World wise sexuality and courageous resolve – No, I am not talking about the hunchbacked warrior goddesses that raised Big Gay Horror Fan, but New Wave rocker, author and actress Christina Amphlett who lost her fierce battle with breast cancer and multiple sclerosis on Sunday, April 21st (2013) at the age of 53.

As the lead singer of Divinyls, Amphlett brought strength and sexuality to the fore in the mid-to-late 80’s with hits such as “I Touch Myself” and (the even more tantalizing) “Pleasure and Pain”. More than anything, perhaps, it was her image as a woman who would take no guff (one Divinyls’ LP was entitled “Temperamental”) that endeared her to the more pin sharp music lovers of the MTV age.

Teens who grew into their terror tights during the reign of Freddy and Jason, also, fondly remember Amphlett as one of the horror soundtrack queens. Divinyls’ songs decorated the background atmosphere of such notable flicks as The Stepfather and (the original) Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Most iconic was her seductive, smoke drenched warbling on “Back to the Wall”, a track that was featured, prominently, in Nightmare on Elm Street 4.

After the Divinyls’ short reign of hit making was over, Amphlett spent the 90’s as a guest vocalist on recordings by legendary folk artist John Prine and appeared on the stage in her native Australia. (She gets extra pink points for portraying Judy Garland in a production of Boy From Oz.) A (hard-to-find) memoir about her battles with disease was published, as well, proving that not only was she one of rock’s most ferocious beauties, but one of its most eclectic, as well.

R.I.P. to one hell of a “Sleeping Beauty”!