Grace Jones
Royal Festival Hall
Thursday, June 19
Returns only

Last month, Grace Jones turned 60. Just a few weeks earlier, she was causing a commotion in London. Having pocketed a reported £50,000 advance to make a personal appearance at a party, Jones refused to leave her hotel room until she had received the rest of her fee, due post-performance.

To the delight of the tabloids, she didn't get it and the one-time global superstar was ousted in favour of indie upstarts New Young Pony Club.

The iconic model, actress, disco diva and all-round exhibitionist can add "growing old disgracefully" to her list of talents. Three years ago, there was a much-publicised tussle with a train manager on Eurostar after Jones was refused a free upgrade. She was escorted off in Kent by British Transport Police.

But what else did we expect from a singer who turned controversy into an artform - and a magnificent marketing tool - years before Madonna stumbled on the idea?

In Britain, Jones is best known to many for attacking chat show host Russell Harty live on TV in 1981. He turned his back on her to chat to another guest, she slapped him across the face. Two years ago, BBC viewers voted it the most shocking moment on British TV. Yet Jones is long overdue a revival, and not for her fiery temper.

Born in Jamaica to strict Pentecostal parents - her father was a minister, her twin brother is a bishop - Jones was the original supermodel-turned-singer. And she made a much better fist of it than anyone has since.

The Vogue covergirl's late Seventies and early Eighties albums saw her dubbed the queen of gay discos; her wild live performances included outrageous outfits, body paint and troupes of scantily clad men who she literally whipped around the stage.

She shocked with her androgynous image, collaborated with artists such as Keith Haring, seam-lessly mixed music and fashion and, most importantly, enjoyed a string of huge hits - La Vie En Rose, Private Life, Love Is The Drug, Pull Up To The Bumper, My Jamaican Guy.

Jones was, and remains, a genuine rebel who makes Madonna's faux bad girl behaviour at almost 50 look positively tame.