Georgina Baillie is an English actor, artist,
post-punk singer, songwriter, and formerly a burlesque performer. Her stage names have included Voluptua and Georgie Girl.
From 2010 to 2013 she worked as a backing vocalist for
Adam Ant and during 2011-2012 as the lead singer of the band
Georgie Girl and her Poussez Posse that toured with Ant in over 100 concerts.
In October 2008, Baillie and her grandfather, the actor
Andrew Sachs, were the targets of a
prank phone call by
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...
and
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...
that resulted in reverberations in the British media.
Early life
Baillie was born 7 July 1985 in East London UK. Her mother is voiceover artist Kate Sachs and her father the actor Charles Baillie. Her maternal grandfather is the actor
Andrew Sachs.
Career
Music
Baillie has worked with a number of bands over the years. In 2010 she worked with MariaMaria to release a single, "Sonnet for a Vampire." Baillie performed vocals, with Sarah White on bass and Corrine Aze "Hazel" Corleone on guitar.
From 2010–2013, Baillie sang backing vocals for
Adam Ant. At first she sang with Sarah White and later with Georgina "Twinkle" Leahy; she later sang backup alone.
As a member of Ant's band "The Good, The Mad and the Lovely Posse" she appeared as a backing vocalist in Ant's "Cool Zombie" music video, released on Blueblack Hussar Records
and in concert footage featured in ''The Blueblack Hussar'', a documentary about Ant's early 2010s musical comeback directed by
Jack Bond, as well as in extras included on the film's DVD release.
Baillie co-wrote two songs in response to the Johnathan Ross/Russell Brand incident discussed below. One was "Gun In Your Pocket", a song by Ant with input from Baillie
in which both Baillie and Brand are discussed.
"Gun In Your Pocket" was written in 2010 as single for Ant's upcoming album ''
''.
' In the end the song was released in late 2012 as the B side of actual pre-album single "Cool Zombie".
The other song was "Rubber Medusa" – a song addressed to Brand from Baillie's point of view, co-written with Ant.
From 2011 to 2012, Baillie was lead singer of the band
Georgie Girl And Her Poussez Posse, which Ant mentored. There were two incarnations of Poussez Posse. The original line-up featured Baillie with
Fiona Bevan and Danie Cox both on guitars, Rachael Smith on drums and Molly Spiers Macleod (daughter of
Spizz
Spizzenergi are an English punk/ new wave band led by vocalist/guitarist Spizz (real name Kenneth Spiers, born Solihull 1959). Formed in the late 1970s, the band changed its name every year, subsequent names including Athletico Spizz 80, Spizz ...
) on bass. Footage from early 2011 of a band meeting of this first incarnation at Ant's home is included in Bond's documentary.
[The Blueblack Hussar DVD Sunrise 001 2014. Credits include: "... In order of appearance: ... Danie Cox, Fiona Bevan, Molly Spiers Macleod, Rachael Smith, ..."] They recorded a single of "Rubber Medusa" (b/w "Teacher") and an EP of four of Cox's songs. Both projects remain unreleased. Bevan left to concentrate on her own music in July 2011 and Cox, Smith and Spiers Macleod all abruptly left in September (to found their own band
The Featherz
The Featherz (formerly The Feathers) are a Welsh and English band with glam and punk influences (self-styled as "Flock Rock") led by Danie Centric (known as Danie Cox prior to January 2018, born 15 December 1990 in Bridgend) on lead vocals and ...
, led by Cox).
At this point, the second incarnation of the Posse was recruited, featuring the return of Corleone on guitar, drummer Jessica Rushton and future
Curse of Lono
Curse of Lono is an English alternative rock band based in London and signed to Submarine Cat Records. They have released one EP and two studio albums. Their most recent album, ''As I Fell'', peaked at number 10 on the Official Americana Album ...
bassist Charis Anderson.
This version toured the UK, mainland Europe and Australia supporting Ant and his band between October 2011 and December 2012,
with Baillie performing double duty every night as both the Posse's frontwoman and Ant's backing vocalist.
Early in 2013, Baillie dissolved the second Posse. She sang vocals and Corleone played guitar as the duo Vortex Empress.
They produced two tracks, "Burn Me" and "Spellbound" and a music video for the former. From mid to late 2013, she sang backing vocals in Guns 2 Roses, (the official
Guns 'N Roses tribute act). In 2016, she worked with
Boz Boorer singing vocals on the track "Le Stalker" on Boorer's solo album ''Age of Boom''.
