London, England, UK

Before X-Ray Spex, Poly Styrene recorded a solo single under her given name, Silly Billy, in a delightful reggae/ska style. Three months later, in July, on her 19th birthday, she saw the Sex Pistols at the Pier Pavilion in Hastings and formed X-Ray Spex. One album and several singles later X-Ray Spex split. After X-Ray Spex split in 1979, she signed with United Artists and released Translucence, a jazz-influenced funk record which sounded absolutely nothing like X-Ray Spex.

After this she discovered religion (Hare Krishna) and didn't release another record until 1986's Gods & Godesses, which was followed by brief X-Ray Spex reunions in 1991 and 1995. She finally got around to recording her follow-up solo album in 2004, 'Flower Aeroplane' (self-described as "an eclectic mix of soothing transcendent sounds with a metal edge"). X-Ray Spex played one last show in 2008. Poly died of spinal and breast cancer on 25 April 2011.