| Exene Cervenka | |
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Exene Cervenka at The Chestnut Cabaret Philadelphia, PA |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christene Cervenka |
| Born | February 1, 1956 , Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Punk, folk, rock |
| Occupations | Writer, Musician, Artist |
| Instruments | Guitar, Vocals |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Associated acts | X, The Knitters, Auntie Christ and The Original Sinners |
| Website | Official website |
Exene Cervenka (born as Christene Cervenka; February 1, 1956) is an American writer, musician and artist, most famous as the co-lead vocalist of the Los Angeles punk rock band X.
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Born as Christene Cervenka and raised in Chicago and Florida, she was born and raised Jewish. Cervenka moved to Los Angeles in 1976. In 1977 she met musician John Doe at a poetry workshop at Beyond Baroque in Venice, California, and founded X.[1] They released their debut album, Los Angeles, in 1980 and, over the next six years, five more critically acclaimed albums. As of late 2011 she has continued her career with X as well as in solo performances and participation in bands such as The Knitters, Auntie Christ and The Original Sinners.
In 1982 Cervenka published her first in a series of four books, Adulterers Anonymous, in collaboration with artist Lydia Lunch. She has also performed and recorded solo work doing spoken word. In 1999, as Exene Cˇervenková, she appeared in the cult video Decoupage 2000: Return of the Goddess, along with guests Karen Black and the band L7. She gave a reading of her poem "They Must Be Angels", and appeared in an interview skit with Decoupage 2000 hostess Summer Caprice.[2]
In 2005, her journals and mixed media collages were exhibited in a one-person exhibition titled America the Beautiful at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The exhibit was curated by Kristine McKenna and Michael Duncan. An expanded version of the exhibition traveled to DCKT Contemporary in New York in January 2006.[3] The exhibition featured a selection of journals from the collection of approximately 100 that Cervenka has completed over the past 30+ years, as well as 18 collages. Cervenka's journals combine rough drafts of songs and personal reflections rendered in a baroque calligraphic script with photographs, drawings and scraps of ephemera found while traveling as a musician. Similarly, the collages are created from found materials to form an interpretative composite portrait of the country she's come to know through her life experiences on the road. DCKT Contemporary continues to represent her artwork.
Cervenka appeared on the 2000 tribute album Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors with Perry Farrell on the track "Children Of Night".
Cervenka is of Irish and Czech ancestry. Cervenka married Doe in 1980; they divorced in 1985. According to Henry Rollins' book Get in the Van, he and Cervenka are good friends, and did several spoken words shows together in the 1980s.
Cervenka met Viggo Mortensen in 1986 on the set of the comedy Salvation!, a parody of televangelism. Mortensen played her husband, Jerome. They married on July 8, 1987. On January 28, 1988, Cervenka gave birth to her only child, Henry Blake Mortensen. Mortensen and Cervenka separated in 1992, and were divorced in 1997.
On June 2, 2009, Cervenka released the following statement:
| “ | After some months of not feeling 100% healthy, I recently had some medical tests run and the prognosis is that I am suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Apparently, it has been affecting me for quite some time. Although this is obviously unfortunate news, I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992. While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall on Bloodshot Records. My focus will certainly be on maintaining my health — many people remain strong and continue to live their lives as productively as they had before an MS diagnosis and I plan to be one of those people.[4] | ” |
The Western novel Dances With Wolves is dedicated to her by author Michael Blake.[5]
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