Julianne Regan | |
---|---|
Birth name | Julie-Ann Regan |
Born |
Coventry, Warwickshire, England |
30 June 1962
Genres | Gothic rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards |
Years active | 1982–present |
Associated acts | All About Eve, Gene Loves Jezebel, Hussey-Regan, Jules et Jim |
Julie-Ann (Julianne) Regan (born 30 June 1962) is an English/Irish singer, songwriter and musician. She achieved success in the late 1980s as the lead singer of the band All About Eve. AllMusic describe Regan as "certainly one of the more talented singers of the late eighties British goth rock scene".
Julianne Regan was born in Coventry to a working class Catholic family of Irish and English descent. She has a younger sister, Lise. At the age of 15 she was given a Woolworths electric guitar by a male cousin and was forced to teach herself.
Regan moved to London at the age of 19 and found work as a journalist for music magazine ZigZag, while also studying at the London College of Fashion. In her capacity as a journalist, she interviewed Gene Loves Jezebel and then subsequently joined that band on bass guitar. Soon after, apparently unhappy with the tension between the group's twin frontmen, she left to make music with good friend and former Xmal Deutschland drummer Manuela Zwingmann, while working in a book shop on Charing Cross Road after Zig Zag went bust. It was during this period that she met, though friends of friends, both Andy Cousin and Tim Bricheno then both playing for goth band Aemotii Crii. The band that resulted, at first consisting of Regan, Zwingman, Bricheno and James Richard Jackson, was originally called The Swarm, but was changed to All About Eve after Regan and Zwingman watched the classic film at Regan's parents' house in Southport, Lancashire.
The first line-up of the group hit the studio in 1985 to record the first single "D For Desire", but following a falling out between Zwingmann and Regan, the former left the band. Soon after this, Andy Cousin replaced Jackson on bass, thus creating the first well-known All About Eve line-up of Bricheno, Cousin and Regan, plus a drum machine. The group recorded demos and played several gigs.