Her Myspace profile describes her as a cultural revolutionary.
It’s a pretty accurate description. I guess one of Ed 17 Seconds’ alltime heroes doesn’t really fit the bill, but it’s true.
She emerged in the eighties, described as a ‘punk poetess’ though there was more to her than that. She hails from Bradford, a city she’s obviously fiercely proud of and is a cultural ambassador for the city. She’s an artist, who worked and continues to work closely with New Model Army, designing many of their sleeves. She wrote thought-provoking poetry and prose, sometimes sad, quite often angry, yet frequently funny and always utterly brilliant (anyone who has a copy of her book Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know should get in touch). In the last decade she has also published four novels that have to be read: Stone Baby, Corazon, Billie Morgan and Borrowed Light, all of which have to be read and re-read.
I finally met her in early 2000 at a New Model Army gig (she’s the long-term partner of singer Justin Sullivan, aka Slade The Leveller) and nervously trotted up to say. I needn’t have worried; she was very approachable, and I later met on three separate occaions, Glastonbury, the Edinburgh Book Festival and at a solo Justin Sullivan gig in Edinburgh. In 2000 when I was writing my Masters dissertation, I corresponded with her, and she gave me some thought-provoking correspondence via email.
She also made some excellent records, mostly in the eighties, and this is one I’d love 17 seconds readers to hear:
Joolz -‘Mad, Bad and dangerous To Know.’ mp3
If you like it, please buy it!