Gillian Hills...

Gillian Hills is always a treat to listen to and her website is excellent, filled with lovely reminiscences in her bio (and talking about Beat Girl, and Oliver Reed and Catherine Deneuve, under the film section), photos, music, and her art.

Actress, singer, illustrator, I've been in love with her Tut Tut Tut Tut since hearing it last year.  It's just so damn cool, especially the way she intones "tut tut tut tut".  I uploaded it to YouTube because it wasn't on there but unfortunately it doesn't seem playable in the UK, so here's the Spotify link just in case.



It's a cover of Busy Signal (hence the tut'ing) by The Lollipops:




Appearing on Gillians' 1965 Rien N'est Changé e.p. Here is the beautiful title track, written by Gillian herself:



The e.p. was filled out with 3 covers, Tut being one, and another absolute favourite of mine, a gorgeous French version of The Zombies' Leave Me Be, entitled Rentre Sans Moi:



The Zombies original:



And then there's Beat Girl, which Gillian considers her first film (although she had previously appeared in Roger Vadim's Les Liaisons Dangeureuses).  Only fifteen, she plays the lead, Jennifer, in this "vivid and shocking portrayal" of the late-1950's Soho underworld.  The theme is John Barry's first (and also the soundtrack would be the first British soundtrack released on an LP).  Ultra-cool, suave and sexy, fraught with fun and danger. Gillian writes this on her site about hearing the theme for the first time - "When the day came and the sound pumped through the floor my brain flipped, my feet followed and I was off - on my own - this was the life - let the lid stay open forever and ever..."



Trailor for the film (also known as Wild For Kicks):



More Gillian Hills at the excellent L'Amour Electronique blog . And nice articles about her at Cha Cha Charming and Ready Steady Girls!