Christina 'Chrissy' Amphlett (1959–2013) was best known for her energetic performances as the lead singer of the Divinyls, which she formed in 1980 with guitarist Mark McEntee. They played in grimy Kings Cross venues before being cast – as a band – by director Ken Cameron in the film version of Helen Garner's book Monkey Grip. The single 'Boys in Town', performed in the film, became a top ten hit, and was followed by their first album, Desperate (1983). Over the next decade, the band became part of the international Australian music assault that included INXS and Crowded House. They remained largely based in Paris and the US, where they scored a hit single in 1991 with 'I Touch Myself'. Amphlett's autobiography, Pleasure and Pain, was released in 2005; two years later, she announced that she suffered from multiple sclerosis, and in 2010 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died in New York in 2013.
In an interview about her portrait, painted by photorealist artist Ivan Durrant, Amphlett said: 'I suppose in a man's world of rock and roll, I perpetually had a finger raised to people because I copped a lot of flak. So I was often called temperamental … I think you can instantly look at that painting and have a sense of the biography of my life.'
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Ivan Durrant/Copyright Agency, 2021
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