Christina Joy Amphlett was an Australian singer, songwriter and actress who was the frontwoman of the Australian rock band Divinyls. Amphlett grew up in Geelong in Victoria, Australia. She left home as a teenager and travelled to England, France, and Spain. She was detained for three months in Spain, for singing on the streets. In May 2001, Divinyls' "Science Fiction", written by Amphlett and lead guitarist Mark McEntee, was selected by the Australasian Performing Right Association as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time. Amphlett and McEntee barely spoke after the band separated in 1996, but resumed contact when they were inducted in 2006 into the ARIA Hall of Fame, eventually announcing a new album and tour. Amphlett died in 2013 of breast cancer and complications from multiple sclerosis. Her contribution to the arts and legacy have been honoured by having a Melbournecentral city laneway named "Amphlett Lane" in her honour, complete with a commemorative plaque and two artworks.
Divinyls
Amphlett met Mark McEntee at a concert at the Sydney Opera House in 1980 and they formed Divinyls with Jeremy Paul. Having performed in Sydney for some time, they recorded several songs for the film Monkey Grip, in which Amphlett also acted. Divinyls consisted of an ever-changing line-up formed around Amphlett and McEntee, whose relationship was always volatile. Nevertheless, the band released six albums between 1982 and 1996, peaking in 1991 with the success of their single "I Touch Myself", which reached Number 1 in Australia, Number 4 in the USA, Number 10 in the UK. Divinyls did not release another album for six years, breaking up around the time of Underworld's release in Australia. Amphlett lived in New York City with her husband, concentrating on a solo career and writing her autobiography, Pleasure and Pain: My Life. Amphlett and McEntee barely spoke after the band broke up, but resumed contact when they were inducted in the 2006 ARIA Hall of Fame and eventually announced a new tour and album. They recorded and released a single, "Don't Wanna Do This", and toured Australia, but the proposed reunion album was never made.
In 1971, she performed with One Ton Gypsy. Amphlett performed Divinyls' and other songs with a 30 piece orchestra for the Australian Rock Symphony in January 2010. In 2011, she released the single "Summer Song" under the name The Tulips, a band consisting of Amphlett, Charley Drayton and Kraig Jarret Johnson. It was used in the soundtrack for the film The Music Never Stopped.
Acting
In 1979, Amphlett was part of the original cast of the Australian production of the Earl Wilson Jr. penned stage musical comedy Let My People Come, playing the role of Linda Lips. The adult-themed musical opened at the Total Theatre in Melbourne, running for nine months, before transferring to the Bijou Theatre in Sydney for an additional three months. Amphlett made her film debut in Monkey Grip in a supporting role as Angela, the temperamental lead singer of a rock band. In 1988, she starred opposite Russell Crowe in the first Australian production of Willy Russell's stage musical Blood Brothers. Amphlett played Judy Garland in the original touring production of The Boy from Oz, with Todd McKenney playing the role of Peter Allen. When the highly successful show transferred to Broadway in the year 2000, Garland was played by American performer Isabel Keating and Allen by Hugh Jackman. On its return to Australia as an arena spectacular, Amphlett resumed playing the role.
Personal life
Amphlett grew up in Geelong and attended Belmont High School. She was a cousin of Australian singer Little Pattie. Amphlett worked as a child model from the age of 3 until 12, and later said, "I didn't come from a very wealthy family so that actually clothed me and allowed me to have things". According to her autobiography, her father was a World War II veteran and the son of a German immigrant and Melbourne chef while her mother was from a well off Hawthorn family. Amphlett and her bandmate Mark McEntee were romantically involved from 1982 to 1993. They met in 1980, and began a relationship two years later when McEntee split up with his wife. Their relationship was highly volatile, being marred by drug and alcohol use, and physical fights. However the band's manager, Vince Lovegrove, later stated that the nature of their "weird" relationship was the "magic of Divinyls". On 27 July 1999, Amphlett married American drummer Charley Drayton, who played drums on the Divinyls' eponymous album and was the drummer in the reformed group. In an interview on the Nine Network program A Current Affair, on 7 December 2007, Amphlett revealed that she had multiple sclerosis. On 20 October 2010, she announced that she had breast cancer and was being treated in New York where she lived with her husband. She also said that her sister was a breast cancer survivor. On 24 January 2011, she claimed to be free of cancer.
Death
Amphlett died, aged 53, on 21 April 2013 at her home in Manhattan, after a long battle with breast cancer. Due to the multiple sclerosis that Amphlett concurrently had, she reported that she was unable to receive radiation treatment or chemotherapy as cancer treatment. Following the announcement of Amphlett's death, numerous tributes were received from artists, performers and musicians. Russell Crowe wrote: "RIP Chrissie Amphlett, played my mum in Blood Brothers, 1988."
Chrissy’s family and friends and Cancer Council NSW launched the breast cancer awareness project "I Touch Myself" in 2014, as a tribute to her. The video features 10 leading female Australian artists singing Amphlett's song. Cancer Council NSW summarized the message of the campaign as "However, detecting breast cancer early is the most important factor in beating this disease. Through this campaign we are encouraging women to get to know their breasts better, to know what is normal for them and to participate in breast screening if they’re in the right age range."
