Virginia Astley

Virginia Astley's family was from the Warrington area and lived in Grappenhall, where her elder sister Karen was born in 1947.

The family relocated to Stanmore, Middlesex because of Edwin's work as a film and TV writer.

Virginia Astley (born 26 September 1959) is an English singer-songwriter most active during the 1980s and 1990s.

Virginia Astley was born in Garston, Hertfordshire, England, alongside her twin, Alison in 1959, the second daughter of composer Edwin Astley, noted for TV themes such as The Saint, and his wife Hazel Balbirnie, who married in 1945.

In the early 1960s, he was musical director at ITC Entertainment in Borehamwood, the company responsible for TV series such as The Saint and Danger Man.

In 1968, her sister Karen married Pete Townshend of The Who.

In the 1970s, Virginia's elder brother, Jon Astley, became a tape operator for Eric Clapton, and worked his way up to becoming a re-masterer and record producer.

Virginia began learning piano at the age of six and flute at 14.

After leaving school, she studied at the Guildhall School Of Music.

Her first professional appearance in public was as a busker outside South Kensington tube station.

Her songwriting career started in 1980.

Her classical training influenced her, as did a desire to be experimental with her music.

Although most popular in Asia, most notably Japan, she remains a cult artist in her native England.

In 1980, she auditioned for a new band from Clapham, the Victims of Pleasure.

Astley, playing keyboards, worked with them for a short while playing in clubs and pubs around London.

The band released three singles between 1980 and 1982 before splitting up.

Afterward, Astley wrote, arranged and performed music with Skids frontman Richard Jobson for the album The Ballad Of Etiquette.

Their collaboration continued when Jobson moved to Belgian label Les Disques Du Crépuscule, and Astley contributed to the Crépuscule compilation The Fruit of the Original Sin.

She also contributed as part of The Dream Makers (in collaboration with filmmaker Jean Paul Goude) for a cover version of "La Chanson d'Helene" (Helen's Song), showcasing an early example of her distinctive vocal style.

It was during this early period that Astley started to give serious consideration to releasing her own material; however, nothing immediately came of these plans.

Then in 1981, she signed to the small UK label Why-Fi and recorded a series of songs.

A school friend, Jo Wells (Kissing the Pink) and a university friend Nicky Holland both contributed as did Tony Butler, Mark Brzezicki and Peter Hope-Evans.

Astley then received an offer from another Why-Fi artist, Troy Tate, for a supporting band position with The Teardrop Explodes.

The trio joined The Teardrops in Liverpool during the winter of 1981 for a series of dates at a small clubs and a UK tour in early 1982.

They also recorded with Echo & the Bunnymen, Skids, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

This work was released as The Ballad of Etiquette in late 1981.

Later, Astley went with Jobson to perform in Japan.

She also worked on other people's projects, including work for Les Disques Du Crépuscule label, playing piano and arranging music for Richard Jobson and Anna Domino.

The Ravishing Beauties did not record as a band, but appeared on radio shows, including a John Peel Session on BBC Radio 1 in April 1982.

The Ravishing Beauties first played at Club Zoo in Liverpool and followed this with the support tour with The Teardrop Explodes.

Astley wrote most of the band's songs, some of which appeared on her first solo project with Why-Fi.

The band was short lived, with St. John first becoming a model, and then eventually a member of The Dream Academy, while Holland did session work and joined Tears for Fears.

One of the first musicians Astley recorded with was Richard Jobson.

Together with John McGeoch and Josephine Wells, they created a musical backdrop for Jobson's poetry.

She also had a track on From Brussels with Love in 1982.

Sessions followed with Richard Jobson and Russell Webb for the final Skids album, Joy, which featured Astley on flute and as a backing singer.

Astley recorded a solo album, She Stood Up And Cried for Crépuscule but this was withdrawn, eventually being released three years later as Promise Nothing.

In the 1990s, finding that her musical style was popular in Japan, she went on to collaborate with Asian artists.

She recruited Nicky Holland and another university friend, Kate St. John to form the band the Ravishing Beauties.

Kate St. John and Nicky Holland went on to maintain solo careers in the 1990s at the time of Astley's re-emergence in Japan.