This Girl In The Mirror Ain't That Girl On The Wall

For mine one of the stand out Aussie pop-rock songs from the mid 1980s has to be Jane Clifton’s ‘Girl On The Wall’ from 1984. It would prove the only solo hit for Clifton, but represents just a fraction of an extensive multi-faceted career in arts and entertainment.

Jane Clifton was born in Gibraltar and grew up in Cardiff, Wales before emigrating to Australia with her family in 1961, aged 12. Her family relocated to Melbourne when Jane was 16, and she would make the city her creative base. She graduated from University with intentions to become an English teacher, but was drawn in to the exploding theatrical and music scene. She cut her acting teeth on stage at venues like Carlton’s ‘La Mama’ and ‘The Pram Factory’ during the early to mid 70s.

Not content with one string to her artistic bow, Jane Clifton gained invaluable experience as a singer with several local bands throughout the 1970s. She first fronted Lipp And The Double Dekker Brothers during 1971 and 1972, and a folk/rock vocal trio called Myriad during 1973. This landed her a gig as a support act on Frank Zappa’s 1973 Australian tour. Clifton then sang with Carlton ‘alternative’ rock outfit Scumbag during 1973, the band featuring a pre-Skyhooks Red Symons. The short lived band Toads (1975) was followed by new wave band Stiletto, who played from 1976 to 1978 and released several low key singles ‘Debutantes’ and ‘Licence To Rage’ on the independent Oz label, and even appeared on Countdown. Throughout this period Jane Clifton found time to keep an active role in local theatre productions with the A.P.G. (Australian Performing Group), and started to appear in guest roles on Australian TV dramas such as ‘Division 4’ and ‘Skyways’.

In 1980 Clifton scored the character role of Margo Gaffney in the popular Australian TV drama ‘Prisoner’, and would reprise the role intermittently over the next five years. During 1981 she fronted the R&B covers band Nighthawkes, and the following year saw the frenetic performance schedule for Clifton include minor roles in the motion pictures ‘The Clinic’ and ‘A Slice Of Life’ (which was apparently never released).

1982 must have been a full diary for Jane Clifton as Joe Camilleri invited her to join the latest line-up of his group Jo Jo Zep (now sans Falcons). She had worked with Camilleri back in the mid 70s at the musical theatre venue T.F. Much Ballroom. Clifton provided backing and co-lead vocals on the classic 1982 album ‘Cha’. The album featured the quirky brass-driven Latin-styled track ‘Taxi Mary’ (OZ#11), on which Clifton traded lead vocals with Joe Camilleri (see Jo Jo Zep post from April). Clifton remained with Jo Jo Zep until Joe Camilleri called an end to the band’s tenure during the second half of 1983.

Following Jo Jo Zep Clifton once again collaborated with Joe Camilleri in the recording studio on her first solo single ‘Girl On The Wall’. The Camilleri produced track was a fantastic pop-rock song with really clever lyrics, which took a sharp edged look at the whole question of self image for women. The inspiration for the song came from Jane Clifton’s role in the Robyn Archer penned cabaret show ‘Pack Of Women’. The song achieved a peak position of #13 on the Australian charts in mid ‘84. The follow up single ‘My Machines’ sadly flopped, and for the remainder of 1984 Clifton fronted the band Jane Clifton and The Go Go Boys (which also featured former Jo Jo Zep and future Black Sorrows guitarist Jeff Burstin). In 1985 Joe Camilleri worked with Clifton once again, this time playing on the jazz single ‘Turn To Dust’ released on Spirit Records.

The second half of the 80s saw the regular television work continue with roles on the popular TV dramas ‘The Flying Doctors’, ‘Sweet And Sour’ and ‘Home’, and a starring role in the ABC TV series ‘Dancing Days’ in 1985. During 1985 Jane Clifton also returned to stage in the cabaret show ‘On A Clear Day You Can See Jane Clifton’. The comedy/musical was written by comedienne Wendy Harmer and ran for over four months in Melbourne, with a six week season following in Sydney. Clifton also scored support roles in the films ‘As Time Goes By’ (1987) and ‘Garbo’ (1990).

The energetic balancing act across television, music, stage, film and radio continued through the 90s. Highlights included contributing songs to the ABC Records compilations ‘Moon Over Melbourne’ (1993) and ‘Going Home’ (1993), and recording work with So Nice, a nine piece Brasil ’66 covers band, the nationally touring stage production ‘Mum’s The Word’ (1998-2000), a role in the 1999 film ‘Trapped’, regular presenter on Melbourne radio station 3RPH, and roles in TV shows ‘The Passion’ and ‘Janus’.

The turn of the millennium did nothing to slow the pace of Jane Clifton’s creative endeavours. While the television and film work switched to the back burner, they were replaced with Clifton’s first published novel ‘Half Past Dead’. The comedic crime story was short listed for the prestigious Ned Kelly Award for ‘Best First Novel’ in 2002. Clifton’s second novel was 2005’s ‘A Hand In The Bush’, a comic thriller set in Melbourne, whilst a third novel ‘Flush’ is set for publication later in 2008. In 2003 Jane Clifton released her first (amazingly enough) solo album ‘The Marriage Of Style’ with a live tour in support. In amongst the creative chaos she’s also found the time and energy to raise a family.

It’s fair to say that this ‘girl on the wall’ has built an impressive career across the entire gamut of entertainment/arts mediums. While most of us would be rapped to excel in just one creative endeavour, Jane Clifton has spent the last 35 years excelling in several.
You can see the video clip for Jane Clifton's 'Girl On The Wall' via the following link (and just below it is the clip to the brilliant 'Taxi Mary' by Jo Jo Zep) -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwOUJSYiXS0A big thankyou to YouTube user gnowangerup for uploading the above clip for Jane Clifton's 'My Machines'.