Joyce Vincent

Joyce Vincent was born in London's Hammersmith area on 19 October 1965 and raised near Fulham Palace Road. Her parents had immigrated to London from Grenada; she was of Dougla descent. Her father, Lawrence, was a carpenter of African descent and her mother, Lyris, was of Indian descent. She had a strained relationship with her emotionally distant father, who she claimed had died in 2001 (he actually died in 2004, unaware that Vincent had predeceased him). She attended Melcombe Primary School and Fulham Gilliatt School for Girls, and left school at age 16 with no qualifications. She had a wide circle of friends in the music industry and when she was 24, she attended and was video recorded in the backstage audience at the concert Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa in April 1990 at Wembley Stadium. Reportedly, she met Mandela at the concert and shook his hand. A source involved in the investigation said: "She detached herself from her family but there was no bust-up. They are a really nice family. We understand she was in a relationship and there was a history of domestic violence." It has been speculated that she was either ashamed to be a victim of domestic abuse or did not want to be found by her abuser. In February 2003, Vincent was moved into the bedsit flat above Wood Green Shopping City where she later died. The flat was owned by the Metropolitan Housing Trust and was used to house victims of abuse. In November 2003, after vomiting blood, she was hospitalised at North Middlesex Hospital for two days, due to a peptic ulcer. ==Death==

Vincent lived above the Shopping City in Wood Green in North London in a Housing Trust flat. The cause of her death is unknown, as is the date, though it is speculated to be around December 2003. She suffered from asthma and had a peptic ulcer at the time of her death; as such, some have suggested an asthma attack or complications surrounding her recent peptic ulcer as a possible cause of death. Her remains were described as "mostly skeletal" according to the pathologist, and she was lying on her back, next to a shopping bag, surrounded by Christmas presents she had wrapped. It was a noisy building which may explain why no one questioned the constant noise from the television, which remained turned on until she was discovered. The Metropolitan Housing Trust said that due to housing benefits covering the costs of rent for some period after Vincent's death, arrears had not been realised until much later. Her sisters had hired a private detective to look for her and contacted the Salvation Army, but these attempts proved unsuccessful. ==In popular culture==

Dreams of a Life A film about Vincent, Dreams of a Life, written and directed by Carol Morley with Zawe Ashton playing Vincent, was released in 2011. Steven Wilson album On 4 November 2014, Steven Wilson announced that his fourth solo album, titled Hand. Cannot. Erase., would be based on the life of Vincent. According to Wilson, he was inspired to create a concept album after seeing Dreams of a Life. From the book that accompanied the deluxe release of the album it is clear that the central character, 'H.', is a highly fictionalised version of Vincent: she is born on 8 October 1978 to an Italian mother and dies or disappears on 22 December 2014. Her only sister is 'J.', who was briefly fostered by her parents prior to their divorce. In the album and book the Christmas presents are intended for H.'s estranged brother and his family. Miss Vincent After researching Vincent's story (referenced in Alkaline Trio's song to "Queen of Pain"), frontman Alex Marshall was inspired to write a song about her life. The song was initially titled "Miss Vincent" but the band eventually decided to change the song's title to "No One Knew" and used the song's original title to name the band instead. ==See also==