Pamela Rooke
Pamela Rooke (23 June 1955 – 3 April 2022), better known by her mononym Jordan, was an English model and actress known for her work with Vivienne Westwood and the Sex boutique in the Kings Road area of London in the mid-1970s, and for attending many of the early Sex Pistols performances. Her style and dress sense—notably, her bleached platinum-blonde bouffant and excessive dark eye make-up—made her a highly visible icon of the London punk subculture. Alongside Johnny Rotten, Soo Catwoman, and Siouxsie Sioux, she is credited with creating the London punk look.
Also recorded as Jordan Mooney · Jordan
Pamela Rooke
- Name
- Pamela Rooke
- Born
- 23 June 1955
- Birthplace
- Seaford, East Sussex, England
- Died
- 3 April 2022
- Occupation
- Model, actress, band manager, singer, author, veterinary nurse
- Known for
- Contributions to Punk fashion
- Nationality
- United Kingdom.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q7129247 · wikipedia · Pamela Rooke
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Pamela Rooke • Born — 23 June 1955 • Birthplace — Seaford, East Sussex, England • Died — 3 April 2022 • Place of death — Seaford, East Sussex, England • Other Names — Jordan, Jordan Mooney • Occupation — Model, actress, band manager, singer, author, veterinary nurse • Years Active — 1969–1984 • Employer — Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren • Known for — Contributions to Punk fashion • Notable Works — Jubilee
Biography
Biography
Rooke took the single name "Jordan" at the age of 14, in Seaford, East Sussex. When Jordan first walked into 430 King's Road, London, wearing gold stilettos, a see-through net skirt, with a white bouffant hairstyle, it had just changed to Sex, but there wasn't a position at the time so I got a job in Harrods, on the third floor in a place called Way In.... A few weeks later I then got a call from Michael [Collins, the manager] asking if I could come in... [[Malcolm McLaren|Malcolm [Maclaren]]] had been in New York with The New York Dolls when I was hired. Rooke commuted for two hours each day to London from Seaford. She recalled that her punk image caused problems for her: In early 1977, Rooke served as an early manager for The Ants, later extended to Adam and the Ants. She recorded the track "Lou" (about Lou Reed) as a guest lead vocalist with the band for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel's Peel Sessions and often performed the song live with them from mid-1977 up until 14 May 1978, when she left the band after a gig at Roundhouse. In the mid-1980s, she managed her then-husband Kevin Mooney’s band Wide Boy Awake, in which Mooney was the guitarist. Mooney had also previously been in Adam and the Ants as its bassist from 1980 to 1981. Rooke made a cameo appearance in Derek Jarman's debut film Sebastiane, and played the lead role in his follow-up film Jubilee as the punk "anti-historian" Amyl Nitrate (named after the drug amyl nitrite). She can also be seen in Julien Temple's The Great Rock and Roll Swindle wearing an "Only anarchists are pretty" T-shirt and appearing on stage with the Sex Pistols during their first live television performance of "Anarchy in the U.K." in August 1976. In 1984, after divorcing Mooney, Rooke returned to Seaford, breeding Burmese cats and working as a veterinary nurse. Rooke's autobiography, Defying Gravity: Jordan's Story, written with Cathi Unsworth, was published by Omnibus Press in 2019.
Death
Death
On 4 April 2022, Rooke’s partner and Brighton and Hove's News journalist Nick Linazasoro announced that following a short period of illness, Rooke had died the previous night in her hometown of Seaford, East Sussex on 3 April 2022 from cholangiocarcinoma at the age of 66.
In popular culture
In popular culture
Maisie Williams portrayed Rooke in the FX Network series Pistol, which portrays Rooke's political influence in the London punk scene.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Seaford.
Residences
East Sussex.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Pamela Rooke”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q7129247: Pamela Rooke
General reference · Wikidata
Text attribution
Licensing
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Pamela Rooke, revision 1374886664 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Linazasoro, Nick. Punk Legend Jordan has Passed Away. Brighton and Hove News. 4 April 2022.
- 2.JP. The Filth & the Fashion – Vivienne Westwood's '70s sex rag revolution. 7 October 2010.
- 3.Baron, Katie. A rare interview with Jordan, punk's enigmatic frontwoman. Dazed. 17 August 2016.
- 4.Lister, Kat. Anarchy In The UK: A Brief History Of Punk Fashion. Marie Claire. 26 October 2015.
- 5.Oliver, Mark. Jordan: exclusive interview. The Guardian. 6 February 2004.
- 6.Seaford, UK to The Clockhouse. Google Maps.
- 7.Fury's fashion people: The sartorial genius of Jordan (no, not that one). The Independent. 30 November 2013.
- 8.Colegrave & Sullivan, Punk: A Life Apart, Cassell & Co, 2004, p. 127.
- 9."3am Interview: The World's Forgotten Boy". 3:AM Magazine.
- 10.Pamela Rooke, punk rock fashion icon known as Jordan, dies aged 66. The Guardian. 4 April 2022.
- 11.Dazed and Confused. The Anarchy Shirt. May 2013.
- 12.Beaumont, Mark. Anarchy in the UK: How the Sex Pistols' snarling manifesto changed the face of punk. The Independent. 24 November 2021.
- 13.Jordan Mooney autobiography - Defying Gravity. www.facebook.com.
- 14.Tierney, Paul. Interview - Jordan, the face of punk: 'The things I wore made people apoplectic'. The Guardian. 23 April 2019.
- 15.Adekaiyero, Ayomikun. 'Game of Thrones' star Maisie Williams says she was hesitant to take on her new role because it had a lot of nudity. insider.
References
Citations
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reference work
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People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
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Died at
1- East SussexPlace
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Pamela HarrisonAuthor
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- Pamela Rae HutesonAuthor
- Pamela SargentAuthor
- Pamela StephensonAuthor
- Pamela WyndhamAuthor
- Pamphile of EpidaurusAuthor
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