Faith Brown

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Faith Brown (birth name Irene Carroll) (born 28 May 1944 in Liverpool, England) is a British actress, comedienne and impressionist noted for her versatility and voluptuous figure (particularly her bust). She has appeared as Anne Bradley in the television series Brookside and as Flast in the Doctor Who episode, Attack of the Cybermen.

She began her career as a singer at the age of 15, backed by a local group. She then became a resident singer at the Rialto Ballroom, Upper Parliament Street. Subsequently, she joined her three brothers in the Carrolls, a group who made several records during the Sixties. She has also had several records released as a solo performer, credited as Faith Brown.

Her television career was launched with appearances on Who Do You Do (1975-6) - a showcase for a generation of impressionists and comics - and Ken Dodd's World of Laughter (1976). In 1980 she presented The Faith Brown Chat Show. Here, using split screen special effects, she interviewed herself in a succession of celebrity personas. Her "conversation" with Kate Bush is especially fondly remembered; the singer was delighted by Brown's impersonation and wrote a four-page letter of thanks to the comedienne.^[1] Other "guests" included Pam Ayres, Barbra Streisand, Lene Lovich, Angela Rippon, Eartha Kitt, Diana Ross. Mary Whitehouse and Donna Summer.

Brown is sometimes confused with the actress and comedienne Janet Brown, a longer-established artist with a similar range of impersonations. Both women became particularly well-known for portraying British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. In 1990 she briefly married Freddie 'The' Mercury in a whirlwind media circus reality show.

In 2001, Brown starred to great acclaim as faded screen icon Norma Desmond in the UK touring production of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical Sunset Boulevard, releasing a CD single of songs from the show. In 2004 she appeared in the Living TV reality show, I'm Famous and Frightened! which she went on to win. More recently, in November 2006, she appeared as a contestant on the 6th series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!. She became the third celebrity to be voted off the show on 25 November, having spent fourteen days in the jungle.

[1] Paul Kerton, Kate Bush, Proteus, London, 1980 p.35