Lana Pellay

Alan Pellay, a.k.a. Alan Pillay, Lana Pellay, Lanah Pillay etc., is an international star whose career has spanned theatre, film, cabaret, television, radio and the recording industry. One time transexual disco diva, transgressive being, maverick soul, Channel Four's first out, loud and proud star, comic icon, movie star, children's broadcaster, voice-over queen, comedian and raconteur, Alan has packed a lorry load of credits into a life that began amongst the fish heads and neon lights of Grimsby in northern England sometime in the 1960s. As soon as he was old enough to don a wig and a pair of stilettos he took the northern club circuit by storm, but Alan was too big a fish for that small pond. At 18 he followed the yellow brick road (well the M1) to London, where he set about making his dreams a reality. His first TV appearances soon followed with stints on C4's first 'yoof' programme Whatever You Want with Keith Allen and Four For Tonight with Ruby Wax. A parallel career soon developed when he caught the eyes and ears of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who wrote and produced his single "Pistol In My Pocket". As Humberside's answer to Sylvester, the early 80s were spent touring the world's top clubs in a whirl of sequins and feathers, PAs and limos. When the call came from The Comic Strip Presents... Alan was ready. Ready to steal the show in Gino, Susie, Consuela, and The Bullshitters. His performance in the movie The Supergrass inspired Peter Richardson to write Eat The Rich as a vehicle for Alan's multi-faceted talent. Also smitten with La Pillay was Bristol Funkster Gary Clail who invited him to contribute to his 1991 top 10 hit "Human Nature". The sight of Alan on Top Of The Pops in Vegas-style headdress singing 'Let the Carnival begin, every pleasure, every sin' brightened up many a Thursday night. Television then lured him into its bosom. As a critic for ITV's Funky Bunker, he received as much fan mail as the show's presenter, Craig Charles. His solo show Hello La, which was co-written and directed by Paul McVeigh, followed in 1996, premiering at Islington's Kings Head Theatre in London. Highly lucrative radio and voice-over work, as well as numerous TV appearances on everything from The Clothes Show to the ITV Chart Show have kept Alan from theatre for a few years but he was back, bigger and bolder than ever with a new show Wide Open For You which played at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London's West End for its three week run in 2001. Most recently Alan has been working on his new autobiographical play called Glitter And Twisted, written by Tim Fountain and directed by Matt Ryan. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.