Ayshea
British singer, actress, presenter (born 1948)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ayshea (/ˈaɪʃə/; born Ayshea Hague, 12 November 1948) is a British former singer, actress and television presenter. She is best known for playing Lieutenant Ayshea Johnson on the sci-fi series UFO and for being the host of the popular television series Lift Off with Ayshea.
12 November 1948
Early life
Ayshea Hague was born in London in 1948. She spent a few years as a child living in France before returning to London.[1] She attended Arts Educational Schools.[1]
Career
Acting
She made her film debut at the age of nine as an uncredited extra in the film Tom Thumb (1958).[1] She made appearances on television shows such as Thank Your Lucky Stars and Discotheque. Granada TV's producer Muriel Young hired Ayshea to host her own pop show, Lift Off with Ayshea, in 1969.[2][3] The series ran for 122 episodes until 1974.
Ayshea was a regular on quiz shows such as The Golden Shot and Celebrity Squares. As an actress, she appeared on Jason King and had a recurring role on UFO, the Gerry Anderson live-action series.[1] In 2024 Ayshea was honoured by the Asian Media Awards where she was given the Outstanding Contribution to Media Award.[4][5]
Music
As a teenager, she was signed to her first record label, Fontana, which released her debut single, "Eeny Meeny", in 1965.[2] In 1965 and 1966 she toured in the UK with Jimmy Cliff as part of his band The New Generation.[6] She recorded a total of eight singles and two albums on six different labels (Fontana, Polydor, RCA, MAM, Harvest and DJM) between 1965 and 1977 however none of these ever charted.[1]
Personal life
After being romantically linked with Steve Winwood, Chas Chandler and Rod Stewart, she married Cat Stevens's record producer, Chris Brough (the son of ventriloquist Peter Brough), who produced her records and was her manager.[2] After Ayshea and Chris Brough divorced in the early 1970s she dated Roy Wood who wrote and produced her single "Farewell". They were engaged for a year but never married.[7]
Following the engagement to Roy Wood, she later married Steve Alder (1950—1997) who had the lead role in the London stage production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar as Jesus Christ.[8]
While staying with her friend Susan George in the US, Ayshea met and married the agent and film producer Michael Levy in 1983 and worked as an interior designer. She started a property development company.[1] In the early 2000s Ayshea moved back to the UK (in Grantham, Lincolnshire) to be close to her mother, Rose.[9]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Tom Thumb | Girl | Uncredited[10] |
| 1963 | Nine Hours to Rama | Bride | Uncredited[10] |
| 1966 | Fumo di Londra | Girl | Uncredited[10] |
Television
| Years | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Thank Your Lucky Stars | Herself | One episode[10] |
| 1969—1974 | Lift Off with Ayshea | Show host, eighty-nine episodes[10] | |
| 1969 | Discotheque | Seven episodes[10] | |
| 1970—1971 | UFO | Lieutenant Ayshea Johnson | Twenty episodes[10] |
| 1970—1971 | Anything You Can Do | Herself | Show judge, three episodes[10] |
| 1970—1971 | The Golden Shot | Two episodes[10] | |
| 1971 | Jason King | Mireille | One episode[10] |
| 1972 | Stars on Sunday | Herself | |
| 1974 | Rock on with 45 | Two episodes[10] | |
| 1975 | Look Alive | One episode[10] | |
| 1976 | Celebrity Squares | ||
| 2013 | Goodbye Granadaland | Archive footage, documentary[10] | |
| 2016 | The Women of UFO | ||
| 2016 | From Earth to the Moon | Video[10] | |
| 2020 | The No-Name Trivia Show | Series[10] | |
| 2023—2025 | The Gerry Anderson Podcast | Podcast[10] |
Discography
Albums
| Year | Label | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Polydor Records | Ayshea |
| 1974[2] | DJM Records | Lift Off with Ayshea |
Singles
| Year | Label | A-side | B-side |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Fontana Records[2] | "Eeny Meeny" | "Keep My Love" |
| 1968 | Polydor Records | "Celebration of the Year" | "Only Love Can Save Me Now" |
| 1969 | "Another Night" | "Taking the Sun from My Eyes" | |
| 1970 | "Mister White's White Flying Machine" | "Ship of the Line" | |
| "Who's Gonna Rescue Jesus?" | "Flowers Are Mine" | ||
| 1971 | RCA Records | "Master Jack" | "Both Sides Now" |
| 1972 | MAM Records | "An Old Fashioned Love Song" | "The Family of Man" |
| 1973 | Harvest Records | "Farewell" | "The Best Years of My Life" |
| 1974 | DJM Records | "Another Without You Day" | "Moonbeam" |
| 1975 | "Don't Wait Till Tomorrow" | "Moonbeam" | |
| "The Flowers Will Never Die" | "The Best Years of My Life" | ||
| 1977 | "Golden Oldie"[11] | "Keep Me from Blowing Away" |