Ivy



Ivy Stratten, (born 5, September 1975) is an American born, British based entertainer having released four studio albums and appeared in several television shows and movies, the mother of three is infamous for her bad temper and serial dating.

In 2005 she finally came out about her on and off fling with Ben Parker and became pregnant with his child Scarlet Fever Stratten, who was born in July of 2006. Since then Ivy has married on again, off again lover Othello though seemingly with her in prison and him awol - it is now off again.

As a musician: 2003 - 2008 As an actress: 1992 - 2007 As a Nun: 2008 - Present

Psycho Analysis
Ivy snuck onto the scene in late 2003 with the U.S only release 'Miss Eve' it made it's way over to Britain on import but made no impact whatsoever. Her first to U.K releases failed to set the chart alight and with poor sales of the album it looked as though Ivy would be dropped - and the came Na'Shelle Campbell better known as rapper Miss Drips - offering Ivy a second chance on her vixenation label they pushed the single "Satans School For Girls" which gave Ivy the first of over a dozen top 10 hits. The album since has gone platinum.

The album, though slipping under the radar - attracted enough praise to recieve the 2004 Mercury Music Award - but the publicity came with it's controversy, Ivy was arrested and questioned over the murder of her former manager aswell as quitting the television show that helped launch her as a star. She was also arrested for an attack on singer 'K which left him with a missing thumb.

Eat My Words
In late 2004 Ivy was ready to release her sophomore album "Eat My Words". Following the soundtrack single "Brand New" and the girlASKboy collaboration "Tango Shoes" the album was released on December 13th 2004 and entered at #6, though eventually peaked at #1. It was in January of 2005 when everybody really took notice - Ivy released '1945' a disco inspired tuned sampling the Prince classic '1999' and featuring pop princess Lucreacia.

The single was pitched against former collaborative partner and ex-best friend Kandi. Ivy came out on top spending two weeks at #2 and eventually getting her first and last platinum single. A fourth release came from the album and eventually it sold 990,000 copies with shipments of over a million copies to the U.K alone. The album featured Buffi, Lucreacia, Kandi, Othello and girlASKboy.

Visiting Hours
During the summer of 2005 Ivy paired up with "man of the times" Antony Jones for a double a-side duet, the super moody 'Stuck With You / Life Begins Today' the single got Ivy her first No.1. Things kept on going strong with the release of disco stomper 'Out Of My Mind' and second No.1 "Elizabeths Ashes" the album went on to sell in excess of 850,000 copies and peaked at No.1

Things took a turn with the fourth release from the album when 'All The Glitter' peaked at No.5 and fell very quickly out of the charts - Ivy says that the single wasn't commercial enough and she was against it's release. The albums only collaboration was with Antony Jones.

She Says She's Innocent
After months of rumours that Ivy was quitting the business a Greatest Hits package was announced and then very quickly withdrawn, fans were shocked to see "She Says She's Innocent" was infact a fourth full length studio album.

Released in the summer of 2006 the albums first single "Tokyo-yo / I shot the president" hit the charts at No.4 with it's follow up "Malice In Wonderland" breaking back into the top 3. Dissapointment came with the initial release of third single "Pokerface" Ivy's first single to miss the top 5 since 2004 - however the single had a healthy staying life and pushed the album sales to over 900,000. The album is still in the top 30 and looks set to leave the charts on sales of around 975,000. Plans were made to release "Trials & Errors" with Louise Harlow in the spring, however these were scrapped due to Ivys inprisonment. The album features Louise Harlow and CHRIS.

Hellbent / HeavenSent: The Collection
With more than 3million albums and fifteen hit singles under her belt Ivy releases the double disc hits collection in spring 2007 to wrap up her years with 'vixenation'.

The album is seperated into her uptempo disco / r&b tracks and her moody rockier ballads. It includes several new tracks including duets with her twin sister Liz of Innocent, Buffi and Jack Stevens aswell as former collaborations with Lucreacia, girlaskboy, kandi and Antony Jones. The album is lead by the single 'Public Enemy'

Ivy will release the second and final single from the album "Fortune Favours The Dead" in early August. A brand new single will follow in late November.

Return To The Scene Of The Crime
Following the dissapointing sales of her Greatest Hits CD Ivy went straight back to the studio to begin work on her fifth studio album. The album became available for digital download in December 2007 and sold more than 200,000 copies. The CD will earn its physical release in February 2008 and includes the new single "Which old witch?" and the title track "Return To The Scene Of The Crime" which peaked at #17 as a digital download in 2007.

