Al Pillay


Lanah P, previously known as Alan Pillay is an LGBT English entertainer.
Previously billed as Alan Pellay, Al Pillay, Al-ana Pellay, and Lana Pellay, Pillay starred in The Comic Strip Presents, playing Ray in "Susie", "Himself" in "Gino: Full Story and Pics", as "Herself" in , as Mary in the film The Supergrass, Women's Clothing Shop Employee in "Consuela ", and as Alex in the film Eat the Rich.

Early life

Pillay was born near the docks of Grimsby and was the youngest of six children, Pillay's mother was a cleaner of Bajan descent, Pillay's father was an engineer on the fishing trawlers and was of Indian descent .

Career

Working men's clubs

Pillay left school at fifteen and went to Manchester and befriended the Northern drag performers Bunny Lewis and Frank "Foo Foo" Lammar. Pillay impersonated Shirley Bassey, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Cleo Laine and Dorothy Squires in full drag and with no microphone and was booked into the Working men's clubs throughout the North of England as well as the cabaret club circuit.

Disco diva

During a lull in Pillay's drag career, while managing the Black Market Café in Levenshulme and renting a room from Coronation Street actor Alan Rothwell, Pillay was introduced to Kay Carroll and Mark E Smith of The Fall. Pillay formed her own band the 'I Scream Pleasures,' who subsequently appeared as guest support at Fall gigs.
Pillay metamorphosed into a disco diva as the hormone-popping transsexual Lana Pellay, dressed in costumes by her close friend Leigh Bowery and with a top 40 single in Australia and New Zealand with "Pistol in My Pocket". She also accompanied Gary Clail on his 1991 hit "Human Nature", singing the couplet "Let the carnival begin... Every pleasure, every sin!"

TV and movie career

While living in Notting Hill Pillay met Keith Allen who invited Pillay to appear in the recently launched Channel 4's first programme aimed at a youth audience. There she met her champion, Peter Richardson, actor, comedian, writer and director of The Comic Strip Presents who wrote parts for her in the episodes Susie, Gino, and The Supergrass.
He also wrote the lead part for her in the feature film Eat the Rich.
Following The Comic Strip, Pillay became a film critic on the ITV late night chat show Funky Bunker, alongside Craig Charles.

Theatre and cabaret

As Al Pillay she performed in a one-person play Glitter & Twisted based on her life, written by Tim Fountain, which had its premiere at the Beckett Theater on 42nd Street as part of the first Manhattan Musical Theatre Festival. She also appeared in her own cabaret A Life in Song at the Pizza on the Park and the Café De Paris. Her cabaret performance has been released as a double CD. More recently, she has performed the title role of the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires in Mrs Roger Moore.

Discography (as Lana Pellay)

Singles