| AdminHistory | Falcon Stuart was a British photographer, film maker, music manager, and producer, born in Oxford in 1941. Stuart's career began as a photographer, and he enrolled at the London International Film School in 1969. During this time he won the Sucker's Award at the first Wet Dream Film Festival in 1970 and launched his career as a filmmaker.
In 1976, Stuart first worked with Marian Elliot to produce 'Silly Billy,' a feminit reggae track, but after an encounter with the Sex Pistols in London that same year, Elliot adopted the name Poly Styrene and formed the punk bank X-Ray Spex, which Falcon Stuart managed, as well as produced for and documented as a photographer. He also created the artwork for their only album, Germfree Adolescents. Their music was particularly known for anti-consumerist themes. Following the departure of Poly Styrene from the band in 1979, X-Ray Spex disbanded.
In 1980, Stuart took on management of Adam Ant and helped effect the transformation of his image and sound, including mortgaging his house to fund new recordings and the fourteen-date sell-out 'Ants Invasion' tour of Adam and the Ants. Stuart and Ant parted in 1981, after which Stuart remained active in the music business. He managed and toured globally with bands such as Classix Nouveaux, Amazulu, Trance Dance, in addition to establishing the independent record label Awesome Records, which Danielle Dax most notably released acclaimed albums under.
Falcon Stuart was married to writer and activist Alice Hiller with whom he had two children, and sadly died in 2002. |
| CustodialHistory | Kindly donated to LJMU Special Collections & Archives in 2011 by Alice Hiller according to the wishes of Falcon Stuart and Poly Styrene. Some of Falcon Stuart's other papers were donated to Poly Styrene's daughter Celeste Bell.
This collection was originally named Adventures in Wonderland, referring to how Falcon Stuart described his career. This was renamed in 2024 to the 'Falcon Stuart and X-Ray Spex Papers' for clarity and brevity. |