Perri Lister

Perri Lister (born 10 April 1959) is an English actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, former model and screenwriter. She featured in her first film in 1980, and has since appeared in films and television series. She was a dancer with the British dance troupe Hot Gossip who appeared regularly on The Kenny Everett Video Show, which was televised by ITV. Lister has sung backing vocals for Visage, and performed in music videos for Duran Duran and Billy Idol, the latter with whom she had a nine-year relationship. She was a member of the short-lived girl group Boomerang.

Perri Lister was born in London, England on 10 April 1959, the daughter of Bert Lister, a stage manager, dresser and chauffeur, by his third wife, stage actress Gail Kendall. Her paternal grandmother was an amateur opera singer.

In 1978, she became one of the dancers of the dance troupe Hot Gossip who appeared on ITV's The Kenny Everett Video Show. They were noted for their sexually-suggestive costumes and risqué dance routines, which attracted much criticism. Lister was one of the original Blitz Kids, a group of young, flamboyantly-dressed people who patronised the elitist Covent Garden club night 'Blitz' in the early 1980s, among whom were Boy George, Steve Strange, Spandau Ballet, and singer Marilyn.

Lister made her acting debut as a dancer in the 1980 film Can't Stop the Music. She would continue to feature in films and television series in the 1980s and 1990s.

Lister began a relationship with punk singer Billy Idol in 1980, over whom she allegedly exerted a big influence. Lister sang the French background chorus, "Les yeux sans visage" for his 1984 hit single "Eyes Without a Face", and she also performed in several of his music videos, including "White Wedding", in which she played the bride; "To Be a Lover" and she was the girl bound to a cross in the second video for his song "Hot in the City", which MTV refused to air, though MTV aired the first video. Mademoiselle magazine described Lister's sexy performance in the latter video as "sizzling". She danced topless in the 1983 Duran Duran black-and-white video, "The Chauffeur", and sang backing vocals for Steve Strange's group Visage and August Darnell's band Kid Creole and The Coconuts. Lister performed on Italian television alongside Strange and another Visage backing singer, Lorraine Whitmarsh in a mimed rendition of "Fade To Grey", and on German television with the song "Mind of a Toy".

Lister was a member of the short-lived girl group Boomerang which also consisted of two former members of Kid Creole and The Coconuts, Adriana Kaegi and Cheryl Poirier. The group released an album, Boomerang on the Atlantic label in 1986. They had one single, a remake of the Nancy Sinatra hit, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".

Lister and Billy Idol together have a son, Willem Wolf Broad, who was born in Los Angeles, California on 15 June 1988. When an American model held a press conference claiming to be Idol's girlfriend, Lister responded by holding one of her own, maintaining that she was "and always had been Idol's girlfriend". The couple broke up in 1989.

To date, Lister resides in Los Angeles. Her son Willem is a member of a rock band, FIM.

• Kenny Everett Video Show (1978), as a member of dance troupe Hot Gossip
• Can't Stop The Music (1980), in the role of a dancer
• Eternity (1989), in the role of Wench/Sean's secretary
• Freddy's Nightmares (1989), television series, in the role of Lucy
• Bad Influence (1990), in the role of Claire's friend
• Hunter (1990), in the role of Cherry
• Michael Angel (1998), in the role of Sylvia Masters
• 2 Dudes And A Dream (2009), in the role of Mrs Price

• The Anvil, (1982), album, Polydor
• Tropical Gangsters, (1982), album, Island Records
• Don't Take My Coconuts, (1983), album, EMI America
• Doppelganger, (1983), album, Island Records
• Rebel Yell, (1983), album, Chrysalis
• Boomerang, (1986), album, Atlantic Records
• These Boots Are Made for Walkin'', (1986), single, Atlantic Records