Patricia Quinn

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Patricia Quinn was born in 1944 in Belfast and is a Northern Irish actress and singer. She left Northern Ireland for London at seventeen, worked as a Playboy Bunny in Mayfair and in 1969 trained at the Drama Centre London. At first she mainly played small parts in theatre, film and television. Her breakthrough came when she joined the original cast of the play The Rocky Horror Show, in 1973 at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

Music and breakthrough

In the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show she played Magenta again. The role stayed with her for the rest of her career. In the film's opening scene only her lips are seen, apparently singing the opening song Science Fiction/Double Feature. The singing voice is in fact that of Richard O'Brien, the writer of the show and an actor in it. Those lips also became the emblem of the production. After its success came roles in series such as The Love School and I, Claudius, and in the 1981 film Shock Treatment, the semi-sequel to Rocky Horror. In 2012 she appeared in The Lords of Salem.

Influence

Quinn is above all an actress, not a pop star, but her role belongs to the history of the rock musical. The Rocky Horror Show grew into a cult phenomenon, and for years Quinn appeared at anniversary performances and conventions, where she sang Science Fiction/Double Feature herself.

Listening