Visage Singer Steve Strange Has Died Of A Heart Attack At Age 55


Visage singer Steve Strange is reported to have died, aged just 55. The iconic Welsh pop singer found fame in the 1980s as frontman for Visage, whose best known hit was “Fade To Grey.” ITV News is reporting that Strange, a pioneer of the “New Romantic” movement, has died of a heart attack in Egypt at the age of 55.

Marc Green, a spokesman for Steve Strange’s record label, August Day Recordings, said, “We are extremely saddened to announce that Steve Strange died at 11:15 local time on Thursday, February 12, in Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, Egypt.”

“Steve died in his sleep of heart failure. Steve’s family, band members and friends are all distraught at this sudden news of his untimely death. Steve’s family request privacy at this extremely difficult time.”

Strange also managed the Blitz Club in Soho, Central London, a focal point for the New Romantic movement in the mid-1980s.

According to the BBC, Steve Strange, whose real name was Steve Harrington, was born in Newbridge, Monmouthshire, Wales, and got involved in music after seeing the Sex Pistols in concert in 1976.

He went to London aged 15 to work for Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McClaren before setting up the Blitz Club in Soho, Central London, which would become a focal point for the New Romantic movement and which employed a yet undiscovered Boy George in the cloakroom.

Bands including Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, and Culture Club all got their start at the club before finding stardom. According to the Mirror, David Bowie was among the club’s fans. Apparently, Steve Strange once claimed that Bowie went to the club “because he had heard how bizarre it was.”

Strange was a pioneer of the New Romantic movement and was sometimes known as the “Peacock Prince.” He said of the style, “It was about showing your creative side, and about showing that you’d taken time and effort in what you had created. It was about classic style and being outrageous, but done with an element of taste.”

Tributes have been flooding in for Strange.

Actor and Comedian Shane Richie took to social media platform Twitter to say “My friend Steve Strange, the Peacock Prince, RIP you lovely man.”

Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran took said “I’m very sad to announce that our friend Steve Strange has died in today in Egypt. God Bless him.”

Strange’s agent, Pete Bassett, said: “He will be remembered as a hard-working, very amusing and lovable individual who always was at the forefront of fashion trends.”

“Up until last year he was putting together a book of fashion styles based on the New Romantic movement and it comes as a great shock.”

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