Jay Hilda Aston (born 4 May 1961 in
Purley,
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
)
is a British singer and occasional songwriter. She was a member of the British pop group
Bucks Fizz from 1981 to 1985. She was the youngest member of the group's original line-up, aged 19 when they won the
1981 Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the 26th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "What's Another Year" performed by Johnny Logan. Organised by the Euro ...
.
During Aston's membership, the group had 12 of their 13 UK top 40 hit singles, including three number one hits. Since 2009, she has performed alongside fellow original Bucks Fizz members
Cheryl Baker
Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of pop group Bucks Fizz, which won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and, followi ...
and
Mike Nolan
Michael Tullis Nolan (born March 7, 1959) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League (UFL). Nolan previously served as a head coach for the San Francisco 49ers, and a defensive c ...
. The group used to perform under the name
the Original Bucks Fizz but are now known as the Fizz.
Career
Background
Aston was born in
Purley, Surrey, and came from a theatrical family. Her father was a comedian, while her mother had been a dancer before becoming her husband's
straight man
The straight man (or straight woman in the case of female characters), also known as a "comedic foil", is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically ...
. They also performed as
acrobats
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro d ...
. Her brother Lance performed at the
1980 Eurovision Song Contest with the band
Prima Donna
In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given.
''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...
.
Aston herself trained as a dancer, singer and actress at the
Italia Conti School of Speech and Drama and performed on stage many times in her teens, mainly as a dancer.
She was named "Miss Purley" in 1978 and competed in the subsequent
Miss England
Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England.
History
The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants aro ...
contest, in which she was unplaced. The interval act at the televised Miss England 1978 competition was the group
Co-Co, who had just been selected to represent Britain in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1978
The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcas ...
and featured
Cheryl Baker
Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of pop group Bucks Fizz, which won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and, followi ...
in the line-up.
Bucks Fizz
Aston was, along with Baker, one of the four members of Bucks Fizz when they were formed in 1981 to compete in
that year's Eurovision Song Contest. They won with "
Making Your Mind Up
"Making Your Mind Up" is a song by the British pop group Bucks Fizz with music composed by John Danter and lyrics written by Andy Hill. Released in March 1981, it was Bucks Fizz's debut single, the group having been formed just two months earl ...
" and the song went to No1 in many countries, including the United Kingdom. The group went on to become one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s, scoring many hit singles and albums over the next few years, including two more British No1s: "
The Land of Make Believe
"The Land of Make Believe" is a 1981 single by British band Bucks Fizz. It reached No.1 in the UK in early 1982 - the second single by the band to do so. The song was produced by Andy Hill with music by Hill and lyrics by ex-King Crimson membe ...
" and "
My Camera Never Lies". Aston designed many of the group's stage outfits. In 1983, she performed the lead vocal on the song "
When We Were Young" that went on to become one of the group's biggest hits.
Aston became known for her love of physical exercise and released a keep-fit album in early 1984 called ''
Shape Up and Dance''. She was the victim of an attack while out jogging but fought off the attacker and recovered from the incident.
In December 1984, while on tour, Bucks Fizz were involved in a tour coach crash in which Nolan was seriously injured.
By this time, tensions within the group had risen to the point that Aston was eager to leave but was still under contract. However, the following year, she left the group in acrimonious circumstances.
Aston became the subject of many newspaper headlines on her sudden departure where it emerged that she had had an affair with the group's producer,
Andy Hill, who was the husband of Bucks Fizz creator, Nichola Martin. The group's management company took Aston to court under the terms of her contract but dropped the case in the midst of the trial and agreed to release her from it. However, an injunction was placed on her against commencing a solo career that took two years to settle and resulted in her selling her
Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
home. In addition, all eight cases were settled out of court after the case was investigated by the
attorney general
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
.
After Bucks Fizz
Forced to sell her house, Aston was living in a small bedsit in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
on
housing benefits in the early 1990s.
Her brother had married
Shakespear's Sister star
Marcella Detroit
Marcella Levy (born June 21, 1952), known professionally as Marcy Levy and (later in her career) Marcella Detroit, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-wrote the 1977 Eric Clapton hit " Lay Down Sally" and released her debut ...
who encouraged her to record new songs. In 1993, Aston released a single, "Naked Phoenix", and recorded an album of songs. This same year she contributed a song to the controversial
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was an English filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several c ...
film ''
Dirty Weekend'', although Aston walked out of the film's premiere in disgust.
By 1995, she was living with her parents but was still writing and recording music. Around this time she met and began dating guitarist Dave Colquhoun, whom she married in 1999. During the latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s, Aston toured with her band Aston, performing rock and pop tracks, many of which she wrote herself.
In 2001, she set up a performing arts school in her name, The Jay Aston Theatre Arts School, teaching children aged between two and 17.
In 2002, she was involved in a
cover band
A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. N ...
called Monster Boogie,
and she also appeared in an episode of ''
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first host ...
'' as one of the mystery guests in the identity parade round.
The following year she released an album, ''Alive and Well'', featuring 13 tracks, all of which she co-wrote with her husband.
The glory years of Bucks Fizz, mainly focusing on Aston, were portrayed in 2005 in a drag
lip-synch
Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements ...
show, ''Night of a Thousand Jay Astons'', at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
after its début in London. Aston was played by one female and three male performers.
The life of Aston was told through an outrageous
parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
, and was described in review as "hilariously over the top".
The show has also been staged at other venues, including the Comedy Theatre in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
in May 2006
and the
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...
in London in summer 2007.
Another solo album, a three-disc box-set ''Lamb or Lizard'', was released in July 2006 through her website, which featured recordings from before and after her work with Bucks Fizz.
