STEVE JOHN HARRINGTON was born in Gwent - but his pop star alter ego Steve Strange was born in the late 1970s in the nightclubs of London.

Born in 1959 in Newbridge, the young Harrington moved with his family to Aldershot, Hampshire, where his father John Harrington was serving in the British Army as a paratrooper.

The family moved back to Wales and lived in Rhyl on the north coast for a time, and his parents bought a large guest house and opened sea front cafes. Steve's love of music began thanks to his mum's radiogram.

But when the marriage failed and they then divorced, he moved with his mother Gillian back to Pantside, Newbridge.

At Newbridge Grammar School, then the newly-created Greenfield Comprehensive School, he developed a passion for art and got himself a Saturday job in Robert Barker, Blackwood.

His autobiography Blitzed, he describes how he formed a Bowie-inspired band with school friends Michael Hawker and Paul Beach, and rebelled against the school's dress code.

He said he became enamoured of northern soul, travelling to Wigan Casino.

"Wigan became the centre of my life," he wrote, working on the butcher counter in Tesco at weekends to pay for his clubbing trips.

But problems with the law meant he ended up in borstal, he wrote, and his mother banned him from Wigan.

Instead, he started clubbing in Newport and Cardiff - and punk influences started to enter his life. On one occasion, his group of friends' outrageous sense of punk style got them chased down Newport High Street.

Soon, he was clubbing in Ilford and Charing Cross, meeting people like the soon-to-be famous Siouxsie Sioux and Billy Idol and visiting Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's clothes shop Sex in the King's Road.

One newspaper dubbed him the "first punk in Wales". He saw the Sex Pistols at Newport's Stowaway club in 1976.

He said: "I saw those four lads and thought that anyone could get up on stage and be in a band."

Meeting Glen Matlock and getting his phone number was the key to Steve getting into a different world.

EIGHTIES STAR: Steve Strange on the cover of Jackie magazine in 1984

South Wales Argus:

In November 1976, he moved to London and slept on Matlock's sofa until he got a flat share - briefly returning for the now infamous Sex Pistols gig at Caerphilly, picketed by angry locals.

He went on to work for Westwood and McLaren, and then for Generation X. But the meeting with Rusty Egan was to have the biggest impact on his life - the pair rebelling against punk and looking for a new sound as Visage.

They also set up regular nights at Billy's club in Dean Street, meeting Boy George and Marilyn.

In 1979, they moved to Blitz in Covent Garden - fashion designer Zandra Rhodes and writer Robert Elms became regulars.

The New Romantic movement was born.

Fade to Grey was biggest hit

Strange, who died at 55, spent decades in the music business, forming the band Visage with Rusty Egan and Midge Ure, and helping to create the New Romantic movement in his Covent Garden club, Blitz.

His biggest hit, Fade To Grey, was Visage's second single, but their first release on a major label, Polydor.

It was released in November 1980, on the same day as the band's debut album, Visage. "Fade to Grey" charted around Europe in late 1980/early 1981, becoming a Top 10 hit in the UK, and a Top 5 hit in five countries as well as reaching no. 1 in Germany and Switzerland.

Strange helped create David Bowie's iconic Ashes To Ashes video, also starring in it - working with one of his musical heroes.

But following the band's successful first two albums, Visage and The Anvil, Strange became addicted to heroin after first trying the drug while modelling at a fashion show in Paris in 1985.

''It was the worst mistake that I ever made in my life,'' he said in 2000.

Strange's autobiography Blitzed! talked candidly about his battle with heroin addiction and coming to terms with his bisexuality.

His death after an apparent heart attack came after a spell in the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend at the end of last year with breathing difficulties. He had latterly been living in Porthcawl.

Marc Green, label manager at August Day Recordings, said: "We are extremely saddened to announce that Steve Strange died at 11.15 local time on Thursday February 12 in Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, Egypt.

"Steve died in his sleep of heart failure. Steve's family, band members and friends are all distraught at this sudden news of his untimely death. Steve's family request privacy at this extremely difficult time."

Pete Bassett, the singer’s agent paid tribute to the singer, calling him "lovable" and "hardworking".

"He will be remembered as a hard-working, very amusing and lovable individual who always was at the forefront of fashion trends.

FUN-LOVING: Here is Steve in the Sun when he staged a 'Warhol-style' fake wedding in 1990, with guests including the Kemp brothers from Spandau Ballet

South Wales Argus:

"Up until last year he was putting together a book of fashion styles based on the New Romantic movement and it comes as a great shock.

"We understood that he had certain health problems but nothing we knew was life threatening.

"His friends and family are totally shocked, we had no idea anything like this was likely to happen."