Jay Aston
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Jay Hilda Aston (born 4 May 1961 in Purley,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
) is a British singer and occasional songwriter. She was a member of the British pop group
Bucks Fizz Bucks Fizz were a British pop group that achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up". The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comp ...
from 1981 to 1985 and now under
The Fizz The Fizz are a British pop music group formed in 2004 as a spin-off from the original group, Bucks Fizz. The core of the group consists of Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, who are all former members of Bucks Fizz and performed as OBF ( ...
. She was the youngest member of the group's original line-up, aged 19 when they won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest. During Aston's membership, the group had 12 of their 13 UK top 40 hit singles, including three number one hits. Since 2009, she has performed alongside fellow original Bucks Fizz members
Cheryl Baker Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of 1980s pop group Bucks Fizz, who won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and now p ...
and
Mike Nolan Michael Tullis Nolan (born March 7, 1959) is a former American football coach. Nolan previously served as a head coach for the San Francisco 49ers, and a defensive coordinator for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Washington Redskins, ...
. The group used to perform under the name
the Original Bucks Fizz The Fizz are a British pop music group formed in 2004 as a spin-off from the original group, Bucks Fizz. The core of the group consists of Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, who are all former members of Bucks Fizz and performed as OBF ( ...
but are now known as the Fizz.


Career


Background

Aston was born in Purley, Surrey, and came from a theatrical family. Her father was a comedian, while her mother had been a dancer before becoming her husband's
straight man The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...
. They also performed as
acrobats Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in ac ...
. Her brother Lance performed at the
1980 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) – which agreed to stage the event a ...
with the band
Prima Donna In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pers ...
. Aston herself trained as a dancer, singer and actress at the Italia Conti School of Speech and Drama and performed on stage many times in her teens, mainly as a dancer. She was named "Miss Purley" in 1978 and competed in the subsequent
Miss England Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants ar ...
contest, in which she was unplaced. The interval act at the televised Miss England 1978 competition was the group Co-Co, who had just been selected to represent Britain in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1978 The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the with the song " L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European ...
and featured
Cheryl Baker Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of 1980s pop group Bucks Fizz, who won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and now p ...
in the line-up.


Bucks Fizz

Aston was, along with Baker, one of the four members of Bucks Fizz when they were formed in 1981 to compete in that year's Eurovision Song Contest. They won with "
Making Your Mind Up "Making Your Mind Up" is a song by the British pop group Bucks Fizz. It was the winner of the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, representing the , and was composed by Andy Hill and John Danter. Released in March 1981, it was Bucks Fizz's debut si ...
"; the song went to number one in many countries, including the United Kingdom. The group went on to become one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s, scoring many hit singles and albums over the next few years, including two more British number ones: " The Land of Make Believe" and "
My Camera Never Lies "My Camera Never Lies" is a 1982 single by pop group Bucks Fizz. It became the group's second consecutive (and third overall) UK number-one in April 1982. The song was written by Andy Hill and Nichola Martin, and was featured on Bucks Fizz's sec ...
". Aston designed many of the group's stage outfits. In 1983 she performed the lead vocal on the song " When We Were Young", which went on to become one of the group's biggest hits. Aston became known for her love of physical exercise, and released a keep-fit album in early 1984 called ''
Shape Up and Dance ''Shape Up and Dance'' was the umbrella name for a popular series of exercise instruction albums released in the United Kingdom between 1982 and 1984, during the 1980s aerobics craze. The albums were choreographed by Christina Brookes and each o ...
''. She was the victim of an attack while out jogging, but fought off the attacker and recovered from the incident. In December 1984, while on tour, Bucks Fizz were involved in a tour coach crash, in which Nolan was seriously injured. By this time, tensions within the group had risen to the point that Aston was eager to leave, but was still under contract. However, the following year, she left the group in acrimonious circumstances. Aston became the subject of many newspaper headlines on her sudden departure where it emerged that she had had an affair with the group's producer, Andy Hill, who was also the husband of Bucks Fizz creator Nichola Martin. The group's management company took Aston to court under the terms of her contract, but dropped the case in the midst of the trial and agreed to release her from it. However, an injunction was placed on her against commencing a solo career, which took two years to settle and resulted in her selling her
Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
home. In addition, all eight cases were settled out of court after the case was investigated by the
attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
.


After Bucks Fizz

Forced to sell her house, Aston was living in a small bedsit in
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
on housing benefits in the early 1990s. Her brother had married
Shakespear's Sister Shakespears Sister is an alternative pop and rock musical duo based in the United Kingdom that was formed in 1988 by singer-songwriter Siobhan Fahey, a former member of Bananarama. Shakespears Sister was initially a solo act, but became a duo ...
star
Marcella Detroit Marcella Levy (born June 21, 1952), known professionally as Marcy Levy and (later in her career) Marcella Detroit, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-wrote the 1977 Eric Clapton hit "Lay Down Sally" and released her debut al ...
who encouraged her to record new songs. In 1993 Aston released a single, "Naked Phoenix", and recorded an album of songs. This same year she contributed a song to the controversial
Michael Winner Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous Action film, action, Thriller films, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and ...
film '' Dirty Weekend'', although Aston walked out of the film's premiere in disgust. By 1995 she was living with her parents but was still writing and recording music. Around this time she met and began dating guitarist Dave Colquhoun, whom she married in 1999. During the latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s, Aston toured with her band Aston, performing rock and pop tracks, many of which she wrote herself. In 2001, she set up a performing arts school in her name, The Jay Aston Theatre Arts School, teaching children aged between two and 17. In 2002 she was involved in a
cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. Ne ...
called Monster Boogie, and she also appeared in an episode of ''
Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hoste ...
'' as one of the mystery guests in the identity parade round. The following year she released an album, ''Alive and Well'', featuring 13 tracks, all of which she co-wrote with her husband. The glory years of Bucks Fizz, mainly focusing on Aston, were portrayed in 2005 in a drag
lip-synch Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...
show, ''Night of a Thousand Jay Astons'', at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
after its début in London. Aston was played by one female and three male performers. The life of Aston was told through an outrageous
parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
, and was described in review as "hilariously over the top". The show has also been staged at other venues, including the Comedy Theatre in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in May 2006 and the
Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...
in London in summer 2007. Another solo album, a three-disc box-set ''Lamb or Lizard'', was released in July 2006 through her website, which featured recordings from before and after her work with Bucks Fizz. In March 2007, she appeared in the
Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
video "
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is a song written and performed by Scottish duo the Proclaimers, and first released as the lead single from their 1988 album '' Sunshine on Leith''. The song reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart on its initial re ...
" a comic cover version of
the Proclaimers ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
song, dancing with the other three original members of Bucks Fizz, and also
Shelley Preston Shelley Preston (born 14 May 1964) is a singer who is famous for being a former member of the pop group Bucks Fizz, when she replaced Jay Aston in June 1985. Her biggest hit as a member of the band was the 1986 track " New Beginning", which re ...
, who had replaced Aston in the group in 1985. This was the first time that Aston had met the group since 1985. She said that relations between them had improved, but not to the extent that they could work together as a group again: "I'm kind of on good terms with all of them individually. But as a band, it just doesn't work, and it's a shame, but it doesn't. There's always been two camps – Cheryl's camp and Bobby's camp, and I was the one in Bobby's camp, and Mike was always in Cheryl's camp." A new Bucks Fizz CD with a bonus DVD, '' The Very Best of Bucks Fizz'', was released in May 2007. Aston appeared alone on the National Lottery to promote the album. In August 2008, Aston once again joined up with Bucks Fizz members Mike Nolan, Cheryl Baker and Shelley Preston, when she appeared on "Pop Goes The Band", a television show celebrating 1980s acts – with one episode devoted to the reuniting of Bucks Fizz. This programme was shown on
Living TV Sky Witness is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel primarily broadcasts drama shows from the United States, aimed at the 18–45 age group. An Italian version of Sky Witness, named Sky ...
in March 2009. In May 2013, Aston appeared on the second series of UK singing talent show ''
The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...
'', singing Muse's "Time is Running Out", but was not chosen by any of the judges. Aside from her duties in the Fizz, Aston has also appeared in pantomime a number of times. In 2019 She appeared as the Wicked Stepmother in ''Snow White'' at the Queens Theatre, Barnstaple.


The Fizz

In 2004, Bucks Fizz members Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Shelley Preston reunited to form
the Original Bucks Fizz The Fizz are a British pop music group formed in 2004 as a spin-off from the original group, Bucks Fizz. The core of the group consists of Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, who are all former members of Bucks Fizz and performed as OBF ( ...
and performed in concert throughout the UK. In April 2009, Preston announced that she was leaving the group and Aston agreed to join – the first time she had been a part of Bucks Fizz since 1985. Since then, they have toured the UK extensively and have released three albums to date, one of them, ''
The F–Z of Pop ''The F–Z of Pop'' is a studio album by British pop group The Fizz, released in 2017. It is the second album by the group (the previous album being released under the name OBF) and the first by the four-member line up of Cheryl Baker, Jay Asto ...
'', becoming a top 30 hit in the UK Charts. They currently perform under the name the Fizz.


Acting

Before Bucks Fizz, Aston had ambitions to become an actress, but her career in this field encompassed only minor roles in ''
To the Manor Born ''To the Manor Born'' is a BBC television sitcom that first aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981. A special one-off episode was produced in 2007. Starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, the first 20 episodes and the 2007 special were written by ...
'' and ''
Citizen Smith ''Citizen Smith'' is a British television sitcom written by John Sullivan, first broadcast from 1977 to 1980. It starred Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith, a young Marxist "urban guerrilla" in Tooting, south London, who is attempti ...
''. In 2008, Aston was cast as Claudia Brite in the film ''The Last Days of Edgar Harding'' which was shot in August 2008 and screened in 2010. The film has never seen a mainstream release.


Personal life

Aston married guitarist Dave Colquhoun in August 1999 in
Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
, London. They have a daughter, Josie Alexandra (born 2003,
Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...
, Greater London). In 2011 they lived in
Tatsfield Tatsfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is located 3.3 miles north west of Westerham and 3.9 miles north east of Oxted, and is adjacent to the Surrey border with both Greater London and Kent. Geog ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
. Aston's mother Hilda died in 2007, while her father Ted died in 2009. Aston continues to teach dance and performance at her performing arts school in Kent. She was diagnosed with
mouth cancer Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on ...
in June 2018. Since then, she has had surgery, and the outlook was "positive". In January 2021, Aston announced that she had been diagnosed with
Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
but recovered. In 2022, Aston revealed that her daughter Josie had been diagnosed and was battling
Meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...
. She later revealed that her daughter was recovering, although it ‘would be slow’.


Politics

On 27 August 2019, the
Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...
announced that Aston would be standing as its candidate in the London constituency of
Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
, at the time held by the Labour Party. She came fifth after receiving 384 votes (0.9%).


Discography

;Solo albums *1984: ''
Shape Up and Dance ''Shape Up and Dance'' was the umbrella name for a popular series of exercise instruction albums released in the United Kingdom between 1982 and 1984, during the 1980s aerobics craze. The albums were choreographed by Christina Brookes and each o ...
'' *1993: ''Lamb or Lizard'' (briefly sold on Aston's website) *2003: ''Alive and Well'' *2006: ''Lamb or Lizard'' (3-CD retrospective) *2016: ''I-Spy''


References


External links


Jay Aston official websiteAston Theatre Arts School''The Last Days of Edgar Harding'' film website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aston, Jay 1961 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the United Kingdom English female dancers English choreographers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1981 Eurovision Song Contest winners People from Purley, London Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts The Voice UK contestants Aston, Jay English beauty pageant winners Brexit Party parliamentary candidates 21st-century English politicians 21st-century English women politicians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers