Jane Clifton (born 10 April 1949) is a

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

-born Australian actress, singer, writer and former radio and voice artist. She is best known for her role in TV serial ''

Prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...

'' as tough prison bookie Margo Gaffney. As a singer, she had a stint with Jo Jo Zep and has recorded an album featuring Jenny Morris and

Wendy Matthews Wendy Joan Matthews (born 13 January 1960) is a Canadian-born Australian singer-songwriter who has been a member of Models (band), Models and Absent Friends (band), Absent Friends and is a solo artist. She released Top 20 hit singles in th ...

, Mark Williams and

Marc Hunter Marc Alexander Hunter (7 September 195317 July 1998) was a New Zealand rock and pop singer, songwriter and record producer. He was the lead vocalist of Dragon (1973–11/1979, 8/1982–1989, 1995–11/1997), a band formed by his older brother, ...

Early life

Clifton was born in

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

parents. She lived most of her childhood in Germany and Malaysia. When her father left the army, the family emigrated from

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Australia, in 1961, before settling in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1965. She studied a Bachelor of Arts at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, graduating in 1972. She became a naturalised citizen of Australia in 1992.

Career

Radio and voiceover

Clifton started out her career on Melbourne community radio stations 3CR and 3RMT-FM in the 1970s. She then worked for commercial stations 3AK,

Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

and 774 ABC. Clifton has also done voice-over work for commercials and audio books.

Film, television and stage

Clifton has acted extensively in film and the stage and in various television programs. Beginning in cult favorites ''

Stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

'' (1971) and '' Pure Shit'' (1975), her films include '' The Clinic'' and '' A Slice of Life''. Her stage roles include '' The Pack of Women'' and '' Mum's the Word''. She has also made a number of television appearances, starting in the mid 70s with the Crawford's series ''Division 4'', ''Homicide'' and ''Bluey'', ''Against the Wind'', ''Skyways'', ''Holiday Island'', ''

Sweet and Sour Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine, and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia and has been used in English cuisine, England since the Middle Ages.Clarissa Dickson WDickson ...

'', ''

Carson's Law ''Carson's Law'' is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Ten Network between 1983-1984. The series was a period piece set in the 1920s and starred Lorraine Bayly as progressive solicitor Jennifer Carson. The e ...

'' and ''

Shock Jock A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or ...

'', but her best-known acting role is probably that of tough prison bookie Margo Gaffney in ''

''. Clifton played the role for 107 episodes from 1980 until 1984 on an intermittent basis as the script allowed, having previously appeared in the minor role of Yvonne, from episode 9, and featured in the ''Prisoner in Concert'' special. Clifton also performed with

Betty Bobbitt Betty Ann Bobbitt (February 7, 1939 – November 30, 2020) was an American actress, director, singer, and playwright based in Australia, with a career that spanned over 60 years, encompassing theatre, television, and film. Bobbitt was best ...

and

Colette Mann Colette Mann (born 17 February 1950) is an Australian actress, singer, TV and radio presenter, choreographer, writer and media personality. She has been in the entertainment industry for over 50 years. Mann appeared in two Grundy Organisation ...

as part of a three-woman troupe, The Mini Busettes, in the 1980s in RSLs across Australia. In September 2010, it was announced that Clifton would be joining the cast of ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

'' as Judge Willow. Her scenes aired in November of that year. In 2015 she appeared in the television series ''

The Doctor Blake Mysteries ''The Doctor Blake Mysteries'' (also ''The Blake Mysteries'') is an Australian television series that premiered on ABC TV on 1 February 2013 at 8:30 pm. The series stars Craig McLachlan in the lead role of Dr. Lucien Blake, who returns home to ...

'' as Sister Josephine.

Music

Clifton is also a singer. In 1975 she was the lead singer in a pub rock band, Toads, alongside

Martin Armiger John Martin Armiger (10 June 1949 – 27 November 2019) was an Australian musician, record producer and composer. He was one of the singer-songwriters and guitarists with Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from August 1978 to late 1981, whic ...

on lead guitar and vocals, Andrew Bell on guitar, Eric Gradman on violin, Marney Sheehan on bass guitar and Eddie Van Roosendaal on drums and vocals. In the following year with Bell, Sheehan, van Roosendaal and Janie Conway on guitar and vocals, Clifton formed rock, pop group Stiletto. Conway and Sheehan were replaced by Chris Worrall on guitar and Celeste Howden on bass guitar, respectively. The group provided three tracks, "Nights in Parlour", "Cream" and "The Man", for a Various Artists' album, ''Debutantes'' (1977). Stiletto issued a studio album, ''Licence to Rage'' on Oz Records/

