We must forgive out lesbian rocker Al Start for writing songs about eclectic topics; she's had a very multifaceted life. From growing up in an ultra-religious household to spending a decade battling cancer, her songs are a reflection of the universal themes of life — but with a twist.
Start grew up in 1970s England under the thumb of an “obsessive religious freak” of a stepmother and an acquiescent father. Her one saving grace was that her family was musical, and she kept her sister awake at night singing impromptu songs — an indicator of a career to come.
By age 7, Start had discovered the word “lesbian” and was in love with a girl in her class, much to the disdain of her classmates. “I was bullied, and something clicked in my head, making me bury the feelings and pretend to be ‘normal' for the next few years,” she says. “By the time I was 13 though, there was no escaping, so I kept it to myself and hoped I wouldn't have too miserable a life.”
She didn't; in fact, she discovered a release. Start found a guitar at age 11 and began taking music more seriously. “As soon as I could play three chords, I was away!” she quips.
Life, however, didn't get any easier, and her parents tried many times to make Start “turn straight.” She had her first relationship with a girl at age 16, then fled to Brighton — England's “gay Mecca” — at 18 and found out she wasn't so different after all.
Start dove right into the late-80s gay rights scene. Inspired by Section 28, a 1988 British law mandating that local governments not “promote homosexuality” or “pretended family relationships,” Start's early activist groups published Queer Tribe, Brighton's first gay magazine.
“It was full of arty interviews with creative queers — poetry, pictures, news and views,” Start reflects. “I was so proud of it, I sent a copy home to prove to my parents how strong and proud my gay community was. They promptly threw it out, wrote to me with their ‘actually, you will burn in Hell'-style letter, and the tone was set for the rest of my life.”
Unfortunately for Start, that tone was not initially positive, and it almost ruined her burgeoning music career and her life.
At age 21 she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and she spent the better part of a decade battling the illness. “I had to have nine years of radio iodine treatment, and they had to operate twice to dissect the cancer off my poor little vocal chords,” she says. “Guy's Hospital in London saved me! They did a brilliant job, and I owe them a lot. It was grim, grim, grim though, and stopped me from achieving anything in that important decade.”
Finally, in 1999 Start received the all-clear on her cancer, and was able to get back to living. She started a band called Toucan with her sister, Cheryl, and they recorded several albums.
In 2002, Start went back to college to study music, then set out on her solo career; a year later she was promoting Sea of Stars, a six-song EP, and playing the British club circuit. Around that time she also became involved in Brighton Pride, the largest free Pride festival in the United Kingdom, and she is now part of the team that organizes the Women's Performance Tent for the annual event.
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