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IAC Admin
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4/24/2013 8:44:23 AM
Christina Amphlett, Divinyls Singer, Dies at 53
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 22, 2013
Christina Amphlett, the lead singer of Divinyls, the Australian rock band whose hit “I Touch Myself” brought her international fame in the early 1990s, died on Sunday at her home in New York City. She was 53.
The cause was breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, her husband, the drummer and bassist Charley Drayton, said.
Ms. Amphlett’s singing voice — Jon Pareles of The New York Times called it “one of the most distinctive voices in rock” — was only part of her appeal. She was also renowned for her raunchy, high-energy performances and her stage outfits, most famously a school uniform and fishnet stockings.
She was born on Oct. 25, 1959, in Geelong, a city in the Australian state of Victoria, and formed Divinyls with the guitarist Mark McEntee in 1980.
Divinyls released seven albums between 1982 and 1996, peaking in 1991 with the success of the single “I Touch Myself,” which reached No. 1 in Australia, No. 4 in the United States and No. 10 in Britain. The band reformed briefly in 2006, shortly before Ms. Amphlett announced that she had multiple sclerosis. In 2010 she announced that she also had cancer.
Ms. Amphlett was an actress as well as a singer. She made her movie debut in the 1982 Australian film “Monkey Grip,” which featured several Divinyls songs on the soundtrack. She later played Russell Crowe’s mother in the Australian stage production of the musical “Blood Brothers.”
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