Twiggy

Getting her name from her sticklike figure, Twiggy's striking boyish looks made her one of Britain's great fashion icons of the "swinging sixties", but she became one of the few from the era who stayed famous and successful by diversifying through subsequent decades; including a perfectly respectable acting and singing career. A carpenter's daughter from Neasden, North London, Twiggy made her own clothes when, inspired by Jean Shrimpton, she first embarked on a modeling career, which got off the ground when a celebrity hairdresser posted her photo in his window after giving her a radical page boy hair style. Small and skinny, she was moulded by another hairdresser Justin de Villeneuve into the most famous fashion model of the era and one of the most photographed persons in the world. She made her film debut in Ken Russell's 1971 movie The Devils and proved she could sing when she appeared in The Boyfriend and sang at the live performance of Roger Glover's The Butterfly Ball show in 1975. Twiggy subsequently released her self-titled debut album in 1976, followed two years later by second album Please Get My Name Right - mixing pure pop with country music - and including the hit single Here I Go Again. She then worked on an album Heaven In My Eyes, co-produced by Donna Summer and Juergen Koppers, although it wasn't actually released until 2007. However, she remained in the public eye with occasional modelling, TV, stage and acting appearances and starred with her husband Leigh Lawson in the 1988 John Schlesinger movie Madame Sousatzka. Twiggy returned to recording in 2011 with the Romantically Yours album, a collection of pop and easy listening standards like My Funny Valentine, Someone To Watch Over Me and Blue Moon.