Steve Strange, a singer with the British band Visage and one of the founders of the blend of danceable pop music and outrageous fashion that became known as New Romantic style, died on Thursday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik. He was 55.
The cause was apparently a heart attack, August Day Recordings, his record label, said.
Visage had its best-known hit in 1980 with the electronic pop number “Fade to Grey,” but Steve Strange probably had greater influence as a co-founder of the Blitz, a popular London nightclub that became the crucible of the so-called New Romantic scene.
The bands that helped establish the New Romantic style included Culture Club, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. The dandyish Steve Strange was one of the era’s brightest peacocks. Midge Ure, a former member of Visage, told the BBC that Steve Strange set the tone for the Blitz club, “because he wouldn’t let anyone in he didn’t like the look of.”
“So he famously turned away Mick Jagger, because they thought he was too rock ’n’ roll,” Mr. Ure continued. “But when David Bowie turned up, all these cool kids went into turmoil and meltdown, because the king had appeared.”
Steve Strange was born Steven John Harrington on May 28, 1959, in Newbridge, Wales. His autobiography, “Blitzed!,” was published in 2002.
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