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º SAMANTHA FOX - THE LIFE STORY º
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At 16, she was the darling of the shop floor. Pictures of the
teenager with the fantastic figure, torn from the tabloid
press, adorned the walls of almost every factory in the
country. Today, just four years later, that same girl has
fulfilled a fantasy most of us only dream of. Not only is she
the country's top model, but also a chart-busting rock
singer, a television personality and an actress. She has her
own designer label, a restaurant, and a race horse, and she's
still the girl everybody wants to see. She is simply a
sensation. She's Samantha Fox . . .


SAM - THE STORY SO FAR . . .
Samantha Fox was born on the 15th April, 1966, in the East
End of London. Small and rather delicate as a child, Pat and
Carole, her parents, never imagined that she might one day
follow her mother footsteps into the modelling world.  They
couldn't have dreamed that she would employ them both to help
run the business of keeping Sam Fox on the road. As a
youngster, she was no great beauty. In fact from the age of
five, the young Samantha had to wear a caliper on her leg to
help cure a bad hip. She wore it for three years, by which
time, the Fox family had moved to Crouch End in North London,
where their home remains to this day . . .

     Sam's first ambition was to get her own wheels. Not the
sprauncy sports car that she now finds herself riding around
in, but a humble push bike.
She had to wait until she was 13 before her parents could
afford to buy her one, and trusted her on the busy Islington
streets. Mum and Dad were protective towards Samantha from
the start, and even now Mum chaperones her on many of her
tours, and Dad is strict about how she handles her career.
     `They're the best Mum and Dad in the world,' Sam says .
.. . `Nobody's got parents as kind as mine, and if that sounds
naff, then hard luck.'
     All the same, when that bike finally arrived, young
Sammy cried her eyes out . . .


SAM, THE NAUGHTY SCHOOLGIRL
Samantha describes her days at St. Thomas More School as
great, though she admits to being nothing special
academically (`I was no thickie either,' she adds). It was
the first chance that Sam's bubbly personality had to shine
through, and she made the most of it. she became the class
clown, cheekily putting drawing pins on the teacher's seat,
and sticking notices like `I'm a prat.' on the backs of the
other schoolgirls' blazers. Hard though it is to imagine, Sam
was considered to be something of a tomboy, and surprised all
the teaching staff by insisting on studying motor engineering
at CSE, despite being the only girl in the class. But that
didn't bother her. in fact, she revelled in the attention. At
16, she left school with `O' levels in English, art and
music, an `A' level in art, and that CSE in motor engineering
.. . .


YOUNG FOX AT PLAY
As a teenager, another factor entered her life - boys.  Her
first crush was on Richard Chamberlain as Dr. Kildare.
     `I thought he looked so dishy in that outfit,' she says,
and admits that she still has a secret hankering to meet him.
     With that interest came her first concern about her
appearance. She decided to dye her hair. Unfortunately the
only thing at hand was food colouring, and so she set to work
with that.
     `I thought it looked really great,' she laughs. `But
nobody else seemed to agree. Sam also meet with some
resistance when, at the age of 15, she told her careers
officer that she wanted to be a Page Three girl. The lady had
never even heard of The Sun's most famous feature, and
instead palmed her off with a leaflet on fashion modelling.
It was useless. For a start it insisted that all models had
to be 5 foot 7 at least, not much help when you're only 5
foot 1. Sam's next idea wasn't much better. She decided that
she would become a policewoman, but again her ambitions were
too high. WPC Fox was not the uniform height. Graphic design
was more realistic. With her art qualifications, she had some
hope of achieving a living. But this was not enough for
ambitious Sam. She wanted to be famous, and wasn't going to
spend another three years at college trying to achieve it.
She was going to be a model - and the best . . .


TOPLESS TO THE TOP
Many teenagers dream of a career in front of the cameras, but
few have as many advantages as Samantha did. At 16, she was
blessed with a stunning 34D-22-31 figure (later to fill out
to 36D!), and parents who not only approved, but encouraged
her to enter the cut and thrust of professional modelling.
However, it was not her famous assets that first launched her
career. Her mother entered her for the `Face Shape of 83'
contest in the Sunday People. She didn't win, but she was
second, and enough photographers noticed another shape that
would be a winner. Within a few months she was appearing
topless on Page Three. The public loved her, and soon after
was making more topless appearances than any other model. At
17, she won the coveted title of Page Three Girl of the Year
for the first time, and became the darling of millions of
readers of The Sun, Star and Daily Mirror. In case of
accident, Sam even had her boobs insured for œ250,000. Her
ambitions had been achieved but that wasn't enough any more.
There were a lot more people who were going to hear about
Samantha Fox . . .

FOX ON THE BOX
     By the time Sammy won the Page Three Girl of the Year
contest a second time, sceptical media men were beginning to
realize that she was not going to be a flash in the pan.
Television started to take an interest in the curvy cockney.
She was invited to appear on chat shows, often with her Page
Three colleagues, and always with great success. Her chirpy
personality shone through, and TV producers began to see that
she was more than just a pretty chest. True, in her early TV
days, she was hired mainly for her buxom beauty (feeding Jim
Davidson with one-liners, for example, or demonstrating a
glowing bra from the 1950's on Noel Edmonds' Time of your
Life), but at least she was being given dialogue - more than
most Page Three girls or Benny Hill's angels ever seem to
attain. Soon after, she was appearing in chat shows in her
own right. Des O'Conner and Terry Wogan both helped Sam show
that she had the makings of a television personality. It
wouldn't be long before someone offered Sam that chance to
show just how good she could be on the small screen . . .

