Pamela Rooke (23 June 1955 – 3 April 2022), also known as Jordan and Jordan Mooney, was an English model and actress known for her work with

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

and the SEX boutique in the

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

area of London in the mid-1970s, and for attending many of the early

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

performances. Her style and dress sense—a bleached platinum-blonde

bouffant A bouffant () is a type of puffy, rounded hairstyle characterized by hair raised high on the head and usually covering the ears or hanging down on the sides. Etymology The English word ''bouffant'' comes from the French ''bouffante'', from ...

hairdo with dark raccoon-like eye make-up—made her a highly visible icon of the London

punk subculture The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom ...

. Along with

Johnny Rotten John Joseph Lydon (; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the late-1970s punk band the Sex Pistols, which lasted from 1975 until 1978, and agai ...

Soo Catwoman Susan Lucas, better known as Soo Catwoman (often written incorrectly as Sue Catwoman), was associated with the London punk subculture that sprang up around the mid-1970s. History In ''The Filth and the Fury'', Johnny Rotten singles her out amon ...

and

Siouxsie Sioux Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), known professionally as Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. She was the lead singer of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976–1996). They released 11 ...

, she is credited with creating the London punk look.

Biography

She took the single name ''Jordan'' at the age of 14, in

Seaford, East Sussex Seaford is a town in East Sussex, England, east of Newhaven and west of Eastbourne.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. In the Middle Ages, Sea ...

. When Jordan first walked into 430

King's Road, London King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

, wearing gold stilettos, a see-through net skirt, with a white bouffant hairstyle, it had just changed to

SEX Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

, Rooke commuted for two hours each day to London from Seaford. She recalled that her punk image caused problems for her: In the late 1970s, she served as an early manager for

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. The group existed in two incarnations, both fronted by Adam Ant, over the period 1977 to 1982. The first, founded in May 1977 and known simply as The Ants until November of t ...

. She recorded the track "Lou" (about

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

) as a guest lead vocalist with the band for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Peel Sessions John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

and often performed the song live with them from mid-1977 up to May 1978 when she left the band. In the 1980s, she managed the band

Wide Boy Awake WIDE or Wide may refer to: *Wide (cricket) *Wide and narrow data, terms used to describe two different presentations for tabular data *WIDE Project, Widely Integrated Distributed Environment *Wide-angle Infinity Display Equipment *WIDE-LP, a radio ...

, in which her then-husband

Kevin Mooney Kevin Paul Mooney (born 5 May 1962) is an English-Irish bassist and guitarist who has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, and others. Career Born in the Greenwich area of London, Mooney began his musical career in 1977 with the English-Ir ...

was a guitarist. Mooney had previously been the bassist in Adam and the Ants. She made a cameo appearance in

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...

's debut film ''

Sebastiane ''Sebastiane'' is a 1976 Latin-language British historical film directed by Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress and written by Jarman, Humfress and James Whaley. It portrays the events of the life of Saint Sebastian, including his iconic martyrdom by ...

'', and played the lead role in his follow-up film ''

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

'' as the punk "anti-historian" Amyl Nitrate (named after the drug

amyl nitrite Amyl nitrite is a chemical compound with the formula C5H11ONO. A variety of isomers are known, but they all feature an amyl group attached to the nitrite functional group. The alkyl group is unreactive and the chemical and biological propertie ...

). She can also be seen in

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...

's ''

The Great Rock and Roll Swindle ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle'' is a 1980 British mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas. It centres on the British punk rock band Sex Pistols and, most prominently, their manager Malcolm ...

'' wearing an "Only anarchists are pretty" T-shirt and appearing on stage with the Sex Pistols during their first live television performance of " Anarchy in the U.K." in August 1976.

Maisie Williams Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams (born 15 April 1997) is an English actress. Williams made her acting debut in 2011 as Arya Stark, a lead character in the HBO epic medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019). She ...

plays Rooke in the FX Network series ''Pistol'', which portrays Rooke's political influence and her ethos of turning the male gaze in on itself, weaponizing the male gaze. In 1984, after divorcing Mooney, she returned to Seaford, breeding

Burmese cat The Burmese cat ( my, ဗမာကြောင်, ''Băma kyaung'', th, ทองแดง or ศุภลักษณ์, or , meaning copper colour) is a breed of domestic cat, originating in Burma, believed to have its roots near the Th ...

s and working as a veterinary nurse. Rooke's autobiography, ''Defying Gravity: Jordan's Story'', written with Cathi Unsworth, was published by Omnibus Press in 2019. Rooke died in East Sussex on 3 April 2022 from

cholangiocarcinoma Cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer, is a type of cancer that forms in the bile ducts. Symptoms of cholangiocarcinoma may include abdominal pain, yellowish skin, weight loss, generalized itching, and fever. Light colored stool ...

, aged 66.

Notes

External links

Women in Punk: Jordan
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rooke, Pamela 1955 births 2022 deaths English female models People from Seaford, East Sussex British punk music Bromley Contingent 20th-century English actresses Women in punk Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from cholangiocarcinoma English music managers