Steve Strange

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

Steve Strange, born Stephen John Harrington in 1959, was a Welsh singer and club host. He grew up in Wales and was gripped by punk in 1976 after seeing a Sex Pistols concert. In London he worked for Malcolm McLaren and sang in a few short-lived bands, but he soon grew tired of the punk scene.

Music and breakthrough

His real influence lay elsewhere. Together with the DJ Rusty Egan he organised Bowie nights at Billy's in Soho in 1978. In 1979 they took over the Tuesday night at the Blitz, a wine bar in Covent Garden. Strange stood at the door himself and let in only people who looked remarkable: the individualistic, the eccentric, the beautifully dressed. In this way the Blitz grew into the cradle of the New Romantics, and its visitors were nicknamed the Blitz Kids. After the Blitz came Club for Heroes and, from 1982, the Camden Palace.

Influence

Alongside this, Strange was the singer of Visage, a group built around Rusty Egan, Midge Ure of Rich Kids, Billy Currie of Ultravox and a few members of Magazine. It began as a studio project, with the single Tar in 1979. In 1980 Strange appeared in the video for Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie. That same year Visage released Fade to Grey, a synthesizer record that reached number one in Germany and Switzerland. In 1985 the group broke up. Strange died in 2015. He remains the face of a scene in which clothing, club culture and synth-pop formed a single whole.

Listening

In School of Rock

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• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader