Fiona Russell-Powell - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Growing up in Totley, Sheffield, she had known ABC from their early days as an electronic three piece called Vice Versa. She joined Vice Versa very briefly after keyboard player David Sydenham left the band but, after only three rehearsals in ABC co-founder Stephen Singleton's cellar, the fourteen-year-old "chickened out" when she was told they would be supporting Simple Minds in a Leeds pub the following night. A last minute replacement was found in Mancunian student Martin Fry who was studying English Lit at Sheffield University and had interviewed the band for his fanzine, Modern Drugs.

After running away from home and subsequently leaving Sheffield High School for Girls aged 15, Fiona moved to London when she was 17 and slept on Heaven 17 singer Glenn Gregory's floor before moving in to the notorious Carburton Street squat where she took over Boy George's old room. Fellow squattees included 80s transgender singer Marilyn, DJ and Haysi Fantayzee frontman Jeremy Healy, and milliner Stephen Jones. In 1982, aged 18, she started writing for The Face as a features writer, concentrating mostly on music and became notorious for her irreverent mickey-taking interviews with leading pop stars of the day. Meanwhile, she moved into a three-bedroom council flat in Old Street with Richard Habberley, who moved out of Boy George's St John's Wood flat, and Amanda Metro, a backing singer for Mari Wilson. During this time, Vice Versa had changed their name to ABC, become a five piece, and by 1982, ABC's first album, The Lexicon of Love, was released and went platinum, spawning four chart hits.

Later, she was part of the infamous Taboo nightclub crowd, being a close friend of Leigh Bowery and his artist partner Trojan, and introduced Mark White and Martin Fry to people in her circle including fashion designer John Galliano, punk ballet dancer Michael Clark (who was dating her flatmate Richard), film director John Maybury, DJ and S'Express pop star Mark Moore, among others. Mark Moore has since publicly acknowledged the direct influence of ABC's image circa How to Be a Zillionaire.