Fiona Russell Powell

Growing up in Dore, Sheffield, she had known ABC from their early days as an electronic three-piece called Vice Versa. In 1982, aged 20, she began writing for The Face as a features writer, concentrating mostly on music and became known for her irreverent mickey-taking interviews with leading pop stars of the day. ==ABC==

After the success of ABC's debut album The Lexicon of Love and the disappointing reception to their follow up Beauty Stab, ABC's Martin Fry and Mark White decided they wanted a completely new image for ABC. To that end, they asked Powell to join the band as well as American David Yarritu. Neither Powell nor Yarritu were allowed to contribute musically. When Powell admitted she couldn't play any instruments, ABC frontman Martin Fry replied "It doesn't matter. You can pretend. We want you because you've got a great look". Inflatable instruments were made for the band with the aim to be as luridly bright and "cartoony" as possible. Eden even wore a dildo belt she made on The Tube, the 1980s Channel 4 live music show, which was a belt covered in "ladyfingers" – very small white dildoes – to look like a bullet belt. The new look ABC went over well enough; in the UK and the US How to Be a Zillionaire charted in the top 30, while "Be Near Me" was the highest-charting track off the album at No. 26 in the UK ==Journalistic career==

Powell has written for Punch, The Face, BLITZ, i-D, Daily Express, Time Out and New Humanist, among others. ==References==