Samantha Karen Fox was born on 15 April 1966 in Mile End, East London, UK. Her parents were Carole Fox and Patrick Fox and she had a little sister named Vanessa (1972-2023).

She started out as a nude model for "Page 3" of British tabloids when she was still 16, and in 1983 Sam was said to have her breasts insured for $500,000. In 1983, she recorded with her first band, called SFX, the songs "17 and Holding", "My Old Man", and "Aim To Win" but they never broke into the charts.

Sam went back to being a top model, but returned to the music business in 1986 as a solo artist. Dismissing the notion that she was all pin-up looks and no singing talent. That year, she made a cameo appearance with Indian actor Govinda in the musical comedy Rock Dancer (1995) - and her blonde beauty in a brief stage white costume was in most lobby cards in all Indian regions.

As of 2002, Sam ranked #81 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists. In 2003, she was again in the newspaper headlines, when she revealed that she had a relationship with her career manager Myra Stratton.