Stella Nova, born Stephen Charles New (16 May 1960 – 24 May 2010), was an English guitarist and singer who performed with a number of

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and new wave bands in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the

Rich Kids Rich Kids were a short-lived new wave band from London, founded in 1977 by Glen Matlock following his departure from the Sex Pistols. The band also included teenage guitarist Steve New, former Slik and future Ultravox member Midge Ure and R ...

. In the 2000s, he changed his name to Stella Nova, whilst performing with the band Beastellabeast.

Early life

Born in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

in London, Nova received formal education at

Quintin Kynaston School Harris Academy St John's Wood (formerly Quintin Kynaston) is a secondary school in St John's Wood, north London, that was re-named in 2017. It is a 7 form-entry (210 students) non-selective coeducation, co-educational academy. Its predecessor Qui ...

in St. John's Wood, London, and started playing the guitar with the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra at the age of 14.

Musical career

Nova first came to be noticed as a talented lead guitarist with a unique playing style at the beginning of London's

music and fashion scene in the mid-1970s. In September 1975 at the age of 15 Nova successfully auditioned for and rehearsed with the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

before Nova became publicly known as a lead guitarist, with Steve Jones playing rhythm guitar, but Nova was let go after a few weeks as Jones’ lead guitar playing was rapidly improving to the point that the band no longer needed an additional lead guitarist and Nova got a day-job working in the London office of

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

as a junior postal clerk. When the bass player

Glen Matlock Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only offic ...

left the Sex Pistols in early 1977 he invited Nova, then only 16 years old, to join a new band that he was forming called

as its lead guitarist. On 15 August 1978, whilst still with Rich Kids, Nova performed with a one night only line-up titled the

Vicious White Kids Vicious White Kids were an English punk rock band from London that formed for only one concert on 15 August 1978, staged at the Electric Ballroom in London. The former bassist of Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, was the lead singer. It was his final ...

at the

Electric Ballroom The Electric Ballroom is a 1,500-capacity performance venue (primarily for rock and roll, rock bands) and indoor market located at 184 Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, England. History The Electric Ballroom started as an Irish ballr ...

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

, in what came to be seen as one of the events that marked the last hurrah of the punk rock movement's heyday in London. Whilst Rich Kids was musically gifted, it failed to find commercial success and broke up in early 1979 after the commercial failure of two of its three singles releases and first long-player release titled '' Ghosts of Princes in Towers'' (which reached No. 51 in the UK Album Chart in 1978), and Nova's career was undermined beyond this period by long-term

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

use. Unable to find another band to join after the Rich Kids, Nova resorted to working as a jobbing guitar for hire with a number of acts, including

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

and Wasted Youth. Nova rehearsed and recorded with the band Gen X in 1980, both in demo-sessions and on their long-player ''

Kiss Me Deadly ''Kiss Me Deadly'' is a 1955 American film noir produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, and Wesley Addy. It also features Maxine Cooper and Cloris Leachman appearing i ...

'', playing the guitar track on the " Dancing with Myself" single release. The lead singer

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

and bassist Tony James wanted Nova to be the newly re-branded band's lead guitarist, but they reluctantly decided against it due to Nova's professional unreliability caused by an increasingly severe narcotic habit. The Gen X song "Heavens Inside" was written by Billy Idol about Nova. After the Gen X opportunity had fallen through, Nova worked as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

, going on tour with

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...

, on whose ''

Soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

'' L.P. (1980) Nova played, during the recording of which Nova assaulted

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

who was acting as a quasi-producer of the record at the time. Nova also worked with

Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American-British musician. She is a founding member of the rock band the Pretenders and is the band's lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter; she and drummer Martin Chambers are the ...

Johnny Thunders John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of New York Dolls. He later formed the He ...

Patti Palladin Patti Palladin is an American singer and musician of the punk rock and post-punk / new wave genres. She is primarily known for her work with Snatch (with Judy Nylon), Johnny Thunders, and the Flying Lizards. Career Palladin was a member of the ...

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed the Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

, and

Pearl Harbour Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

. In the early 1980s Nova rejected an offer to play with

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

at its inception. Nova also recorded under the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

of "Shooz". Having relocated to the United States in the 1980s, by the mid-1990s Nova was resident in Los Angeles, but failed to find musical success there, and ended up homeless, living in a car for a while before returning to England. In 2001 Nova released a solo long-player entitled ''Here Comes Everybody''. In the early 2000s Nova formed a new

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

pop band entitled Beastellabeast with the young singer Beatrice Brown, whom Nova had become the mentor of after they met whilst both temporarily employed as guides at a publicity event for a cinema film at the Wembley Exhibition Hall in 1998, which released three self-produced LPs, viz. ''With Bestellabeast'' (2004), ''Beastiality'' (2009) and ''Stars & Wronguns'' (2010). Nova worked again with Glen Matlock, whose solo album ''Born Running'' (2010) was dedicated to Nova, and featured Nova's last recorded work.

Death

Afflicted with what would prove to be terminal cancer, Nova performed live for the last time with Beastellabeast and a reformed Rich Kids at the Islington Academy in London on 7 January 2010, at a testimonial concert organised for Nova's family's finances. Nova died of cancer on 24 May 2010 at the age of 50. A funeral service was held at the Islington & St. Pancras Cemetery in East

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

on 11 June 2010,

, Tony James, Rhys Mwyn and

Terry Edwards Terry Edwards (born 10 August 1960) is an English musician who plays trumpet, flugelhorn, saxophones, guitar and keyboards. Biography Edwards gained a degree in music from the University of East Anglia in 1982, where he was also a founding mem ...

being among the

pallbearers A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles o ...

, where Nova's body was cremated.

Personal life

In the late 1970s, Nova was in a relationship with

for three years. He fathered a daughter in his marriage to Wendy, and a son in another relationship. In the early 2000s Nova adopted

transvestism Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

, a decision Nova associated with success in breaking a 20-year-long drug habit. Though Nova never expressed a clear preference in writing about preferred pronouns, Nova was consistently referred to as he/him in life and in works written by friends, although Nova also described themself privately as having "been a

tranny ''Tranny'' is a derogatory slur for a transgender person, often specifically a transgender woman. During the early 2000s, there was some confusion and debate over whether the term was considered as a slur, was considered acceptable, or a reap ...

from day one", saying, "I was completely ashamed of that fact. It was always a secret life."

References

External links

Beastellabeast
on

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Rich Kids – Islington Academy, Jan 2010
description and photos from the final Rich Kids concert, on Wordpress.com {{DEFAULTSORT:New, Steve 1960 births 2010 deaths Musicians from the City of Westminster People from Paddington Deaths from cancer in England English punk rock guitarists English new wave musicians Male-to-female cross-dressers Lead guitarists Rich Kids members