Now Flame Fortune is a forgotten footnote in Aussie Pop Music history. I always thought writing a book or at least a long form article on her life would be an interesting prospect. She was from LA and the above tune was produced by Michael Hutchence. Sex Symbol was recorded with an amazing Australian supergroup that included members of INXS, The Models, The Divinyls, Australian Crawl and The Angels. You would have thought 'How could this not be a hit with that kind of hit making pedigree behind her in the studio?' She appeared on the cover of Countdown magazine sometime in 1985 (I had that issue) when this single was released. Strangely enough the dude in the video is Troy Davies, the subject of the previous post. So it turns out he was everywhere in my pop cultural 80s but I just wasn't aware of who he was. It's kinda funny how not raunchy she is in this video compared to say Madonna or Vanity and later sex pots Britney, Beyonce & Nicky. I guess it's closer to new wave-y like maybe Berlin than those recent absurdly sexually athletic stars who are quite often not sexy at all.
So it turns out that Fortune was supposedly only 14 or 15 in the Sex Symbol video which was directed by Richard Lowenstein (Of Dogs In Space and Autoluminescent fame). This is definitely not true. She wasn't actually born in 1971 and was born in either 1969 or most likely in 1962 (as some articles state). I have a recollection that her and Michael Hutchence had a fling, maybe that was just a rumour.
Anyway to a 14 year old me, I thought she was pretty weird because she had this whole God/Sex dichotomy thing going on. I wasn't really aware that this was a staple personality trait in pop ala Little Richard, Al Green, Prince etc., at that stage of my life. The single flopped and as far as I can tell there was no follow up album. Fortune soon disappeared from the pop universe without becoming the star she thought she should have been. Six years later she was allegedly murdered back in LA. Some information claims she may have committed suicide. It's all a bit sketchy. I can find little more information than this about her tragic life.
*Someone with time and money to do the research into this mysterious story will now have a fantastic Rolling Stone or weekend supplement article to write. Or if someone wants to make me an offer feel free to leave your details.
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