Stacia | |
---|---|
![]() Stacia in 1974 | |
Born | Stacia Blake 1952-1953[1] |
Occupation(s) | Visual artist, performance artist/dancer |
Years active | 1969–present |
Spouse | Roy Dyke |
Stacia Blake, known mononymously asStacia, is a former performance artist/dancer with the rock bandHawkwind.
Stacia was born in Exeter, Devon, England.[1]
Stacia joined Hawkwind in 1971; however accounts vary as to how and why she began working with the band. Liner notes toIn Search of Space indicate that poet and lyricistRobert Calvert recruited her for live shows.[citation needed] In 2012,Nik Turner, Hawkwind's saxophonist and flautist toldMojo magazine, "I met Stacia for the first time at theIsle of Wight... She said, "Can I dance with you?" and I said, "Yeah, but you must take off all your clothes and paint your body." She took all her clothes off but unfortunately I didn't have any body paint. That was like her audition."[2] In an interview in British music magazineMelody Maker, Stacia herself stated that she attended a show and, inspired by the music, got on stage and performed an impromptu dance to the band's music.[citation needed] However, in an interview inProg Magazine, she said in her first time dancing with the band, at the Flamingo Ballroom in 1971, she asked permission from the band members to dance.[1] She immediately became an integral part of the live show after joining in 1971.
According to a 1974 interview inPenthouse, Stacia was six feet (183 cm) tall and "happily bisexual".[3] She regularly augmented her visual impact by performing topless or nude, her body decorated in iridescent or luminescent paint. In a 2007BBC Four documentary,Lemmy described her as 6 ft 2 inches (188 cm) tall with a 52 inch (132 cm)bust and abookbinder by trade. The same documentary said that she was working as a petrol pump attendant in Cornwall when she joined the band.[4]
Stacia regarded most of what she did with the band asinterpretive dance, although there were some set routines.[1] She was an integral part of the early to mid-1970s Hawkwind show, particularly during theSpace Ritual era. She left Hawkwind in 1975 after touring in support of theWarrior on the Edge of Time album and implied in a 2019 interview that her departure was not her idea.[1]
After leaving Hawkwind, Stacia returned to private life and marriedRoy Dyke.[1] As former Hawkwind manager Doug Smith said in the October 2000 issue ofClassic Rock magazine, "The last anybody heard, Stacia was married with children and living inHamburg with her husband Roy Dyke, formerly ofAshton, Gardner and Dyke."[citation needed] She lives inIreland and works as an artist.[4][5]
Stacia appeared and performed with former Hawkwind member Nik Turner and contemporary dancer Ms. Angel at Kozfest in 2019. The unannounced performance was her first since she last appeared with Hawkwind at Reading Festival in August 1975.[6]
|
|