A second single was released in March 2008 and charted suprisingly following little airplay and no promotional video. Despite the lack of promotion the album still managed to sell over 300,000 copies and was certified platinum in the UK.

Personal Life
Life was strange from birth, having been born in a completely different continent to her identical twin sister back in 1975, Ivy was the black sheep of the family and abuse from her father was the inspiration behind two of her smash singles Elizabeths Ashes and Clown Is My Witness.

In 1992 at the age of 17 she was cast in the sitcom "Sheridan High" in which she portrayed gothic cheerleader 'Lucy Michaels' for four seasons before leaving to finish High School.

Ivy left high school in three occasions and eventually graduated in 1996 at the age of 21. Ivy moved to Las Vegas where she became a showgirl working for her first husband Robert Mendez. The pair wed in October 1996 and he tragically died of a drug overdose just two days after the birth of thier son Riley, who was put up for adoption soon after.

She moved to Hollywood in late 1997 where she began shooting several softcore sex movies aswell as straight-to-video horrors. In May 1999 she met, fell in love with and married 72 year old producer Darren Spelling - he cast her in his new television show "The Melrose Estate" she took over the leading role and forced all of the original cast out of the show to increase her pay cheque. Spelling died of a heart attack in December 2002 and Ivy quit the show, her last scenes were aired in April 2003, Ivy was missing from the spotlight briefly - she gave birth to her first daughter Harley, who was also put up for adoption.

In the summer of 2003 Ivy re-married again, this time to music producer Brian Astow - the two had an extremely violent relationship and Ivy was questioned over his murder on the night of thier honeymoon in November 2003, just weeks after the completion of her debut album.

Almost as soon as she hit the music scene Ivy surrounded herself in controversy, having teamed up with rapper Othello and former bad girl turned hippy freak Kandi she stole K's thumb and threatened to destroy it unless she reached the top 10 - it worked. In July of 2004 Ivy was sent to prison for burning down a gas station with a cigarette - she was freed by her 'clique' and went on to marry gay-dancer Fabio Lopez. The marriage ended after six months now that he was able to stay in the U.S without being wed. Ivy revealed in 2005 that she'd been seeing gay popstar Ben Parker for "over a year" whilst he was married to lesbian rocker Alesha. She gave birth to thier child Scarlet in 2006, she kept this one.

In December of 2005 Ivy married Othello two weeks before being sent to prison for breaking her contract, she was set for release on May 30th, 2007 but was infact released two months early.

She soon filed for Divorce from Othello and began sorting her life out. Ivy grew tired of the music industry and following a contractually obligated fifth album release she left her record label and announced that she was quitting the music industry to become - of all things - a nun.

Movies & TV
Before and during her time as a singer, Ivy was an actress and a very regular one at that - having appeared in several movies and television shoes throughout her 15 year career.

Films
2007: The Entertainer 2: Encore (Lilah Roberts) 2006: Life Force 5 (Harley Washington) 2006: Hooker (Carla Jenkins) 2006: Highland Cries (Frazer Phillips) 2005: The Entertainer (Lilah Roberts) 2005: Miss Taken Identity (Joanie) 2005: The Magpie (Rula Van Seskin) 2005: Grease 3[DVD] (Nancy Delaney) 2004: Killing Time (Stripper) 2003: Do You Voodoo Too? (Emma) 2001: Bubblegum Ruby 1998: Sorority Murders[TV] Lucy Hanover 1996: The Wedding Gown Rachel Blue

Television
2005 - 2006: Twin City (Melly and Kelly Williams) 2005: The Crazy Life (Herself) 2004: Law & Bother Rona Harris 2000 - 2003: The Melrose Estate Veronica Hart 1992 - 1996: Sheridan High Lucy Michaels

Concerts and tours
2004: Analyse This Tour (UK) 2005: Eat My Analysis Tour (Worldwide)

Singles
2004: "Get The Bitch Out" (feat. Kandi) 2004: "Pack Ur Shit / Deadly Cocktail" 2004: "Satans School For Girls" 2004: "Get Outta Town" 2004: "Brand New / How Did U Fall?" 2004: "Tango Shoes" (feat. girlASKboy) 2005: "1945" (feat. Lucreacia) 2005: "Clown Is My Witness / Action Figure" 2005: "Stuck With You / Life Begins Today" (with Antony Jones) 2005: "Out Of My Mind" 2006: "Elizabeths Ashes / Visiting Hours" 2006: "All The Glitter" 2006: "Tokyo-yo / I Shot The President" 2006: "Malice In Wonderland" 2006: "Pokerface" 2007: "Public Enemy" 2007: "Return To The Scene Of The Crime" 2008: "Which Old Witch?"