band. When a support slot for the 100 Club Punk Festival organised by Malcolm McLaren opened up, they decided to try their chance, although at that time they did not know how to play any songs. On 20 September 1976, they improvised music as Siouxsie recited poems and prayers she had memorised. The performance lasted twenty minutes.
For critic Jon Savage, Siouxsie was "unlike any female singer before or since, commanding yet aloof, entirely modern." She opened a new era for women in music as Viv Albertine from The Slits would later comment:
"Siouxsie just appeared fully made, fully in control, utterly confident. It totally blew me away. There she was doing something that I dared to dream but she took it and did it and it wiped the rest of the festival for me, that was it. I can't even remember everything else about it except that one performance."
One of Siouxsie's first public appearances was with the Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy's television show, on Thames Television in December 1976. Standing next to the band, Siouxsie made fun of the presenter when he asked her how she was doing. She responded : "I've always wanted to meet you, Bill". Grundy, who was drunk, suggested a meeting after the show. That directly provoked a reaction of Pistols guitarist Steve Jones who pronounced a series of rude words never heard before on access prime time television. This episode created a media furore with front covers of several tabloids, including the Daily Mirror with the title: "Siouxsie's A Punk Shocker". This event had a major impact on the Pistols' subsequent career and within a week, they became a household name.
Not liking the clichés put forward by the press, Siouxsie distanced herself from that scene and stopped seeing the Pistols. She decided to focus all her energy on her own band: The Banshees.
In an interview with The Independent, she said, "I've never particularly said I'm hetero or I'm a lesbian. I know there are people who are definitely one way, but not really me. I suppose if I am attracted to men then they usually have more feminine qualities
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