Wendy James Vamps It Up Transvision Style

To say Transvision Vamp’s Wendy James played the role of pop vixen to perfection would be understating the fact. The essence of the British quartet lay in combining catchy pop rock melodies and riffs with a punk edge, but the X factor which took them from being just another struggling garage band to Top Of The Pops, was the presence of vocalist Wendy James.

Songwriter/guitarist Nick Christian Sayer had accumulated a collection of songs that he felt would make good records, but he needed a band, and most of all needed a charismatic and talented singer to bring those songs to life. Wendy James was a struggling would be vocalist who would make extra money by singing in clubs to backing tracks of artists like Patti Smith. As fate would have it Sayer was a patron at one such late night gig during November 1983, and saw in James the key to unlocking the potential in his songs. James was also a drama student at the time but put her studies aside to pursue pop stardom with Sayer.

The duo spent the next eighteen months piecing together a demo tape of six tracks: ‘We Travel’, ‘Space Junk’, ‘Sky High’, ‘I’ll Do Anything’, ‘Rocket To Me’ and ‘Satellite Boy’. You might think from that collection that Sayer also harboured ambitions to work for N.A.S.A., but the common theme actually reflected their original intent for the songs, which were to comprise a soundtrack to a sci-fi film they both wanted to make, tentatively titled ‘Saturn 5’. Their grand ambitions to revamp the music scene and their common love for the futuristic sci-fi scene, led them to call their proposed band Transvision Vamp.

They relocated to London and over the next two years continued to pursue their ambitions to realise a ground breaking, earth shattering pop-rock act. Through a meeting with then Pink Floyd manager Steve O’Rourke, Sayer and James were introduced to recording engineer/producer Duncan Bridgeman - who would later be a key player in their career. One thing led to another which led to another, and by late 1986 Dave Ambrose of MCA gave his seal of approval to the duo’s demo work and signed them to a record deal. On December 8th 1986 Transvision Vamp moved a giant step from being a concept to reality with a record contract in place.

Sayer and James began the recording process in earnest, but obviously needed some other musicians to complete the Transvision Vamp sound. Bass player Dave Parsons and keyboardist/drummer Tex Axile completed the band’s first rollcall. They recorded their debut album ‘Pop Art’ during 1987, and captured the surging energy of their pop-punk sound perfectly. The first single released was actually ‘Revolution Baby’ in August of ‘87, but the marketing machine wasn’t quite in place and the song fizzled out at #77 on the U.K. charts. In April of ‘88 ‘Tell That Girl To Shut Up’ (originally recorded by Holly and the Italians) hit the stores and soon hit the charts, peaking at #45 in Britain (OZ#52). The song would be released in the U.S. later in the year and crawl to #88, but the U.S. didn’t cave to the allure of Wendy James and Transvision Vamp, and ‘Tell That Girl To Shut Up’ remained the band’s only Hot 100 hit Stateside.

Everything changed for Transvision Vamp with the release of their next single ‘I Want Your Love’. The song showcased Wendy James’ brooding and breathless vocals, but it would be her image that would act as a major catalyst in catapulting the band to the summit of the pop scene. Acting every bit the platinum blonde screen siren, James pouted and preened to the camera throughout the promo clip for ‘I Want Your Love’. Backed by a menacing group of pseudo punk rockers, James became the antithesis of all things prim and proper that had dominated the U.K. pop scene in the preceding year or so. Acts like Rick Astley and even the then girl next door Kylie Minogue, were polar opposites to Wendy James and Tranvision Vamp - she was the new Debbie Harry and they were the new Blondie, or maybe The Clash with Debbie Harry out front. The critics and fans lapped it up, sending ‘I Want Your Love’ hurtling to #5 on the U.K. charts in mid ‘88, and to #7 in Australia soon after (where the track spent a walloping 30 weeks on the charts). The album ‘Pop Art’ rode the crest of the Wendy James popularity wave, breaking to #4 in Britain and #15 in Australia (where again Transvision Vamp spent a marathon 54 weeks on the charts - US#115). It’s worth noting that for their live shows during this period, Transvision Vamp performed as a quintet, with drummer Pol Burton coming into the fray, allowing Tex Axile to focus on keyboard duties.

The single ‘Revolution Baby’ was naturally re-released and second time around fared a lot better (UK#30/OZ#22), whilst another single ‘Sister Moon’ (UK#41/OZ#91) also kept the chart presence going. All the while the media savvy Wendy James’ profile in the press continued to overshadow the rest of the band.

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