Singer Sandra McKenzie, famed for the ‘whoa’ roar on the 1990s Bodyform TV advert, has revealed that she is now broke and homeless.
The ex-lead singer of rock band Goldbug and Prince’s one-time lover once had millions in the bank, apartments all over the world and a yacht.
She was the voice of the Bodyform TV ad, and had reached number three in the charts with a cover of the Led Zeppelin hit Whole Lotta Love.
She had also attended the same Swiss finishing school as Princess Diana.
Singer Sandra McKenzie, famed for the ‘whoa’ roar on the 1990s Bodyform TV advert, has revealed that she is now broke and homeless
But Sandra, 56, says she is now back in her hometown of Dundee, living in a hostel for homeless people with no money to her name.
‘I had everything,’ she said. ‘I led an amazing life, a proper rock ‘n’ roll life, but I have nothing left. I’m desperate. I sometimes don’t think I can go on much longer.
‘I feel so ill, hate where I’m having to stay and I’m desperate to turn my life around again, but I just don’t know how.
‘I’m rubbish with money. I led the high life, loved to party and enjoyed a drink.
‘I was way too generous with my money whenever I had it and bought lavish gifts for friends.’
She also reckons that a series of bad business decisions led her to where she is today.
Sandra, niece of the Associates singer Billy McKenzie, was born in Dundee in 1961, graduated in fine arts and worked as a graphic artist for The Beano.
At night, she was singing in pubs and clubs and pursuing her dream of becoming a successful recording artist.
‘I was good and I was also writing my own songs,’ she said. ‘Someone heard me and I was invited down to London where I sang in the chorus at a club in Soho.’
It was while Sandra was in London that she became the voice of a Bodyform TV advert.
She then joined the band Goldbug, formed in 1995 by a former member of the Beatmasters, Richard Walmsley and DJ Adil Magik.
The group had almost instant success – getting to number three in the UK charts.
America called and Sandra went on to have chart success there over three years.
She met famous artists and spent three months working and living with Prince, eventually becoming his lover.
On returning to England, though, Sandra found she could no longer get anyone to sign her and gradually everything she had worked hard for began to disappear.
When she was 50, Sandra suffered a further setback. She was knocked off her bicycle in Oxford and was in hospital for months.
Sandra said: ‘I suffered really serious head injuries and it took a lot to bounce back from that. I don’t think I’ve ever fully recovered to this day.’
She added: ‘In 2015, I came back to Dundee. I bought a beautiful house but when I went to the bank one day I only had £1,000 left in my account.
‘That’s where the dream ended – now I have no idea what the future holds.’
Goldbug were formed in Wolver-hampton in 1995 by a former member of the Beatmasters, Richard Walmsley, and DJ Adil Magik.
After the success of Whole Lotta Love, the band’s follow-up single in 1997 – Real Hip Mary – failed to reach the top 75.
In 2000, Walmsley sued over unpaid royalties relating to their Whole Lotta Love single. Walmsley was successful, receiving thousands of pounds.
Due to the royalty disputes, Sandra received no money from the band’s short existence.
Sandra believes the row was one of the main reasons why no record label was interested in signing her when she returned to the UK.
Sandra said: ‘I’d done so well both in the UK and in America and was a successful songwriter as well as singer.
‘Many people had described my voice as unique and I was much in demand. That’s why it was so upsetting that it all fell away for me.’