Marsha Hunt

Born in Philadelphia in 1946, Hunt reached Britain in the mid-1960s. After singing in the ensemble of the London staging of Hair, she stepped forward as a solo performer. A string of commanding concerts followed, among them her 1969 appearance at the Isle Of Wight Festival, where the Scottish band (White) Trash supplied backing. Her opening single delivered a vigorous reading of Dr. John’s ‘Walk On Gilded Splinters’; although reviewers responded warmly, her intense rock approach attracted only modest interest. Subsequent releases featured Paul Simon’s ‘Keep The Customer Satisfied’ and Marc Bolan’s ‘Hot Rod Poppa’, while Bolan himself supplied two further numbers to the album Woman Child, which he produced. Hunt soon shifted focus to acting, returning to music in 1973 with Marsha Hunt’s 22. Later activities included a stint presenting a talk program on Capital Radio and widespread attention arising from a paternity action she brought successfully against Mick Jagger. Her stage career advanced through membership in both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre; in 1985 she issued the memoir Real Life. The novel Joy appeared in 1990, after which she established herself as an author.