Dinner with Armani and supper with Ele.
Well, those two events didn't take place within the same time frame as one might imagine, but Gordon has traversed a wide spectrum since her relatively humble beginnings in South London's Croydon.

Born to Jamaican parents, she took to singing at an early age and was soon immersed in gospel music, singing at her local church. In high school, she furthered her performing pursuits, playing and singing in a steel band, and also joining dance and drama groups.

Chyna Gordon

At this time, as with most teens, she went through a bit of an identity crisis. "I knew that singing was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but my given name (Coral) wasn't one that could be universally pronounced, so I got a vision of something which would be easily said no matter where you came from." Thus, the legal change of name to Chyna. Her actual professional name is Chyna Whyne, but she laughingly reserved comment when asked about the second part.

Convinced about her future and secure about her identity, Chyna hit the London club scene, gigging wherever the opportunity arose and doing guest vocals on the albums of other musicians.
In what must be one of the most powerful affirmations for word-of-mouth promotion, Chyna entered what could only be described as her 'golden phone call' phase.

The first call was from Peter Gabriel, who asked her to sing on the recording of his then breakthrough album, So (specifically on the smash single, Sledgehammer). "At the time, I really didn't even know who he was, but all the people I told were just gasping, 'oh! you're working with Peter Gabriel!'

The next time the phone rang (some time later of course), it was legendary front man of The Who, Pete Townshend, who asked of her not a one-shot recording, but to sing backing vocals for the rock supergroup's 25th anniversary tour across the US. "That was just phenomenal," she recalls. "To hear 120,000 people give out a roar all at once, especially when you can't even see to the last row - it was just awesome."

Caller number three was an even more august figure, guitar god (and Bob Marley cover guy) Eric Clapton. Again the offer was stepped up: a one-year, on-and-off tour encompassing Europe and North America. It was on this latter tour that the aforementioned dinner with Armani took place (with Clapton on the other side of her).

"I'm in Rome, sitting in between the most famous designer and the most famous rock star and I'm wondering to myself 'how did I get here?'"
But the grind of constant touring and living out of a suitcase began to tell on her, specifically on her back. "I would have the most awful lower back pain," she says, and nothing ever worked more than temporarily. It was horrible."

Elephant Man

A friend of hers recommended the Alexander Technique of motion, developed by an Australian after some nine years of study, and referred her to a couple who did the service. It worked, but when the friend suggested that Chyna take things further and become an Alexander instructor, she balked. Not so much at the £20,000 price tag, but at the three years of intense study that would be required to qualify her. "I thought, 'you must be mad, I've got a life!'" But the idea kept popping up and finally, she released herself from all her commitments and did the course.

Now a qualified Alexander instructor, Chyna is incorporating the special movement technique in her entertainment career, making allusions to it in her songs and also teaching and training others. "It's such a joy for me to be giving back in this way, 'cause I know I'm helping people to live better," she says.

Her training completed, she threw herself back into singing, and her streak continued, but this time with some internal push. "I just had a vision one night that I wasn't doing anymore backup singing, and the thing to do was to go to Jamaica, find Elephant Man or Beenie Man and record a song with them," she said.

The road from dream to reality proved rocky as repeated attempts to contact Elephant Man proved futile. "So it got to where I just took up the calendar and said 'I'm going to Jamaica in June' - just like that."
The resolve established, she met the relevant contacts, and eventually was presented to the Energy God himself. She gave the track for a tune called Sexy Baal ed (bald head) that she had written. "He just loved it and started vibin' on it right away," she said.

The single, with video, is set to hit the streets soon. An album of the same name is also complete, and further, the song is to be featured on the soundtrack of an upcoming feature film called Yellow, starring Bill Duke, among others.

The title, Sexy Baal ed refers to Chyna's own clean-shaven look, a somewhat softer, but no less striking effect than that of Grace Jones two decades earlier. "Once I took off my hair, everywhere I went, people (read men) would just want to touch my head and comment on how good it looked," she says. "So I wrote a tune about it."

Even before the hair removal, Chyna had attracted the interest of model and talent scouts who kept urging her to become a model. "I got sick of hearing 'are you a model?' that I just decided to get some pictures done and get a portfolio together," she said. That was several years ago, and she's been working steadily in the print sector ever since.

Chyna credits her strong faith and her Alexander training with keeping her 'grounded' amidst the potentially giddying heights of an international music and modelling career. The bubbly entertainer has her sights set on more, however. "I recently took a short acting course, just so I can be prepared, you never know."
Indeed, caller number four might well be Mr Spielberg.

Executive Class

Gardens with Gravel

Death to the Mullet!