And I’m rediscovering her!
Amanda Tapp (or Tap) herself is a mystery, given the contested facts about her biography – which include her birthdate (cited as November 18, 1939, also 1941, 1946, 1948 and 1950) and birthplace (Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, previously known as Saigon or Hanoi), as well as names and nationalities of her parents (French-English father and an Asian-Russian mother).
It has been claimed that she started out as a model to support her fine art studies, first in Paris and then in London and she modelled for decade-defining designers such as Paco Rabanne and Mary Quant.
And she became a muse to everyone from Salvador Dalí to Bryan Ferry. The former was even credited to have coined her stage name/public persona ("L'Amant de Dalí" – Dalí's lover) and the latter featured her as the model with the black panther on the cover of his 1973 Roxy Music album, "For Your Pleasure".
David Bowie reportedly advised her to try her luck as a singer and from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, she became a celebrated disco singer, particularly in Continental Europe. Her songs sometimes made reference to the stories about her "androgynous/transgender" identity, e.g. "Fabulous (Lover, Love Me)", "If I was a Boy", and "I'm a Mistery" (deliberately misspelled as to reference the word "mister").
Some write-ups about her said she is much better known for her erotic showmanship than her singing, which mostly consisted of speaking lyrics in a sultry fashion, while staring at the camera in glamorous attire.
Whatever. I think she's underrated. Anyway, here’s a sample of her songs “Queen Of Chinatown”, “Follow Me” and "Lady in Black":
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FYI, Amanda Lear’s discography consists of eighteen full-length studio albums, thirty-eight compilation albums, two extended plays and seventy-three singles.
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