Siouxsie Sioux

Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), known as Siouxsie Sioux (/ˌsuːzi ˈsuː/, soo-zee-SOO), is an English singer. She came to prominence as the vocalist and main lyricist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. They released 11 studio albums from 1978 to 1995, and had several UK top twenty singles including "Hong Kong Garden" (1978), "Happy House" (1980) and "Peek-a-Boo" (1988), plus a top 25 single in the US Billboard Hot 100 with "Kiss Them for Me" (1991).

Siouxsie also formed a second group, the Creatures, in 1981. With the Creatures, she released four studio albums, and achieved a UK top-twenty single "Right Now" (1983). In the mid-2000s, she has continued as a solo artist, using the name Siouxsie, and released the critically acclaimed album Mantaray (2007).

AllMusic named Siouxsie as "one of the most influential British singers of the rock era". Her songs have been covered by Jeff Buckley ("Killing Time"), Tricky ("Tattoo") and LCD Soundsystem ("Slowdive") and sampled by Massive Attack ("Metal Postcard") and the Weeknd ("Happy House"). In 2011, she was awarded for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the Q Awards and in 2012, she received the Inspiration Award at the Ivor Novello Awards.

Siouxsie was born Susan Janet Ballion on 27 May 1957 at Guy's Hospital in Southwark, England. Her older sister and brother were born while the family lived in the Belgian Congo. Her parents met there and worked for a few years. Her mother, Elizabeth, was of Scottish and English descent and was a secretary who spoke both French and English. Her father, Marc, was a bacteriologist who milked venom from snakes, and came from Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. In the mid-1950s, before Siouxsie's birth, the family moved to England.

The Ballions lived in a suburban district in Chislehurst, Kent. Siouxsie was an isolated child, being unable to invite friends to her house because of her alcoholic, unemployed father. Despite his issues, Siouxsie regarded him as intelligent and well-read, and sympathised with his inability to fit in with a "rigid, middle-class society". During moments of sobriety, her father shared with her his love for books. Siouxsie was aware that her family was different. Her mother was in control of the household and did everything. "She didn't really have the choice. I grew up thinking it normal that women went out to work, mended fuses or mowed the lawn". Siouxsie saw her mother as a strong woman; "she kept the family together". However, the Ballions were not involved in the local community and Siouxsie, aware that her family's house differed from the neighbours', would later state that "the suburbs inspired intense hatred."

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.