Janey Godley, who died aged 63turned an early life filled with pain and tragedy into a successful comedy career.

A tough upbringing in the east end of Glasgow was the thread that ran through her humour. Often furious, she specialized in eliciting laughs from the most unlikely material.

Her act mirrored the city that shaped her: working class, stupid, at once angry and sentimental. She delivered her comics at high speed, hammering her points home like a street fighter.

To her fans, she was one of them – and as her reputation grew, so did her influence. The former pub landlady has become close friends with Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister, after videos of her speaking over FM’s Covid press conferences became a viral sensation.

She was born Jane Godley Currie on 20 January 1961 in the Shettleston area of ​​Glasgow, the youngest of four children. Both parents were alcoholics, and the family home was both chaotic and very poor.

As a child, she was sexually abused by an uncle. Thirty years later, in 1996, she and her sister went public to speak out about the abuse after their evidence convicted David Percy. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Interviewed at the time, she said: “We waited 30 years, but we did it and we did it together. Anyone who has been abused knows that you can’t shake the guilt. But it was Percy’s fault.”

There was more tragedy. In 1982, her mother Annie was found dead in the River Clyde. Godley was convinced she was killed by her violent boyfriend, although the man was never charged despite family calls for an inquest.

By then, Godley had married and was running a pub with her husband in the Calton area of ​​Glasgow. They had a daughter, Ashley Storrie, who later followed her mother into comedy.

Her in-laws became an integral part of her comedy act. She often spoke about their criminal connections and it was a family feud that led her to take to the stage in her mid-30s.

The schism forced them out of the tavern and left them homeless and jobless.

She had performed occasionally at open mic nights, but began to take it more seriously. Years of perfecting her comedic style behind a bar helped her and she quickly established herself on the comedy circuit.

Her stage act was uncompromising. In 2019, she spoke to The Guardian about her material.

“We talked about my mother’s murder, child abuse, gangsters. Back then, even comics were like, “You shouldn’t talk about it.” But I’m so glad I did.

“The number of people who have come up to me and said, ‘I’ve been abused and I’ve never laughed again.’

As her fame grew, she wrote a memoir and a novel and became a regular in shows. She appeared alongside Billy Connolly and the late Antony Bourdain and played a barmaid in Wild Rose.

Two things brought her to a global audience and brought her into the world of politics.

In 2016, she was photographed at Turnberry Golf Resort holding a sign with an offensive word protesting a visit by club owner President Trump. The picture went viral.

Then, during the Covid lockdowns, she began creating videos in which she voiced Nicola Sturgeon’s press briefings, portraying the First Minister as a plain-spoken, sometimes silly figure, exhausted by the demands the pandemic and exasperated by the claims of the media. questions.

A staunch supporter of independence, she appeared on stage alongside Alex Salmond and was praised by Nicola Sturgeon.

That connection was tested in September 2021, when comments she had posted on social media a decade earlier came back to haunt her.

She was dropped from a Scottish Government health campaign and admitted the tweets had “terrible, awful weddings”.

Two months later, Godley revealed she had ovarian cancer. She documented her illness and treatments on social media and on tour.

For a while, she was considered cleared of the disease, but in December 2022 she announced that it had returned.

He was told he might die within a year, but he continued to work. She did a BBC radio program about her condition and remained a presence on X, formerly Twitter.

She has contributed to BBC programs including Have I Got News For You and Breaking the News. More recently, she made a BBC documentary after her 2023 tour called Janey.

In April that year, she won the inaugural Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award.

He said: “She’s a great girl, a great comedian and an amazing life story.”

Godley said: “I can’t believe I’ve won this. I won an award from a man I admired since I was a child.”

Holding the award aloft, she said “This will be my tombstone.”