Maria Whittaker (born 7 October 1968), also known as Maria Tafari, is a former glamour model,

Page 3 Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model (known as a Page 3 girl) on the third page of mainstream red top tabloids. '' The Sun'' introduced the feature in Novembe ...

girl, and pop singer.

Modelling career

Born on 7 October 1969 in

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, Whittaker has described herself as a shy teenager. She began glamour modelling after her mother sent her photo to the Yvonne Paul modelling agency, but asked her father not to look at any of her topless pictures. She made her

debut in ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' in 1985, aged 16, and went on to become one of the most popular Page 3 models of the era. She was named ''The Sun'''s Page 3 Girl of the Year in 1989. She also appeared in a variety of men's magazines. Her younger sister Lisa also had a brief career as a Page 3 girl, and the sisters posed together for topless photo shoots. At age 18, Whittaker bought her parents a house in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

, London, from her modelling income. Saying that she was "fed up of being the centre of attention" and "wanted a peaceful life", she ceased glamour modelling at age 21 to become an

au pair An au pair (; : au pairs) is a person working for, and living as part of, a homestay, host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family’s responsibility for child care as well as some homemaking, housework, and receive a monetary ...

Music and television

Whittaker appeared as a Hill's Angel in two episodes of ''

The Benny Hill Show ''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketch comedy, sketches typified by slapstick, mime, parody, and ...

'' in 1983. In 1986, she had a cameo role in the movie version of '' Whoops Apocalypse''. She made her second screen appearance in the thriller film '' Tank Malling'' in 1989. Whittaker formed the band Rhythm Zone in 1990, with her as lead vocalist. The band was short-lived, releasing one unsuccessful single named "Stop Right Now (Take My Number)" ( UK No. 163).

Video game covers

Whittaker, together with Michael Van Wijk, appeared semi-nude on the cover of the 1987 video game, '' Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior''. Later, Whittaker appeared on the cover of the 1989 sequel '' Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax'' which featured a similarly named playable character called Princess Mariana.

Personal life

Whittaker is married to Michael West, better known as record producer Rebel MC and Congo Natty. The couple have three children. Trinity Tafari, their youngest child, is a world champion at

street dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, Locking (dance), locking, house dance, waacking, voguing, etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created o ...

, and is a part of dance group IMD, which has been featured on '' Got to Dance'' and '' Britain's Got Talent''. Whittaker now works as a Sales Coordinator for the

multi-level marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial and sometimes illegal marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salarie ...

dietary supplement brand Juice Plus, which she promotes through her social media.

References

External links

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Forgotten Beauties – Maria Whittaker Interestment.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, Maria 1968 births 20th-century English singers 20th-century English women singers Living people English women pop singers English female models English female adult models British glamour models Page 3 girls People from Hounslow Models from London