| Clare Grogan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 March 1962 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Occupation | Singer Actress |
Clare Grogan (born Claire Patricia Grogan, 17 March 1962, Glasgow) is a Scottish actress and singer. She is sometimes credited as C. P. Grogan.
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Grogan and her two sisters all attended the Notre Dame Convent School. She was discovered by film director Bill Forsyth when she was waitressing in a Glasgow restaurant. She subsequently shot to fame at the age of 19 in Forsyth's film Gregory's Girl.
Grogan developed her singing career as the lead singer of Altered Images, originally a five-piece that included Johnny McElhone (later of the Scottish rock band Texas), whom she met while studying for her Highers. It became a four-person band with the departure of two members and the addition of Stephen Lironi, who played both guitar and drums. The band had a string of hits in the early 1980s, including "Happy Birthday", "Don't Talk To Me About Love", "I Could Be Happy" and "See Those Eyes". The group split up after the release of their third album, Bite (1983).
Grogan later attempted a solo career, but after her single "Love Bomb" tanked in 1987, her album Trash Mad was never released. Grogan formed Universal Love School in 1989 with Lironi, performing a series of gigs around the UK. However, it was short-lived and produced no hit singles. In 2000 she contributed vocals to the song "Night Falls Like a Grand Piano" on The 6ths' album Hyacinths and Thistles. She recorded a version of "Angels With Dirty Faces" for the Frankie Miller tribute album. The track "Her Hooped Dream" appears on The Ultimate Celtic Album.
In 2002, Grogan performed as "Altered Images" on the Here and Now Tour which featured other famous acts from the 1980s. She performed on similar tours in 2005, 2008 and 2009.
Her breakthrough role was in Gregory's Girl as the character Susan in 1981. Obliged to appear as C. P. Grogan because there was already a member of Equity named Claire Grogan (the other Claire Grogan went on to become a photographer), she would later drop the i from her first name. Grogan almost lost the part after being cast when she suffered a severe facial wound in a Glasgow pub just weeks prior to filming. However, director Bill Forsyth refused to recast the role and Grogan was filmed mostly profile; when filmed in close up, makeup artists covered Grogan's scar with morticians wax.[1]
In 1984 she played Charlotte in Forsyth's Comfort and Joy. In 1985 she was the receptionist in the BBC Television version of Blott on the Landscape. She had a recurring role playing Dave Lister's would-be love-interest, Kristine Kochanski, in series 1, 2 and 6 of the TV show Red Dwarf. When offered the same part in series 7, she declined in order to focus on stage acting and singing, and was replaced by Chloë Annett. Grogan has also appeared in Father Ted (episode "Rock-a-Hula Ted") and in EastEnders as Ian Beale's love interest, Ros Thorne (1997–1998).
She has also been a talk show host in the UK. She played control-freak office manager Sandra Reeves in the 2006 film The Penalty King. She appears in the video for Peter Kay and Matt Lucas' charity single "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", recorded for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day 2007. She also played Danny's mother in Legit.
Grogan appearred in the TV series Skins, as Shelley, the mother of Mini McGuinness.
Grogan played the part of Rita in a stage adaptation of Educating Rita at Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1987. [2]
Grogan sometimes covers for presenters on BBC 6 Music, most often for Nemone and sometimes Liz Kershaw.
Grogan's first book was published in October 2008, a children's novel (aimed at age 7 and up) titled Tallulah and the Teenstars, about a girl who forms a pop band.
Grogan married band mate Stephen Lironi in Glasgow in 1994. The couple live in Haringey. In 2005, after six miscarriages and four failed IVF attempts, they adopted a daughter, Lucia.[3]
Grogan sports a prominent scar on the left side of her face. She was a bystander in the Pollok Inn, a Glasgow pub, at the age of 19 when a fight broke out between several patrons and a broken bottle was hurled in her direction as she was fleeing. She was severely injured and states that her parents still find it hard to read about the incident. She began filming Gregory's Girl just three months after the accident.[4][5]
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