Siouxsie Sioux

As leader of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Siouxsie Sioux has gone from punk-rock fan to seminal punk rocker to an elder stateswoman. Outlasting most of their contempories, the Banshees have moved from an abrasive, art-punk sound into the mainstream, gaining a Top Forty hit with 1991’s "Kiss Them for Me" (#23).

The Banshees grew out of the Bromley Contingent, a group of Sex Pistols fans; Sid Vicious, later a Pistol himself, played drums for their debut performance (which consisted of just one song, an elongated version of "The Lord’s Prayer") at the 100 Club’s 1976 punk festival. By the time their debut single, "Hong Kong Garden," and the album The Scream came out, only Siouxsie and Steve Severin remained from the original lineup (Marco Pirroni went on to join Adam and the Ants).

Cure leader Robert Smith joined the band for a 1979 tour, and former Sex Pistol guitarist Steve Jones helped out on Kaleidoscope; Magazine’s John McGeoch joined the band shortly before its first American tour in 1980. After appearing on two albums (Juju and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse), McGeoch left in 1982. Smith rejoined the Banshees for a live album, Nocturne, and in the studio for Hyaena (#157, 1984).With Smith on board, the band’s musical palette widened, adding symphonic elements and a cover of the Beatles’ "Dear Prudence" (#3 U.K., 1983).

But he found playing in two bands wearying and left in 1984. Sioux broke her kneecap onstage in 1985, and the band lay low the remainder of the year. It returned with new guitarist John Valentine Carruthers and Tinderbox (#88, 1986), the group’s first U.S. Top 100 album. Carruthers left after Through the Looking Glass (#188, 1987), an album of cover versions.

Peepshow (#68, 1988), with new members Jon Klein (ex-Specimen) and Martin McCarrick, moved the Banshees in the direction of a techno/dance groove, giving the band its first U.S. chart single: "Peek-a-Boo" (#53, 1988). In 1991 the Banshees were invited by Perry Farrell to perform at the first-ever Lollapalooza. Released in conjunction with the tour, Superstition (#65) was the Banshees’ best-selling album. Siouxsie, along with her husband, drummer Budgie, also sporadically recorded and toured as the Creatures from 1981 to 1990.