Janie Bekynton and Pete Lumbton She was once one half of rock’s most famous lesbian couple, now she’s Pete’s wife. Suzi’s never forgiven her betrayal, neither has the lesbian and gay community who regard her as a sexual traitor. As soon as Approval Needed were declared legally defunct, Pete set about reinserting himself into Noggin the Nög, the group he’d formed at college in 1985 but who he’d left to join Approval Needed in 1987. In a coup that was as brutal as it was efficient, he and his father managed to have the existing guitarist sacked installing himself and Janie in his stead. It was, as ever, an astute move; although The Nög have never managed to achieve the success and admiration Approval Needed enjoyed they’re still going strong today with a European tour and a twelfth studio album in the pipeline.
Stella Bekynton When Stella divorced Gary and then, less than a year later, married the Marquis of Sherborne, a man several decades her senior, she was labelled a serial bride and fortune hunter by the press. But such allegations have never bothered Stella; on the contrary, she positively revels in them. She was an accomplished pianist but never a serious musician, from start to finish the whole Approval Needed experience was just a laugh.
She might not have been a serious musician but she took to the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle like a duck to water and still parties as hard as many women half her age. Her recent sixtieth birthday bash a attracted host of celebrities from the rock and pop world and was featured in a glossy spread in Hiya! magazine. With her husband now sadly passed away, she devotes all her time to the family estate in Dorset.
Stella’s son, Tommy, still in his early twenties, is already a respected drummer, clearly following in the footsteps of his uncle.
Damien ‘Dare’ Bekynton Poor Damien. If his sister managed to ride the crest of the wave that was Approval Needed’s meteoric rise to fame, he was almost drowned by it. It took him a good year to recover from the shock of Gina suddenly breaking-off their engagement and although he subsequently recovered and returned to tour with Dark Burgundy ill-health finally got the better of him and he was forced to retire.
Hs wild days now long since over, Damien occupies a hunting lodge on his sister’s estate and although by no means a recluse he’s rarely seen in public.
Suzi Tuscadero With her long black hair and dark blue eyes Suzi was Approval Needed’s dreamboat, voted the sexiest woman in rock for three consecutive years by readers of Sounds; that she was openly gay and thus beyond the reach of her thousands of male admirers only added to the allure. When lambasted by radical lesbian groups for pandering to the desires of the male-dominated heterosexual media she simply up the ante and wore her skirts shorter, her tops lower and her heels higher.
With Gina gone and her relationship with Janie in tatters, it came as no surprise when she quit a few days later. She formed her own band, Blunt Instrument in the summer of 1992 but after one album and a short UK tour she quit the music business for good. She now runs a gay-friendly spa and hotel in Dorset with civil partner Julie Escobar.
Gina Gershwin The simple truth is that nobody actually knows her whereabouts; nobody even knows whether she’s still alive. She was last heard of boarding a flight to Mexico City the day after her tearful resignation; in the intervening nineteen years there have been sporadic sightings and occasional reports of her death; none of which has ever been proved. Crazy as it might seem, Gina Gershwin has, to all extents and purposes, simply vanished off the face of the planet.