The home of Roxy Hart

My Life

Email:
roxy@roxyhart.com

1972
I played a rough boy in Coronation Street. I was on a day trip up to Manchester with my friend Bob and had promised to show him the Granada Studios. While walking outside the main entrance, we was approached my a strange man ( not the first time in my life! ), who asked us if we would like to be extra's in the show. We jumped at the chance and got to meet many of our favorite characters including Gail, Mike, Emily and Bet.

During this time I was working as a Bar man at the "Red Lion" on Kingley Street, just off Carnaby Street in London. I was there for about 4 years.

1976
I then went to work in Brighton with the same brewery for 8 months and lived-in. This enabled me to save up and buy some costumes.

Started doing Amateur Drag Nights at various London Venues. I teamed up with my friend Derek to form "Two's Company" (my first act) and performed free at the Blackcap in Camden, The Vauxhall Tavern and The Royal Oak in Hammersmith.

	During this period, I went to see Chicago at the Wimbledon Theatre and said to myself that if ever I became a solo act then I would name myself Roxy Hart, after the leading lady. 1978 After gaining a bit of experience "The Harlequeens" took us under their wings for the Christmas Revue at the Royal Oak. My first wage was the Princely sum of £24.16. We had to change our name to "Two's Harmony" for Equity reasons, as "Two's Company " had already been taken. Our first professional costumes were bought second hand from the Harlequeens !! 1979 We had our first professional photo shoot this year and you can see my first incarnation as "Calypso Pete". We went on tour Up North to Lincoln, York, Leeds, Hull and my home town of Manchester (which made me homesick). The wonderful Avril Barton (who made some beautiful tea's for us) was our agent and we used her house in Leeds as our base when we toured. 1980 Due to being homesick for the Northern Lights, I parted company with "Two's Company" and my best friend Anton stepped into my shoes. I managed to find myself a bed sit in Manchester and was going to call myself "Mahogany", until I remembered about Roxy from Chicago. I then officially become "Miss Roxy Hart" and registered the name with Equity (which has paid dividends since the release of the film version of Chicago). Worked at Sinclair's Oyster Bar during the day and at night and if I got a booking then I had to take the night off. Did a show at Flamingo's in Blackpool when it first opened and did an act with Pussy Galore. In those days Flamingo's only had one floor, not like the multi level venue it is today. At Dickens of Manchester on May 21st 1980, I did my very first Shirley Bassey performance. Other characters I did included Liza Minneli, Carmen Miranda, Donna Summer, Barbara Striesand and Eartha Kitt. The show consisted of 2 x 20 minute spots and I was paid £15 a night. On my first night there, I was so nervous being a solo act that I threw up. I worked there every Wednesday evening. 1984 I was asked to run a bar in Manchester called the "Brown Cow" and Pussy Galore was the DJ (as himself) and Damien "The Timewarp" was taken on to do some cabaret. It was a busy bar, but didn't make any money - never again Got another job in television and played an Asian Tranny opposite Charles Dance in "The Jewel in The Crown". Nigel Martin-Smith (ex "Take That" Manager) was a blonde tranny with me and I think he's the one who puts his lipstick on in the mirror - it's a small world! Worked with Pussy Galore and Panda Jazz (Boy Dancer) at Angels Fun Bar in Wigan, which was opposite Uncle Joe's Mint Ball's. 1985 Started working at the New Union in Manchester on Monday Nights and Henry Afrika's in Wigan on Friday and Saturday Nights. Put a 30 minute show together with Pussy, which included sketches from Cabaret, Kiss me Kate, Grease and Pussy did Annie Lennox. 1987 I first met "Just Uz" at Angels Fun Bar, who was doing a free show for the owners. I was so impressed with Cathy and Liz from "Just Uz" that we decided to work together as an act. We created a 30 minutes non-stop cabaret show and went on tour together. This took us to London and we did shows at The Phoenix, Sliks, Manhattans, White Swan and the Vauxhall Tavern. Embarked on an oversea's tour which included weekends in Copenhagen, 8 weeks in Malta, Ireland, Hong Kong and over a year in Japan. Cathy met a boy, feel in love and wanted to move to Australia to get married. This meant a return to the UK to put on a final farewell tour across London before she left. You can see my first attempt as Tina Turner ! Returned again to Henry Afika's in Wigan, where I had a 3 night residency. Worked there with Chris D'Bray, Roxy DuValle, Liz from "Just Us" and Panda Jazz. While in Japan I had been amazed at the popularity of Karaoke, so when I returned to The Union in Manchester I worked with Julies fabulous Karaoke. On Monday's I did an Amateur Cabaret Night and on Tuesday's and Thursdays was Karaoke Night. When I first started at the Union we used to get about 50 customers a night in, but when I left it was nearly 400 a night. I spent approximately 15 years at the Union, with lots of fond and special memories of the venue. Had some great holidays and laugh's with the owners Harry and Margaret, whose friendship I miss dearly. It was wonderful getting this Award, as it was the first time the Award had been presented. It was a great honour, as one of the judges had said that the decision was unanimous. Its always great getting awards for charity, but the best part is actually raising the money. The writer of "Queer As Folk", Russel T. Davies, used to visit the Union and approached me about appearing as the Karaoke Hostess in the series - as that's what I was known for in Manchester. Each film shoot I did took about 3 days of filming and ended up with only 20 sec's on screen. Filming took place at the Union and then the "Press Club" in Manchester. What a great experience it was and really nice people to work with. After the first series of "Queer As Folk" was shown on telly, there was a huge influx of straight people coming down to Canal Street to see what it was all about. The show really put Canal Street on the map for people outside of Manchester. (June 1999) Russell T. Davis (writer, co-producer) in Attitude magazine 5 OCT 99 Second day's filming, and it's the New Union scenes. The real Union's far too busy to allow the crew access, so it's re-created in Manchester's Press Club. We've hired Roxy Hart to appear as well, as Roxy Hart, so that makes it seem like the real thing, 2003 On the 23rd May 2003, I started at "Roxy's" on Queen Street, Blackpool. For the first year, I found it very difficult - new venue with my name on it, new home and not many friends. I'm now feeling a lot more settled and Blackpool is more of a home to me now. The first year had it's highs and lows, but any new venue in Blackpool takes a while to build up it's name with the party visitors. DJ Zoe at Funny Girl's has been a great help in advertising us as their sister venue and sending customers down to us when they close. The team at "Roxy's" work really hard together and we are now feeling the benefit of increased and regular patronage. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my life and enjoy looking through my other pages. I can't believe how I managed to pack so much into so little time and sometimes felt like a gypsy with all the moving I did !!