Debsey Wykes and Dolly Mixture

My first shot at pop stardom took place onstage in the main hall of Hills Road Sixth Form College on 9th December 1977. My best friend and fellow Hills Road new girl Hester Smith and I had managed to infiltrate a school band called the Munzies, begging their singer Dawn, to let us join in on backing vocals for the group’s debut gig supporting another Hills Road outfit called On Off Knob and the Amplifiers.

Hester and I had enrolled at Hills Road in September 1977. With a shared dream of becoming actors, Hester and I primarily chose Hills Road Sixth Form College for its purpose built, state of the art theatre and the school’s drama AO level course.

Our gig in the main hall turned out to be something of a disaster but the experience of playing live had been so exhilarating that I suggested to Hester and Dawn that we form our own group, all girls. We soon recruited another friend, Girls County High School student Rachel Bor, had our first rehearsal and named ourselves Dolly Mixture.

Dawn decided to leave the band and so we became a three piece. I left Hills Road in summer 1978 and for a few months I held down a job selling china and glass in Cambridge’s very own family run department store, Joshua Taylor, before going full time with the band.

Dolly Mixture would take up the next six years of our young lives as we played over 350 gigs touring with - amongst others - the Jam, the Undertones, the Beat and Dexys Midnight Runners. We eventually signed to Paul Weller’s Respond label and released a clutch of singles and an album. Although we never achieved the level of success we dreamt of with Dolly Mixture, we were lucky enough to sing on a number one hit record with Captain Sensible.

Despite my school career being cut short when we formed the band, I have very fond memories of Hills Road and I will always treasure a letter my beloved History teacher Mr Barlow sent to Hester and I following our first appearance on Top of the Pops “I’ve almost forgiven you both for being so late so many times!”

I now live in London and continue to make music and tour with the band Saint Etienne. Having reached 60 I felt a need to make sense of those formative years and decided to write a memoir, Teenage Daydream, which was published by New Modern in September 2025. This year Saint Etienne will play the Cambridge Corn Exchange and while there, I will no doubt be thinking back to my time at Hills Road and my very kind History teacher Mr Barlow.

Debsey Wykes, January 2026

Debsey’s book Teenage Daydream: We are the Girls Who Play in a Band is out now in hardback, with paperback to follow in September 2026.