John Robb of ''
Louder Than War'', in a full interview for the site, described Baillie's work as "punky burlesque".
The London ''
Evening Standard'' has profiled her music career and musical collaboration and friendship with Ant.
The ''
Tampa Bay Times'' describes "Georgie Girl & Her Poussez Posse"'s music as "fresh and rough" comparing their sound to "Hole vs Garbage vs a sexy, roller-derby squad".
["'Georgie Girl & Her Poussez Posse' took the opening spot. Lead singer Georgina Baillie (who also sings backup for Adam) really rocked the house. Despite their '50s pinup-girl image, their sound is fresh and rough. Think Hole vs Garbage vs a sexy, roller-derby squad ... The crowd seemed energized by (Adam Ant's) enthusiasm and this was only heightened when Georgina Baillie returned to the stage in a sexy mermaid-influenced outfit and they eased into "Desperate But Not Serious" ...And with Georgina on stage, there's no shortage of sexy."]
Burlesque
Baillie has worked in burlesque, some of her collaborators and projects include:
Salvation Group, and
Satanic Sluts Extreme, a four piece "gothic burlesque" dance group originating as an offshoot of the online subculture "Satanic sluts" organised by
Nigel Wingrove
Nigel Wingrove (born 26 October 1957) is the founder of the horror film company Salvation Films and the Redemption film label and creator of the online alternative female collectivethe Satanic Sluts He is also a film director and the only directo ...
; her
persona's stage name was Voluptua. Self-described as: "four of the sexiest depraved London jezebels", they performed at
Glastonbury music festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...
and in several music videos.
Acting
As well as showing her as backing vocalist and apprentice to Ant as noted above, her appearance in Jack Bond's documentary ''The Blueblack Hussar'' also features her life at Ant's house in early 2011 and her accompanying Ant as he goes about his comeback, including being in the studio for an early 2011
Xfm
Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...
radio session.
After she stopped working with Ant, Baillie studied acting at
The Poor School
The Poor School and Workhouse Theatre was a drama school situated in King's Cross, London, United Kingdom.
The Poor School was created in 1986 by former Royal Central School of Speech and Drama vocal coach Barbara Caister in response to the nee ...
of drama in London in the mid 2010s.
In 2015, she debuted in the role of "Ruth" in the Harold Pinter's play ''The Homecoming''.
In 2021, she was cast in the lead role in ''White Witch'', at the Bloomsbury Theatre (2021).
In 2021 she appeared in the Kevin Short film, ''Tom and his Zombie Wife''.
Art
Baillie began producing cartoon-like drawings in 2017 as part of rehab. Later she began painting and producing
silkscreen prints.
Controversy
During the 18 October 2008 episode of
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
's ''
The Russell Brand Show'', comedian
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...
and presenter
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...
called actor
Andrew Sachs (Baillie's grandfather) live on air for an interview. When Sachs failed to take the call, Ross and Brand left a series of four "lewd" messages on Sachs' answering machine, about Baillie's sexual relationship with Brand.
The incident was picked up by the tabloids, and later resulted in Brand and Radio 2 controller
Lesley Douglas resigning from the BBC, Ross being suspended without pay for twelve weeks, and the BBC being fined £150,000 by
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
.
The media referred to the incident as "Sachsgate". Sachs never gave his consent to have these messages to be broadcast on the air. This led to the estrangement of Baillie with her grandparents that lasted for years.
The sociologist, Chris Rojeck, has described Ross and Brand's exploit as an "invasion of privacy", and states that "their remorse is not focused on Andrew Sachs or Georgina Baillie, the victims whose privacy has been violated" but rather the two comedians felt remorse for receiving negative public reactions and disapproval of their stunt.
In 2009, shortly after the incident,
Adam Ant befriended Baillie, and they have remained close friends. For several years, Ant mentored Baillie and encouraged her to reconcile with her grandfather after the controversy.
He hired Baillie as his assistant to oversee his day to day calendar scheduling. He also asked her to perform back up vocals for his performances. He refers to himself as "her mentor" regarding the Sachsgate episode.
In 2019, eleven years after the incident, Brand met with Baillie in person, and formally apologised for the prank.
See also
*
Women in punk rock
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, Georgina
Women rock singers
English actors
Burlesque performers
1985 births
Living people