Poly Styrene

For the chemical used in Styrofoam, see Polystyrene.

Poly Styrene
Background information
Birth name	Marianne Joan Elliott-Said
Born	3 July 1957 Bromley, Kent, England
Died	25 April 2011(2011-04-25) (aged 53) Sussex, England
Genres	Punk, rock, New Wave, dub
Occupation(s)	Vocalist, songwriter
Years active	1976–2011
Labels	Universal, EMI/Virgin, Future Noise Music

Poly Styrene (3 July 1957 – 25 April 2011), was a British musician. She was best known as the singer in the early punk rock band X-Ray Spex.

Early life

She was born in 1957 in Bromley, Kent, and raised in Brixton, London. Her mother raised her alone. Her father was a Somali aristocrat. She ran away from home as a teenager and lived in empty houses. She saw the Sex Pistols perform on her birthday in 1975. That gave her the idea to start her own punk band X-Ray Spex. She was an unusual music start because she wore braces, was mixed race, and dressed differently.

Personal life

Poly Styrene's real name was Marianne Joan Elliott-Said. She lived in St Leonards, East Sussex. She joined the Hare Krishna movement in 1983.

In 1991, Poly Styrene was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She had breast cancer which metastasised to her spine. She died of breast cancer on 25 April 2011 at the age of 53.

List of solo recordings

Albums

• Translucence (United Artists, 1980)
• Flower Aeroplane (2004)
• Generation Indigo (Future Noise Music, 2011)

EPs

• Gods & Goddesses (Awesome, 1986)

Singles

• "Silly Billy"/"What A Way"—as Mari Elliot (GTO, 1976)
• "Talk In Toytown"/"Sub Tropical" (United Artists, 1980)
• "City Of Christmas Ghosts"—Goldblade featuring Poly Styrene (Damaged Goods, 2008)
• "Black Christmas" (2010)
• "Virtual Boyfriend" (2011)
• "Ghoulish" (2011)

Other websites

• Poly Styrene's official website
• Poly's Punky Party Archived 2008-05-26 at the Wayback Machine