- Honey Bane
Honey Bane (born Donna Tracy Boylan in 1964,
London ) is an Englishsinger andactress , possibly best known for her 1981 UK Top 30 single "Turn Me On Turn Me Off".Honey Bane began her musical career at the age of 14 in 1978 when she formed the
punk rock band theFatal Microbes . The band released a split 12" record with anarcho-punk bandPoison Girls the same year. The first single, "Violence Grows" garnered some press attention and was given positive reviews by the British music paper "Sounds" [ [http://www.geocities.com/punkettes80s/honeybane.html] "Women In Punk"] .After the 1979 breakup of the Fatal Microbes, and a stint in a juvenile detention facility that garnered more press attention, Honey Bane began a collaboration with the
Essex -basedanarcho-punk activist bandCrass while she was on the run from the Social Services after serving a sentence at the St. Charles Youth Treatment Centre in Essex. [ [http://www.geocities.com/punkettes80s/honeybaneint1.html] "Sounds", April 19, 1980"] Lending lead vocals and backed by the band under the name Donna and the Kebabs, Crass released the EP "You Can be You" in 1980. That same year, Honey Bane sang vocals for the post-punk bandKilling Joke on a song entitled "What's the Matter" during a February 1980 gig at London's Venue club. The recording was later released as an inclusion on an album entitled "Killing Joke - Live At The Venue LP". [ [http://www.lwtua.free-online.co.uk/548.htm Killing Joke - Live At The Venue ] ]In 1980, she met
Sham 69 vocalistJimmy Pursey who began to manage her musical career. [ [http://www.geocities.com/punkettes80s/honeybaneint2.html] "Zig Zag", 1981"] That year she was signed toEMI /Zonophone records for a five year contract. In 1981 the single "Turn Me On Turn Me Off" was released and climbed the British pop charts to Number 30 and Honey Bane subsequently appeared performing the single on "Top of the Pops ". "Turn Me On Turn Me Off" marked a musical departure of Honey Bane from the overtly punk rock material of her earlier releases to a decidedly more new wave sound.Although she released several more singles, none charted well and her musical career floundered. In 1982 she appeared in the play "Demonstration of Affection" by Chris Ward opposite Richard Jobson of
The Skids at London'sArts Theatre . In 1983 she gained a prominent role in theMai Zetterling directed British film "Scrubbers". Honey Bane played the role of "Holly" and the film centered on the lives of young women incarcerated in a British girls'borstal . The film also featured actorsAmanda York ,Kathy Burke ,Pam St. Clement ,Robbie Coltrane andMiriam Margolyes .Honey Bane spent the remainder of the 1980s as a pin-up model for erotic magazines. During the 1990s, she fronted the band Dog's Tooth Violet. In 2006 she released a two track 7" single entitled "Down Thing/Got Me All Wrong".
She currently resides in London, United Kingdom and is a mother and grandmother.
References
External links
*
* [http://www.southern.com/southern/label/CRC/09402.html Southern Studios/Crass recordings]
* [http://www.geocities.com/punkettes80s/honeybane.html Women In Punk]
* [http://www.geocities.com/punkettes80s/honeybaneint1.html "Sounds" magazine. April 19, 1980]
* [http://www.geocities.com/punkettes80s/honeybaneint3.html "Sounds" magazine. January 9, 1982]
* [http://www.geocities.com/punkettes80s/honeybaneint2.html "Zig Zag". 1981]
* [http://www.myspace.com/honeybaneband Honey Bane's MySpace page]
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