In 1980, at the age of thirteen, she was spotted by a friend of Malcolm McLaren singing at a dry cleaning premises in North London where she worked part-time.
Following her successful audition for the lead singer position in McLaren's new group (the yet-to-be-named band Bow Wow Wow), he had her transfer from a mixed comprehensive school in London to the Sylvia Young Theatre School. McLaren dubbed her 'Bess Man'.
The group would go on to chart success with the songs "Go Wild in the Country", "Do You Wanna Hold Me?" and "I Want Candy". Early on in the band, controversy surrounded Lwin as she had posed nude for the cover of See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah. City All Over! Go Ape Crazy, the group's first full-length album.