In March 2007, she appeared in the
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...
video "
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is a song written and performed by Scottish duo the Proclaimers, and first released in August 1988 by Chrysalis as the lead single from their second album, '' Sunshine on Leith'' (1988). The song reached number 11 in ...
" a comic cover version of
the Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish Rock music, rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid (born 5 March 1962). They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America (song), Letter from America", which reached No. 3 ...
song, dancing with the other three original members of Bucks Fizz, and also
Shelley Preston
Shelley Preston (born 14 May 1964) is a singer who is known for being a former member of the pop group Bucks Fizz, when she replaced Jay Aston in June 1985. Preston's biggest hit as a member of the band was the 1986 track " New Beginning", wh ...
, who had replaced Aston in the group in 1985. This was the first time that Aston had met the group since 1985. She said that relations between them had improved, but not to the extent that they could work together as a group again: "I'm kind of on good terms with all of them individually. But as a band, it just doesn't work, and it's a shame, but it doesn't. There's always been two camps – Cheryl's camp and Bobby's camp, and I was the one in Bobby's camp, and Mike was always in Cheryl's camp."
A new Bucks Fizz CD with a bonus DVD, ''
The Very Best of Bucks Fizz'', was released in May 2007. Aston appeared alone on the
National Lottery National Lottery may refer to:
*National Lottery (Ireland), the state lottery of Ireland
*National Lottery (United Kingdom), the lottery franchise in the United Kingdom
*South African National Lottery, established in 2000
*A number of countries con ...
to promote the album. In August 2008, Aston once again joined up with Bucks Fizz members Mike Nolan, Cheryl Baker and Shelley Preston, when she appeared on "Pop Goes The Band", a television show celebrating 1980s acts – with one episode devoted to the reuniting of Bucks Fizz. This programme was shown on
Living TV
Sky Witness is a British pay television tv channel, channel owned and operated by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel primarily broadcasts procedural dramas from the United States aimed at the 18–45 age demographic. Sky Ital ...
in March 2009.
In May 2013, Aston appeared on the
second series of UK singing talent show ''
The Voice'', singing Muse's
"Time is Running Out", but was not chosen by any of the judges. Aside from her duties in the Fizz, Aston has also appeared in pantomime a number of times. In 2019, She appeared as the Wicked Stepmother in ''Snow White'' at the Queens Theatre, Barnstaple.
The Fizz
In 2004, Bucks Fizz members Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Shelley Preston reunited to form
the Original Bucks Fizz and performed in concert throughout the UK. In April 2009, Preston announced that she was leaving the group and Aston agreed to join – the first time she had been a part of Bucks Fizz since 1985. Since then, they have toured the UK extensively and have released four albums to date, one of them, ''
The F–Z of Pop'', becoming a top 30 hit in the UK Charts. They currently perform under the name the Fizz.
Acting
Before Bucks Fizz, Aston had ambitions to become an actress, but her career in this field encompassed only minor roles in ''
To the Manor Born
''To the Manor Born'' is a BBC television sitcom that first aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981. A special one-off episode was produced in 2007. Starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, the first 20 episodes and the 2007 special were written by ...
'' and ''
Citizen Smith
''Citizen Smith'' is a British television sitcom written by John Sullivan, first broadcast from 1977 to 1980.
It starred Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith, a young Marxist "urban guerrilla" in Tooting, south London, who is attempti ...
''. In 2008, Aston was cast as Claudia Brite in the film ''The Last Days of Edgar Harding'' which was shot in August 2008 and screened in 2010.
The film has never seen a mainstream release.
Personal life
Aston married guitarist
Dave Colquhoun in August 1999 in
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
, London. They have a daughter, Josie Alexandra (born 2003,
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...
, Greater London). In 2011, they lived in
Tatsfield
Tatsfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is located 3.3 miles north west of Westerham and 3.9 miles north east of Oxted, and is adjacent to the Surrey border with both Greater London and Kent.
Geo ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
. Aston's mother Hilda died in 2007, while her father Ted died in 2009. Aston continues to teach dance and performance at her performing arts school in Kent. She was diagnosed with
mouth cancer
Oral cancer, also known as oral cavity cancer, tongue cancer or mouth cancer, is a cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless Erythroplakia, red or Leukoplakia, white patch, that ...
in June 2018. Since then, she has had surgery, and the outlook was "positive". In January 2021, Aston announced that she had been diagnosed with
Covid-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
but recovered.
In 2022, Aston revealed that her daughter Josie had been diagnosed with
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...
. She later revealed that her daughter was recovering, although it "would be slow."
Josie recovered and later appeared in a Season 5 episode of the TV show ''
Rich Kids Go Skint
''Rich Kids Go Skint'' is a British television series which featured "rich kids" who are paired up with families not as wealthy as them, and are usually required to do basic tasks such as: food shopping for the family, cooking dinner for them and ...
''.
Politics
On 27 August 2019, the
Brexit Party
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...
announced that Aston would be standing as its candidate in the London constituency of
Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
, at the time held by the
Labour Party. She came fifth after receiving 384 votes (0.9%).
Discography
;Solo albums
*1984: ''
Shape Up and Dance''
*1993: ''Lamb or Lizard'' (briefly sold on Aston's website)
*2003: ''Alive and Well''
*2006: ''Lamb or Lizard'' (3-CD retrospective)
*2016: ''I-Spy''
References
External links
Aston Theatre Arts School''The Last Days of Edgar Harding'' film website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aston, Jay
1961 births
Living people
English female dancers
English choreographers
People from Purley, London
Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
The Voice UK contestants
Aston, Jay
English beauty pageant winners
Reform UK parliamentary candidates
21st-century English politicians
21st-century English women politicians
21st-century English women singers
21st-century English singers