Rhodri Marsden, (a blogger, journalist and musician) has a brilliant little piece on his personal blog about new BB10 star Angel McKenzie. It would appear that Rhodri’s old boss was married to Angel, so he has a real insight into her personality and background story.

Rhodri states that Angel has previously assumed the aliases of Space Angel, Sadko, Helen Sadko, Elena Tchebotareva and Helen Hobbs (the latter possibly being her birth name?)

There is a link to Angel’s official website ("the official site since 2001" it claims, and indeed I agree with Rhodri – the web design looks pretty dated!). You can listen to her songs online – there’s an 18-track solo album ‘Before I Became A Boxer’ available for £12 – although having listened to a couple of tracks I can’t imagine anyone wanting to own a copy (sorry Angel!). She was also in Russian rock band Atas, although I did a quick Google search and couldn’t find any official site or MySpace.

If you’re interested in finding out more about our new BB10 housemate Angel McKenzie, you’ll find plenty on her content-packed site: Read about her music career, watch her music videos, learn about her boxing career and watch her previous bouts, view her artwork, read her lyrics and poetry, view images and photos and check out her biography…. etc)

Here’s the current welcome message on her official site:

Welcome all to Angel McKenzie

It’s good to have you here.

This is a little journey in to who I am. At the moment I’m known for my boxing but I am more than just a boxer. I am an artist and a performer; I consider myself to be an entertainer. I am a creative person by nature I have done a lot of work under the name Sadko. I have made music, poetry, oil painting, scalptures, pastel drawings and photography, amongst other things under this name. On this site you will find simples of my work. There has been a period in my life where I had to put all levels of creativity on a back burner because I have been preoccupied with my boxing pursuits. Boxing has become the focus point in life for now. It’s keeping me occupied I’m hoping to win a title someday this will make it worthwhile, so I’m working very hard towards that.

"Angels are beings of good will, without gander"

Angel is not my birth given name. I wanted a new identity so I chose “Angel” the name suited me just fine. I have tried other names but I have always come back to Angel. I believe names can determine the type of person one turns out to be. I am thankful to God for a lot of things but for my fitness in particular. I’m glad I was able to regain my mobility after the BMX accident back in ’98. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. So fitness has become my life. It is very important to me, I have gained a greater level of understanding when it comes to nutrition and exercise. I have a restless mind. I am always looking ahead for new challenges – I’m still searching for who I’m really.

Within Rhodri’s blog post I found a link to Angel McKenzie’s profile as a boxer revealing that out of 17 bouts, she’s won just 2 and lost 15 – and with her wins coming from her first two fights back in 2006. She lost the following 15 bouts – the most recent taking place in May 2009

The boxing site also gives some more info on Angel:

Birth date: 1978-06-10
Age: 30
Division: Lightweight
Country:United Kingdom
Alias: The Artist
Residence: Thornton Heath, London, United Kingdom
Birth place: Moscow, Russia
Birth name: Helen Hobbs
Stance: Southpaw
Height: 5ft 7½ (171cm)

If you do a search for Angel McKenzie on YouTube you’ll find videos of her past bouts, or watch them on her official site

Angel also has a couple of her own YouTube channels: mckenziesadko and angelmckenzie2 – only one video is currently uploaded to the first username, which appears to be a music video for her song ‘Made For Love’:

Made For Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcCJZHcrN5M
Music video starring: Angel Mckenzie music by Angel Mckenzie recorded 2000 Video by Angel mckenzie & Elly Sebaduka, made in 2009

On Angel’s offficial site she also has a biography page – here’s her story in her own words:

My dream was to become a Rock Star

I was born in Moscow, Russia in 1978. My parents separated when I was little. I was raised in a middle class family; an all female household. My Mother was a Physics Engineer and My Father was an Astronomist, well known in for his work on ‘black holes’, he was a pioneer in this field in Russia. In school my favourite subjects were literature and physical education. I studied at the University of Culture. I spent four years there reading Theatre and Performance in Russia. In school my favourite subjects were literature and physical education. I studied at the University of Culture. I spent four years there readingfgf Theatre and Performance. I then went on to study Anatomy for two years, as most of my family members were medics I thought this would be a natural move for me but the course wasn’t to my liking so I left. Some members of my family tend to think that I resemble my Grandfather.He was a Professor of History and when he died he left me a large books collection on art. I think I must have been introduced to art through his book. I don’t know very much about my Grandfather but I am very fond of him.

I spent a lot of my teenage years running marathons, it was one of my childhood past times. It was a great time for me back then. I had always wanted to be different from other people. My dreams were to become a Rock Star. I achieved this when I formed a Rock band, named ‘Atas’, the band was successful and known all over Russia. It run for twelve years but with different members each time. In 1997 for I moved to England. I like England, it has become my new home. I worked for a period as a carpenter, but my enthusiasm for music still remained strong. I tried to restablish my music career for a number of years. I carried on recording my music in my own studio in Brixton. But English not being my first language, it was very hard to gather ground. I wrote and painted so much during this time more than in any other time in my life.

Being alone in a foreign country helped me to explore my full creative potential. I felt very isolated, its only through art and music was I truly able to express myself. In 1998, I was involved in a BMX accident. I tore a number of ligaments in both my legs. This was a very scary time in my life. I thought I would never walk again. Within a space of two years, I’d had five operations to improve my legs. Since I was always an active child thought of being stuck in a wheel chair was not something I was willing to except.

After surgery I began to weight train as a way of strengthening the muscles in my legs. And after about a year I was able to regain my mobility once more, but the accident had taken its toll on me. I had gained a lot of weight during this time and I needed something to get me fit again. I tried involving myself in a number of actives but nothing worked for me. My self-image had reached rock bottom. I was living a lonely existence. It was only when I discovered ‘boxiercise’ a workout, using traditional boxing methods; was I brought back to life. It was what I needed. Boxing helped me a lot. I lost so much weight in a short period. I was able to regain myself esteem back. I enjoyed boxing, it was the only thing that kept me active. Boxing filled the void in my life. I soon took up boxing full time. I was becoming very good at it and in February 2006, I made my profession boxing debut. My crave for fitness has lead me to becoming a fitness instructor. I work at a boxing gym. This has helps me to stay focus on my boxing ambitions and it has given me the opportunity to help others in accomplishing their goals of become healthier and fitter.