     That opportunity came in 1985, when the 19-year-old was
signed up for a reputed œ30,000 as a reporter, presenter and
interviewer on London Weekend Television's Six O'Clock Show.
A light hearted look at the weeks's news, it was an excellent
vehicle for Sam's cheeky manner. She conducted interviews in
the street with men about `visible pantie line', talked to
guests from the world of show biz, and lent an individual
style to reporting some of the sillier events in London. At
first her lack of TV experience showed, but a public keen to
see new talent and a lively approach lapped her up. All-too-
soon her six month contract was up . .  .

     It would have been easy for Sam to carry on in a similar
vein, but again she saw a much larger market for her talents.
By now, practically the whole country had heard of Samantha
Fox. She advertised The Sun on television, turned up in
comedy programmes, appeared at charity functions, and became
as much a part of comic folklore as the mother-in-law. No
event seemed complete without inviting Sam Fox to be there.
And she was still the biggest thing on Page Three. It was
rumoured that she earned more than the Prime Minister, and
she was certainly more popular. She was the British sex
symbol of the Eighties, the Marilyn Monroe of her day. Who
could ask for more? Sam could . . .


SAM'S A SINGER
     Many Page Three girls have decided to release records.
They have, on the whole been abysmal offerings intended for
the novelty market, selling in small numbers on their name
alone.  When Samantha came to release her first single, both
she and the record company, Jive, were determined it wouldn't
be like that. For a start Sam wasn't picked because of her
modelling fame. She was auditioned along with hundreds of
other hopefuls by producer Jon Astrop. He chose her, he says,
because she was the most natural performer, honest, outgoing
and above all enthusiastic. He also reckoned that she had the
idea voice for the pop market. Nobody could have been more
pleased than Sam. This was the new avenue that she had been
looking for. A song was chosen. Touch Me was co-written and
produced by Astrop. It took two ten-hour days to record,
which Sam somehow fitted into her already crowded schedule.
Astrop praised Sam's hard work saying that she never gave
less than 150 per cent, and adding that she was surprising
confident for a first timer. Everyone was very happy, but how
would the single fare in the hard world of rock? . . .

     It was a smash! Touch Me roared to the Number Three slot
in Britain, and reached Number One in nine other countries.
Her second single Do Ya, Do Ya, followed it in the top ten,
and the album Touch Me went silver within a fortnight of
being released. Naturally, the music press were a little
narked at this invasion by a `mere model' and many complained
that the songs only sold through her Page Three notoriety.
But this was not true. Sam's records were even bigger in
Europe where nobody had heard of Page Three, than they were
here. What had won over the record buying public was the
combination of good production, great singing, Sam's
personality and her performance on video. Much as the serious
music press might not like to admit it, Sam has everything a
pop star needs.
     Her third single, Hold on Tight, followed immediately
and again rushed into the charts. Its sound was reminiscent
of the Chapman and Chinn creations for stars like Suzi Quatro
in the seventies, and was perfect disco music. However, it
was time for the anti-Sam brigade to show their claws. The
stern bosses of BBC Radio One banned the song from their
playlists, pompously claiming that it was of `poor standard'
and that they `had a duty not to inflict it on their millions
of listeners.' The millions of listeners however felt
differently. It was another Top Twenty hit, (amazingly
without Radio One play) and firmly established Sam as one of
our top female singers . . .


THE SUN'S OUT, SAYS SAM
     Such was the success of her singing and TV career that
Sam was quoted as saying that she was given up topless
modelling this year. This rash statement prompted a Christmas
style postal rush as thousands of letters, some addressed
simply `Sam Fox, England' poured into newspaper offices and
Samantha's north London home. They were all pleas for her to
continue, many in the sort of language lovers use when they
are about to be given the elbow. She responded at once, and
appeared centre page of The Sun baring her boobs again.
     `Don't worry, you'll see me on Page Three again,' she
said. `Whether I become a nun or a serious actress that's
what I'll be remembered for. I'll only give up if my body is
no longer good enough.'
     By the way of thanks, the readers of The Sun voted her
Page Three Girl of the Year for the third time this year.
     However, it is nonetheless true that Samantha is cutting
down on her Page Three work, and more of her modelling is
clothed. Recently, for example, she appeared in practically
every high street in the country on giant posters advertising
Mecca Social Clubs, wearing a sequined but neck-high evening
dress. And she is also a part of the Daily Mail advertising
campaign where she is seen on billboards demurely clad, and
mockingly claiming that she is now after a paper with `better
coverage' . . .


