Pauline Murray (born 8 March 1958) is best known as the lead singer of the punk rock band Penetration, originally formed in 1976. She was born in Waterhouses, County Durham, England, and her parents later moved to Ferryhill. She left school at age sixteen, studied art at Darlington College and then worked at odd jobs. In May 1976 the 18-year-old Murray saw the Sex Pistols perform, and she and her Ferryhill comrades became Pistols devotees, earning for themselves the title of "Durham Contingent".
In late 1976, Murray formed a band with friends Robert Blamire and Gary Smallman. The band's lineup was lead singer Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire (bass), Gary Smallman (drums) and Gary Chaplin (guitar). Chaplin left in March 1978 being replaced with Neale Floyd, with second guitarist Fred Purser joining in July. Formed in Ferryhill as The Points, under which name they played their first gig, at the Rock Garden pub in Middlesbrough in October 1976, they changed the band's name after a 1973 song by Iggy & The Stooges. Their second gig was supporting The Stranglers at Newcastle City Hall. Significantly, the band also played at The Roxy during its first 100 days. On 9 April 1977, the band appeared on the same bill as Generation X. Early in their career, the band also supported The Vibrators and toured with Buzzcocks.
Their debut single, "Don't Dictate", released in Nov. 1977 is now acknowledged as a classic. After the release of their second single, Penetration recorded the first of two sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1 in July 1978. Later that year, the band released their debut album. Moving Targets was number 6 in the Sounds Critics' albums of the year; and it made number 13 in the NME critics' chart. In 1979, they toured Europe, the US and Britain but the grueling schedule began to take its toll. A disappointing reaction to Coming Up For Air, the second album, was the final nail in the coffin of the original band. After the band split in October an official bootleg album called Race Against Time was released, which was a collection of early demos and live tracks.
In 1980 Murray worked on her first solo album with record producer Martin Hannett's band The Invisible Girls, which also included ex-Penetration member and co-writer Robert Blamire, as well as guesting Manchester musicians such as Vini Reilly, guitarist in The Durutti Column, and Steve Hopkins. John Maher from Buzzcocks also drummed for the band. The resulting album, Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls, reached Number 25 on the UK Albums Chart in October 1980 and spawned the singles "Dream Sequence" and "Mr. X". The album was well received by critics. Murray also provided vocals for The Only Ones on their song "Fools" and backing vocals on "Me and My Shadow".
In the early 1980s, Murray formed the band Pauline Murray and The Storm, with Robert Blamire (bass), Tim Johnston (drums) and Paul Harvey (guitar), releasing the singles "Holocaust" in 1984, a cover of Alex Chilton/Big Star and the self-penned "New Age" in 1986. In 1989 Murray released the EP This Thing Called Love and the album Storm Clouds under her own name. In 2013 she booked a number of solo acoustic dates around the North End in the UK. Penetration played a number of gigs around London in 2001–2002, leading to a band reunion. In 2015 the band announced they would release Resolution, a new studio album. The current line-up of the band is Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, John Maher (ex-Buzzcocks), Paul Harvey and Steve Wallace.
