Amy Lamé

Biography

Amy Lamé was born and raised in Keyport, New Jersey, and moved to London in 1992.

She is a lesbian and is married to Jennie, her partner since 1995.

Radio

Lamé presented alongside Danny Baker on BBC London's afternoon show between 3-5pm Monday to Friday. On 1 November 2012, it was reported by Danny Baker that the show had been axed and that Lamé earned £50 per episode.

She was the co-founder and co-presenter of HomoLab, a weekly queer cultural and current affairs podcast. She has sat in for a number of DJ's on BBC Radio 6 Music: Tom Ravenscroft, Lauren Laverne, Nemone, and most lately, Steve Lamacq.

TV

Lamé was a presenter on the BBC 2 show GaytimeTV for 3 series and then went on to create and host her own panel game-show, The Staying in Show for Channel 4. Lamé has appeared on ITV reality show Celebrity Fit Club. She was a panellist on Loose Women in 2004 and CelebAir, and on Market Kitchen. She was the mentor for LGBTQ teenagers on C4's My Big Gay Prom.

In 2009, she appeared in a Doctor Who related documentary titled 'Look 100 Years Younger', included on the DVD release for The Twin Dilemma, in which she discussed with actor Colin Baker the various costumes worn by the character of the Doctor over the decades. In 2012 she appeared on Channel 4's live satirical comedy/news programme 10 O'Clock Live to discuss the current state of the National Health Service.

Writing

Lamé has contributed short stories to the anthology Typical Girls. She also writes regular features on culture, travel and food for The Times.

Duckie and other works

In 1995, Lamé co-founded the Olivier-award-winning performance-club-night and collective, Duckie, with Simon Strange, which she hosts every Saturday night at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. In 1996 she curated, produced and hosted Keep The Faith at Tate Britain which explored the links between the gallery's permanent collection and faith. She commissioned new work to be shown in the gallery for one night only including an interactive performance installation tea party with 30 Anglican priests; Joshua Sofaer's tale of meeting his Jews for Jesus missionary namesake, Joshua Sofaer, in Namesake: The Story of a Name; Jonathan Allen/Tommy Angel's performance exploring evangelism and belief using magic and illusion; and a Buddhist tour of the gallery. The event had the highest ever recorded number of participants – over 5,000 – for a Late at Tate.

In 1996, her second one-woman show, Cum Manifesto, a show about safer sex for gay men, debuted on Hampstead Heath and toured to gay male cruising grounds around the UK and Scandinavia. Working with the Duckie collective in 1997, Lamé produced and hosted The World's First Lesbian Beauty Contest.

In 2006, Lamé created her third one-woman show Amy Lamé's Mama Cass Family Singers. The show debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was later performed at the Soho Theatre, London, toured the UK and performed at The Powerhouse, Brisbane, Australia

She made her stage debut in her first one-woman show Gay Man Trapped in a Lesbian's Body as part of ICA London's 'Spring Exhibitions' programme.

She founded the social enterprise Pom Pom International and has held pom-pom making parties at Duckie, London's Lesbian and Gay Festival 2008 and in Northern Ireland where she held the 'Pom-poms for Peace Project'.

Politics

Lamé is an active member of the Labour Party. She is mentioned in Sarah Brown's memoir Behind the Black Door (2011), where she details Lamé's hen night celebrations in Downing Street.

From May 2010 to May 2011, she held the ceremonial role of Mayoress of Camden alongside the Mayor, Councillor Jonathan Simpson.

On 4 November 2016, Lamé was announced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan to be the first London night czar. She will be responsible for turning the capital into a thriving 24-hour city, including working towards the reopening of the night club Fabric which was closed in September 2016.