SAMMY'S SIDELINES
     As if being a top rock star, TV personality and a model
wasn't enough to fill her time, Sam has a few other interests
to keep her busy. Last year she launched her own designer
label producing clothes with a foxy feel. It features
everything from elegant evening gowns to a skin-tight plastic
catsuit. In fact, Sam has become quite a fashion leader
through her TV appearances and pop videos. She introduced the
idea of tight, torn jeans at the launch of Touch Me, and her
leather outfits have also been much in demand. She's also
going to have to start watching the horse racing on
television with great interest. She recently bought her own
race horse, also called Touch Me. It's a filly that she
picked on a trip to Ireland, and she hopes to race her next
season. And should she get hungry, Samantha can also pop into
her own restaurant, Sam's, in the heart of London . . .


FOX HUNTERS - SAM'S FANATICAL FOLLOWERS
     But Samantha would be the first to admit that she could
never do it without you, the fans. Sam appeals to practically
every age and social group from the humble Sun reader to the
rock fan and media junkie. Few girls have that broad an
appeal.  How many posters of Madonna will you find in
Britain's factories, eh? And what a devoted lot you are!
     When The Sun recently held a competition to find
Britain's biggest Sam Fox fan, they were amazed at the
response. Men from all over the country pin her to their
walls, with or without their wives or girlfriends'
permission. The bedroom seems to be the most popular place of
worship . . .


A FOXY FUTURE?
     Where does Samantha go from here? She has very firm
views.  Her ambition, from childhood, has been to be famous,
and that still holds good. She recently told the Daily Mirror
she wants to top the charts, `to be in the big league if it
means competing with Madonna and Springsteen. I would love a
Number One in Britain.'
     But some have warnings for her. Radio One D.J. Steve
Wright said in his column that she would be wrong to think of
singing full-time. He called her a beautiful girl and a
natural TV performer, but his advice was to stay in modelling
for another year and develop her TV skills. Singing, he
reckoned, should remain a lucrative hobby.
     However Steve was commenting before Sam made her first
promotional trip to America - a trip which has been another
great success for the fabulous Fox. It co-incided with the
release to Touch Me in the States, which leapt into the US
charts immediately. Whilst she was there, Sam was invited
onto no less than seven radio talk shows in two days, she
hosted her own show on MTV, and was deluged with enquires
about her singing career from interested members of the
public... One MTV executive producer praised her down-to-
earth attitude and giggly charm, and Jonathon King said that
the reaction to her rivalled Beatlemania. However, the Yanks
are going to miss out on one aspect of Samantha's talent. She
will not be doing any topless modelling there. Her record
company say that could damage her popularity in the Bible
belt. However, cheeky cockney's like Sam have always done
well in the US (think of Twiggy, not to mention all the
repeats of Upstairs, Downstairs), so this could be a whole
new ballgame for Britain's bombshell . . .


THE FOX IN HER LAIR
     Despite fame and constant claims that she is now a
millionairess, Sam is still very much a homely girl. She
still lives with her parents, her 17-year-old sister Vanessa
and the two dogs Bianca and Lucy in the family's Victorian
semi-detached in Islington. Her parents are now a part of her
business. Mum occasionally accompanies her on jobs, and her
father works as her manager, helping to answer the thousands
of fan letters that arrive daily. These days, Sam travels
more and more but wherever she goes in the world, she always
says she's glad to get back to her Mum's cooking. Her
favourite meal is something plain and simple like steak and
kidney pudding. Her hobbies are simple too; swimming,
watching football and resting when she gets the opportunity.
     She does have a taste for the night life, however. She
can often be spotted at Stringfellows, dancing with other
celebrities. She also enjoys eating out with her friends (old
school mate rather than other models who, she complains, only
tend to talk about work). One of her current fads is for
Malaysian restaurant which she is keeping to herself. When
she's not at home, Sam eats out a lot, she doesn't enjoy
cooking, she finds it boring . . .

     Sam likes to keep her private life quiet, but the press
soon latched onto her fondness for millionaire Peter Foster.
Sam and Peter recently went away together on what the papers
dubbed `a secret African love safari'. It was no secret for
long, however. Despite travelling 5,000 miles to Kenya, then
taking a private plane to a jungle hideaway, photographers
still found them. Sam told them that the main reason for the
holiday was to relax after the pressure of work commitments.
Whether she was able to relax with all the press attention,
we may never know, but one thing is for certainly did jolt
her. On her return she was involved in a four-car pile-up
when the brakes failed on her father's car. She was shaken
but unhurt.
     Of course, Sam may well have known that it would happen
all along. She is a keen follower of astrology, and says that
she never leaves the house without first reading her stars.
Her sign is Aries, which makes her an honest, plain-speaker
who can get away with murder, and also very passionate!
     But it doesn't take an astrologer to see that Samantha
Fox is going to be around for some time. A happy combination
of good looks, talent and careful management will assure Sam
of a long career with fans all over the world. At only 23,
Sam still has big things in front of her . . .


Samantha Fox - The Life Story

Compiled and edited by:
     Raistlin Majere, Archmage of the Black Robes

(Samantha Fox's greatest fan! and therefore this is dedicated
as a tribute to her).

"The best is yet to come..."

(C) 18/09/1990 Warlock Enterprises Ltd.
.