SIOUXSIE SIOUX

Siouxsie Sioux's a strange lady.  Her looks are ghostly, and her songs tend to be about the darker, underside of life.  She rarely smiles.

So it's not surprising that Siouxsie, who shot to the top with the band the Banshees, became known as The Ice Queen.  But immediately she starts to talk, he chilly image begins to melt away, and underneath is a girl who loves animals, and gets on well with her Mum.

She says:  "I don't know who thought up the name The Ice Queen.  Those kind of labels are never accurate and are just a lazy way of describing people in our business."

Of course Siouxsie has always been a bit of a shocker.  And admits it.  Five years ago she was one of the really hard, original punks.  And her dark, spiky-haired look has since been copied by thousands of girls around the country.

It was at an early Sex Pistols show that she made her musical debut by climbing on stage to bellow out an unrehearsed 20 minute punk number - and that was just a taster of what Siouxsie had in store.

She went on to lead one of Britain's better pink groups, and even today she puts great stress on being unconventional.  "I dread the day when I start feeling old within myself," she said.  I'll know when that starts happening because I'll be thinking about washing machines and doing the dusting at home.  Up to now I've never thought about anything like that.  I don't think I've ever ironed my clothes in my life.  And it will be a terrible day when I'm not like that anymore."

Yet there is another, far more gentle side to Siouxsie's personality.  Surprisingly perhaps, one of her heroes is David Attenborough because of his work with animals.

She says:  "When I lived at home with my mother, we always used to be taking in stray cats or injured birds.  I really like looking after animals."

Siouxsie herself is a bit of a loner.  She prefers to live alone in a flat.  She doesn't like touring with the band.

"I don't want to get into a rut by doing tours every year," she says.  "I prefer to make sure that each show is something of a special event."

Siouxsie plans to keep on writing songs that go into black and macabre areas.  She says:  "Some of the songs start off quite joyfully, but I can never resist putting a twist into the tail at the end."