Samantha Karen Fox, born on 15 April 1966 in Wood Green, North London, is an English pop singer, television personality, and former glamour model. She rose to prominence in the 1980s, becoming one of Britain’s most recognisable public figures of the decade. Alongside her music career, she has appeared regularly on television, including reality shows, and has occasionally worked as a presenter and actress.
Fox first became famous as a glamour model at the age of 16 after placing second in a newspaper modelling contest. This led to her debut on The Sun’s Page 3 in 1983, making her the youngest model to appear there at the time. She was named “Page 3 Girl of the Year” for three consecutive years, from 1984 to 1986, and became one of the most photographed women in Britain. In 1986, she left Page 3 to concentrate on music, though she later made occasional modelling appearances, including a Playboy shoot in the 1990s. In 2008, she was voted the most popular Page 3 model of all time.
Her transition to pop music proved highly successful. In 1986, Fox scored an international hit with her debut single, “Touch Me (I Want Your Body),” which topped charts in several countries and reached the top 10 across Europe, North America, and Australia. Her first three albums produced multiple hit singles and established her as a major pop star of the late 1980s. She was nominated for British Female Solo Artist at the 1988 Brit Awards and achieved strong sales in the UK, the US, Europe, and Australia.
While her commercial success declined after the 1980s, Fox continued recording, touring, and collaborating with other artists. She released several later albums, appeared in films and television shows, and took part in high-profile programmes such as I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, Celebrity Big Brother, and Celebrity MasterChef. She has remained a familiar figure in popular culture and has announced work on new music in recent years.
In her personal life, Fox came out as a lesbian in 2003 after years of public speculation. She was in a long-term relationship with her manager, Myra Stratton, until Stratton’s death in 2015. In 2022, Fox married her tour manager, Linda Birgitte Olsen. Despite personal and professional challenges, Samantha Fox remains a significant and enduring figure in British pop culture, closely associated with the music and media landscape of the 1980s.
