Divinyls, Virgin Records, 1991                                 BILLBOARD CHART ACHIEVEMENTS: Modern Rock Tracks:   # 19 top 20 hit at MATT RADIO         View the all-time countdown here!

It's one of those legendary rock and roll stories, the kind you hope is true but might actually be the dream of an overzealous publicist.   Yet the incredible story of how Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee first met and formed the Divinyls is quite real.

The scene: Australia's prestigious Sydney Opera House.
The date: sometime in 1980.

"I had been singing in this eight-piece choir to develop my voice," Amphlett recalled.  "One night, we had a religious concert at the Opera House.  The audience was full of priests and nuns, and Mark was there.  During the concert my stool fell over and my microphone cord got wrapped in it, and I ended up dragging the stool from one end of the stage to the other."  McEntree was mesmerized as Amphlett-- while singing like a woman possessed-- carried on as if nothing had happened.  "From that moment," he said, "I knew something had to be done, that we should form a group."  It was an auspicious beginning.

Divinyls became a powerful, challenging unit that was brash yet often tender.  (What other powerhouse rock band would call their publishing company Astute Lullaby Kings?)  And they remain one of the most distinctive bands to emerge in the 1980's.  Divinyls were first introduced to world audiences as part of the Australian assault that spawned Men At Work, Midnight Oil, INXS, and New Zealand's Split Enz.  But that's about as close as they've come to being placed in any kind of familiar category. 

In many ways, Divinyls are the quintessential rock outfit: great songs and passionate performances, wrapped in the unforgettable persona and brazen sexuality of Christina Amphlett.  She and McEntee had begun writing together almost immediately after the opera house incident.  "I just rolled up at Chrissie's place with guitars and some amplifiers and we just started writing," McEntee has said.  "We said,'This is pretty good,' so we kept on."  Augmenting Amphlett on vocals and McEntee on lead guitar were keyboardist / rhythm guitarist Bjarne Ohlin, bassist Richard Grossman, and drummer Richard Harvey.

They played the sleazy bars around Kings Cross, Sydney's "sin capital."  It was Divinyls' pay-your-dues period. Australian film director Ken Cameron caught the group in one of those bars.  He happened to be casting a film version of Helen Garner's dramatic book, "Monkey Grip," the story of a volatile relationship tainted with heroin addiction.  The result was a six-song soundtrack EP recorded by Divinyls and featuring two 1982 hits, "Boys in Town" and "Only Lonely," as well as a supporting role in the film for Christina Amphlett.  To the surprise of many, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Australian Film Awards.  But it was Divinyls' brilliantly energetic and unpredictable live show that won over club audiences.