Martyn Allam (1948 – 28 March 2008), known professionally as Tallulah, was a German-born, London-based, British DJ, recording artist, producer, and club promoter.

His father worked in the catering and hotel industry and was stationed in Hamburg after World War II to help with the Reclamation.

Just before Allam joined primary school the family relocated again, this time to Maidstone where he spent most of his childhood and early adolescence.

The first vinyl album he bought, I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone (1965), was from HMV record store in Oxford Street, London.

He would buy Simplicity Patterns and purchase material from a market stall and cut and stitch the clothes himself, but make them tighter than usual.

[3] After Allam's studies at college ended he took a job at the Cora Hotel in Upper Woburn Place in Bloomsbury, London, which he eventually managed.

In between spinning discs his job also entailed acting as the coat-check, collecting empty glasses and keeping the toilets clean.

During the early 1970s, the music played in gay clubs changed considerably due to American imports being readily available in several Soho record stores.

British entrepreneur Jerry Collins was so impressed by Studio One, a gay disco in Los Angeles, that he returned to London determined to give the capital the same thing.

[7] The gay disco BANG[8] opened in 1976 at the Sundown (a former ballroom/dance hall) in the basement of the Astoria Theatre at 157 Charing Cross Road.

During this embryonic period of London's gay club culture, Tallulah was still working full-time as a hotel manager as well as DJing most evenings.

[12] Tallulah recalled during an interview with Luke Howard in 2006 how the emergence of BANG in 1976 took London by storm, bringing night-clubbing to another level: "Everyone on the scene went to BANG, it appealed to all sorts of queens: leather queens, clones, twirlers and trolley dollies who'd come back from New York City and tell us what the hot tracks were over there.

The club attracted the likes of Andy Warhol and his entourage,[16] Rudolph Nureyev, Rock Hudson,[17] Elton John, actors, pop stars, film directors and London’s fashionista.

The first time I went there I fell over the velvet rope and landed at Steve Rubell's feet and when I stood up I asked him for a job.

"[27] In the early hours of the morning on 16 August 1980, Tallulah, having finished DJing for the evening at 3:00 am, decided to go for a drink at the Spanish Rooms [an unlicensed bar] at 18 Denmark Place, London, where a party was being held.

Many celebrities attended the opening night including Steve Strange, April Ashley, Yvette the Conqueror and Vicky de Lambray.

Williams took heed of Tallulah's suggestion and, in January 1984, recorded the track at Trident Studios with Hans Zimmer and guitarist Alan Murphy.

[33] The short film gives an intriguing snapshot into London's Soho nightlife during 1990 (still hungover from the late-1980s) by way of capturing the bustling local outdoor streets, and the inside of long-gone amusement arcades and porn cinemas.

Tallulah, in a wig, plays the role of a straight office-type punter, looking for a quick trick, who ends up pulling a transvestite hooker.

'One of my earliest memories of Barcode is the image of the legendary and absolutely fabulous DJ Tallulah, in his extremely long coat playing on a night called ‘MezzoDisco’—always treating us with some fantastic tales.'

"I think it's important that younger people look into gay culture a little bit more – it's so easy to be forgotten, particularly where music's concerned.

His extraordinary life linked the closeted 1960s world of such figures as Joe Orton and Kenneth Williams with the anything goes Soho of today.

Over 500 people, including many friends, celebrities, and DJ's associated with Tallulah's career, attended his funeral and memorial service on 11 April held at Kensal Rise.

Williams agreed to write the book and had already commenced drafting it a couple of months before Tallulah's death occurred.

[38] The book entitled Club Feet and Disco Dancing is centered on Tallulah's early career and his years spent living with Granville King and Williams in Notting Hill during the culturally subversive 1970s and 1980s.