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

in September 1978, which was produced by Peter Walker. It peaked at No. 93 on the

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...

albums chart. n.b.: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA) created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. The album provided two singles, "Bluebirds" (March) and "Goodbye, Johnny" (August). Later that year the band supported a performance by

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

before breaking up early in 1979. While a member of Stiletto, Clifton co-wrote "Goodbye, Johnny" with Bell and Conway. The singer formed Jane Clifton Sextet, which provided cover versions of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald songs. In late 1982 Clifton provided vocals for Jo Jo Zep's single, "

Taxi Mary "Taxi Mary" is a pop song written by Jeff Burstin, Joe Camilleri and Tony Faehse and recorded by the Australian musicians Jo Jo Zep (pseudonym of Camilleri) and Jane Clifton (who is uncredited on the song). It was released in September 1982 as th ...

", which reached No. 11 on the singles chart. She also provided vocals on Zep's album, '' Cha'' (October 1982). Clifton released a solo single, "Girl on the Wall" (February 1984), on

Mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

. It is her version of a song from ''The Pack of Women'' cabaret, stage show. Her backing band, the Go Go Boys, comprised Jo Jo Zep's associates from

the Black Sorrows The Black Sorrows are an Australian blues rock band formed in 1983 by mainstay vocalist Joe Camilleri (ex-Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons), who also plays saxophone and guitar. Camilleri has used various line-ups to record 17 albums, with five reachin ...

, Jeff Burstin on guitar, Wayne Burt on guitar, Wayne Duncan on bass guitar, Steve Williamson on saxophone and Gary Young on drums. According to Debbie Muir of ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'', "her vocals are smooth and soft" and the song is "good and catchy". It peaked at No. 13. She issued two more singles, "My Machines" (June 1984) and "Turn to Dust" (May 1985). Clifton provided vocals for tracks on the soundtrack album for TV series, '' Dancing Daze'' (February 1986), including "Second Home", which was released as the B-side of the single, "Might Have Been" by Jenny Morris,

and Mark Williams. That album was produced by former bandmate, Armiger. For her track she was backed by the Green Sisters Band: Armiger and Bell both on guitars,

Chris Abrahams Christopher Robert Lionel Abrahams (born 9 April 1961) is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based musician. He is a founding mainstay member of experimental, jazz trio the Necks (1987–present), collaborated with Melanie Oxley as a soul pop duo ...

on piano, Jeremy Alsop on bass guitar, Tony Buchanan on alto saxophone,

Ricky Fataar Ricky Fataar (born 5 September 1952) is a South African musician of Malay descent who has performed as both a drummer and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in ''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'', a spoof on the Beatles, in which he per ...

on drums, Clive Harrison on bass guitar, Jason Morphett on tenor saxophone, Glen Muirhead on keyboards and

Lloyd Swanton Lloyd Stuart Swanton (born 14 August 1960) is an Australian jazz double bassist, bass guitarist, and composer. Swanton was a member of Dynamic Hepnotics in 1986McFarlan'Dynamic Hepnotics'entry. Retrieved 21 February 2010. and co-founded jazz t ...

on bass guitar.

Author

Clifton is the author of the novels ''Half Past Dead'' (2002), ''A Hand in the Bush'' (2005) and ''Flush'' (2013). In 2011, she published her memoir ''The Address Book'' and in 2019 she wrote a book of poetry ''A Day at a Time – in Rhyme''.

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtracks

Singles

Awards and nominations

Countdown Australian Music Awards

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'' was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine ''

TV Week ''TV Week'' is a weekly Australian magazine that provides television program listings information and highlights, as well as television-related news. Content ranges from previews for upcoming storylines of popular television programs, particu ...

''. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards. , - , 1984 , herself – "Girl on a Wall" , Best Female Performance in a Video , , -

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

As performer

As director

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton, Jane 1949 births Australian soap opera actresses Australian women novelists Living people Gibraltarian emigrants to Australia Singers from Melbourne Naturalised citizens of Australia 20th-century Australian actresses 20th-century Australian women singers 21st-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian women singers 21st-century Australian women writers Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons members