Noosha Fox (born Susan Traynor, 8 December 1944) is an Australian singer. She is known as the lead singer of the band

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, who had three UK chart hits in 1975 and 1976. She also had a number 31 hit as a solo performer with "Georgina Bailey".

Career

Susan Traynor was born in Australia in 1944. She began her music career as a singer in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band Wooden Horse, who moved to England in 1970 and released two LPs. After the band split up, she provided background vocals on American singer and songwriter

Kenny Young Kenny Young (born Shalom Giskan, April 14, 1941 – April 14, 2020) was an American songwriter, musician, producer and environmental campaigner who wrote and in some cases produced hit songs for The Drifters, Ronnie Dove, Herman's Hermits, Mark ...

's 1973 solo album, ''Last Stage For Silverworld''. She then joined

, the band formed by Young and Northern Irish singer-songwriter

Herbie Armstrong Herbert Christopher Armstrong (born 14 May 1944) is a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is known for his collaborations with Kenny Young in the bands Fox and Yellow Dog, and with Van Morrison in the early 1960s and again in t ...

. She adopted the stage name Noosha, a corruption of an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of her first name (''nussa''), and in performances wore dresses and accessories in 1920s and 1930s style. With Fox, Noosha achieved three top 20 hits on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

: "

Only You Can "Only You Can" is a 1974 song by pop group Fox. Written by the group's founder Kenny Young, it was the band's debut single and later appeared on their debut album ''Fox''. Initially released as "Only You" in the summer of 1974, a reissue of the s ...

" and "

Imagine Me, Imagine You "Imagine Me, Imagine You" is a 1975 song by pop group Fox. Written by the group's founder Kenny Young, it was taken from their debut album Fox. It reached no. 15 on the UK Singles Chart in June 1975, becoming the band's third highest charting si ...

" in 1975 and "

S-S-S-Single Bed "S-S-S-Single Bed" is a song by British-based pop group Fox from their third album '' Blue Hotel''. Written and produced by the group's founder Kenny Young, it became their third and final hit on the UK Singles Chart in May 1976, spending 10 weeks ...

" in 1976. She left after their third album, ''Blue Hotel'', to launch a solo career. Her first single, "Georgina Bailey", written and produced by Young, briefly entered the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 31 in 1977. In 1979, Noosha Fox tried to restart her solo career with a single, "The Heat Is On", written by Florrie Palmer and

Tony Ashton Edward Anthony Ashton (1 March 1946 – 28 May 2001) was an English rock pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer, producer and artist. Biography Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Ashton spent his formative years in the seaside town of Blackpool whe ...

, on

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

. A later version of the song, by

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse Fältskog (born 5 April 1950), known as Agnetha Fältskog (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and musician. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 self-titled debut album. She later achieved internatio ...

, was a European hit four years later. In 1980, Fox provided guest vocals for the songs "Perfect Strangers" and "Havana Moon" on

Tim Renwick Timothy John Pearson Renwick (born 7 August 1949) is an English guitarist. He is best known for his association with Al Stewart in his early career and for his long-standing role as lead guitarist for the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. His single ...

's self-titled debut album. Fox recorded several singles in the early 1980s for the Earlobe label but none were successful, and she withdrew from the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. Although she did not write her own songs, her performance style has been credited with influencing

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

and Alison Goldfrapp. It was reported in 2007 on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''The Music Group'' that Fox was recording a solo album of

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

but it has not been released. On the 1st August 2022, renowned music producer

Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (born August 11, 1937) is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others. Talmy arranged and produced hits such as "You Really Got Me" ...

released a 5 track downloadable EP of original songs by Noosha that were recorded in 1978.

Personal life

Fox has been married since 1973 to physician and academic

Michael Goldacre Michael John Goldacre (born 3 January 1944 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian-born British medical doctor and academic. He has been a fellow of Magdalen College since 1985 and was awarded a Title of Distinction as Professor of Public Health ...

, with whom she has four children, one of whom is

Ben Goldacre Ben Michael Goldacre (born 20 May 1974) is a British physician, academic and science writer. He is the first Bennett Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford ...

, a physician and academic best known for his "Bad Science" weekly column. Ben Goldacre announced that Fox was his mother after seeing her perform "S-S-S-Single Bed" on a

BBC4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

repeat of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', and stated that she was working on new material.

Discography

:Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Noosha Australian women singers Australian pop singers Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Living people 1944 births