Divinyls

Divinyls are vocalist Christina Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee.

Amphlett's whole life seems to have pointed towards a lifetime in music. Amphlett had impeccable pop credentials, being the cousin of sixties Australian pop icon Little Pattie and closely related to pioneer Aussie rocker Col Joye and his brother, leading promoter Kevin Jacobsen. After running away from home at 14 to follow her favourite group, Amphlett joined her first band in Melbourne. In 1971 she turned up in Sydney as one of the featured singers in One Ton Gypsy, an ambitious country rock band. At 17 she left Australia to travel alone through Europe, spending some time living on the streets of Paris, and at one point ending up in a Spanish jail for busking.

The duo formed after meeting at a Sydney Opera House concert in 1980, and for the first two years they performed in pubs and clubs in Sydney's Kings Cross. They provided the soundtrack for the movie Monkey Grip (1982) with Amphlett also acting in the film. She received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Australian Film Institute for her performance and the group had two hit singles, 'Boys In Town' and 'Only Lonely' from the soundtrack. The single from the soundtrack mini-album, Boys in a Town, came with an eye-catching video of Christina Amphlett at her provocative best, dressed in a school uniform and fishnet stockings, filmed from below as she performed on top of a metal grill. It was an image that would stay with Divinyls for a long time.

With a one-off deal for Monkey Grip, Divinyls were in a position to take advantage of the record company offers that flooded their way. With just one hit to their credit the Divinyls were able to sign a worldwide deal with Chrysalis. Their debut album, Desperate, was recorded in New York with Australian producer Mark Opitz.

Over the next decade they released several albums, and had hit singles in Australia with songs such as 'Science Fiction', 'Good Die Young', 'Pleasure and Pain' and 'Sleeping Beauty'. Amphlett became a controversial and highly visible celebrity, known for her brash and overtly sexual persona, and for the subversive humour in both her lyrics and her performances.

The Divinyls toured and performed in the United States and established a fan base there, without ever achieving major commercial success. While the group toured the world extensively in the years that followed, the lineup kept changing around the Amphlett-McEntee team. As well as musicians, Divinyls have had a habit of losing managers and record companies. The group's output on record has been hindered by the struggle to get all the pieces together long enough to release albums. The What a Life album (1985) took three producers to complete it. Frustrating for all those concerned, the wait between releases might also have contributed to the group's longevity.

In 1991 they released the single "I touch myself' which became their only Australian number one single, and it reached number four in the US, and number ten in the U.K.. A disagreement with their record company in the U.S. stifled their future development, however in Australia they continued to release popular albums, and to achieve several more hit singles ('Love school', 'Make out alright', and 'I'm on your side'). During the 1980s and 1990s Amphlett began to collaborate as a songwriter with such artists as Chrissie Hynde and Cyndi Lauper, and she and McEntee worked on solo projects.

In the early 1990s they recorded a series of cover songs for various movie soundtracks, including the Young Rascals' 'I ain't gonna eat out my heart anymore' for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Wild Ones' 'Wild Thing' for Reckless Kelly, and Roxy Music's 'Love is the drug' for Super Mario Brothers.

In 1996 Underworld, the fifth album, was released in Australia by BMG.

In recent years Amphlett has also indulged her talent for acting with her starring role in the Australian production of Blood Brothers and her stand-out portrayal of Judy Garland in the Peter Allen-inspired musical The Boy From Oz.

From the late 1990s, Amphlett and McEntee have concentrated largely on solo projects and their collaborations with other artists. Amphlett has also written a book and lives in New York with her husband and animals.